MEDCO connects suppliers and mobile tool dealers during the COVID-19 pandemic

This year has posed significant challenges to many businesses in the aftermarket. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many shop owners to take a hard look at business, sometimes exploring new products, segments and services while their car count slowed. Day-to-day operations looked different for the mobile tool dealer, too. At a time when on-the-truck traffic and face-to-face demos all but disappeared, mobile dealers needed to find new ways to maintain relationships, stock product, and generate sales.

Beginning in Spring 2020, tool and equipment wholesaler MEDCO tackled these challenges, took stock of its own business, and got to work with strategies and action plans to not only work through COVID-19, but to strengthen relationships with its customers and suppliers. 

Safety first

From the start of the pandemic in March, the MEDCO team focused on its associates and its customers.  Safety was at the top of this effort, and the company ensured that those who could work remotely did so with the tools and technology they needed in order to be effective. For those whose work required them to be within one of the MEDCO facilities, the company took every possible step to ensure safety -- from erecting barriers to providing PPE equipment, adjusting procedures for pickup customers at its warehouses, and implementing split shift schedules.  .

With its teams and associates safe, MEDCO returned to business plans and adjusted as necessary.  The company continued to invest in new data systems and technology, moved forward with its plan to restructure to better serve its customers, and added senior leaders to better position the company, its customers and its suppliers for the post-COVID period.

“Going into 2020, our vision was to become more of a strategic partner with our customers, and to assign the right resources to the right independent mobile tool dealers and selected franchise dealers.  By refocusing our sales resources and providing the right knowledge and focus, we knew that we could better align our organization with the needs of the customer,” says MEDCO President Andrew Keim.  He adds, “We weren’t about to let COVID derail that goal.”

Suppliers are key

“While we took steps to better align our resources to better service our customers, the other half of the equation was to ensure that the key suppliers were aligned and engaged with MEDCO as well,”  Keim says, “When COVID hit, it initially sidelined many of the supplier interactions as those organization also turned inward, managing everything from safety to supply chain interruptions.  For the sake of its customers, itself and the suppliers , MEDCO pushed forward, spending significant time working to develop exclusive buying and promotional opportunities for mobile tool dealers to keep them ahead of their competitors.

As an example, in June and coinciding with a period when the industry began seeing recovery in terms of miles driven, MEDCO and 40 of its largest suppliers launched a “Summer Kick Start” program to provide 12-month no interest financing to tool dealers in need of re-stocking inventory and re-energizing their businesses. 

“Suppliers stepped up and so did we,” says Keim. “We all contributed to the launch of this very successful program that enabled customers to re-stock their trucks and pay for their purchases over an extended period of time.  This was a real example of being aligned with suppliers and focusing on customers.”

In addition to programs like Kick Start, MEDCO also initiated a program to regularly share information on everything from federal support programs for small businesses, to opportunities in vehicle sanitation, and more. “It was just another way that we could demonstrate the value and respect we have for the relationships with our customers as we measure our success by theirs,” says Keim.

While he is quick to acknowledge that fewer face-to-face interactions posed a challenge to companies and sellers, he also believes that these challenges often inspire new opportunities.  Together with its supplier partners, the company sought and delivered on those opportunities, ramping up its digital communication and using online meeting platforms and video conferencing to maintain face-to-face contact with customers and suppliers.

The power of information

Early in the pandemic, MEDCO launched a survey to take the collective pulse of its sales force and customers.  Then, armed with that information, the company developed programs and shared collected knowledge to help others cope with the unprecedented situation.

“It is at times like these that one of the best things we could do was to let our customers know that they were not in this alone,” says Keim.  He adds, “Sharing that other dealers were using FaceTime and group texting to stay connected or setting up tables outside of their trucks to show products helped to spark new thinking for many of our customers. We shared that some dealers were addressing collection issues by using services like PayPal and Venmo to collect remotely. We’re all struggling, but we can all win together and learn from each other.”

In addition to the information gained from surveys, the MEDCO sales team took advantage of the short period they weren’t deployed in the field to study and analyze customers’ businesses, territory trends, and product category opportunities.

“We all remember periods of economic downturn which, while difficult, forced companies to look at their business from a survival position,” says Rick Postoll, MEDCO SVP Sales.  The lessons learned from those times proved invaluable as the pandemic impacted all of us and our customers. Partly because of those experiences we learned how to pivot, and to adopt operating disciplines which will lead to improved profits and thriving businesses. I’m tasked with activating on these disciplines, and helping our customers grow their businesses as we tap into the best opportunities for their customers and communicate those opportunities effectively.”

Category strength

While the pandemic has shaken things up, some product categories have remained strong sellers through the downturn, such as diagnostics, safety products, and battery and electrical maintenance.

Technicians continue to tap into diagnostic products so they can service increasingly complex vehicle systems. That’s one of the reasons why MEDCO puts so much focus on the category. “Our relationships with leading suppliers such as Bosch, Autel and Launch have enabled us to create new bundles exclusive to the mobile dealer segment,” Keim says. “It allows our customers who do the work and demo the product to get the sale.”

Safety is another category on the rise. “Early-on we launched an initiative on sanitizing products and solutions,” Keim says. “We partnered with large manufacturers to provide respirators, gloves, and sanitizing solutions. A lot of mobiles were able to embrace these products and buy in small enough amounts that they could turn them around effectively.”

The show must go on

In place of its annual  in-person show, this year MEDCO invited its suppliers and customers to ‘Stay at Home with MEDCO’. Conducted from October 5-9, the company also provided a pre-show period.

“Our customers have an expectation of what a MEDCO Show delivers and we set out to deliver as much of that as we could in a remote environment,” says Postoll.  “We thought about what our customers wanted and needed, and how to best enable them to participate without having to leave home. And, we kept it simple with the right buying opportunities, unbeatable financing solutions, and electronic templates to make the ordering process easy.”

The ‘Stay at Home’ event also included twenty virtual training sessions scheduled around a customer’s regular work schedule, and a 370-page Show Book that outlined all of the opportunities.

“Very simply, we focused on the question: ‘What should I buy, and how do I grow my business?’” Keim says. “While the final results are not yet in, I can tell you that our team and our customers are delivering ahead of our expectations.”

Looking ahead

“We have used this unusual year to refocus, re-align, and re-commit to growing our customers’ businesses and our own in the process,” Keim says. “And, all signs are a go for an in-person Customer Show in 2021, scheduled for October 1 and 2 in Atlantic City.” 

As Keim concluded, “2020 might not have proven to be the perfect vision that we had all hoped, but it was definitely an eye-opener. We’re now operating eyes wide open.”