Plumbing distributors nationwide are trying to return to some sense of normalcy now that the coronavirus pandemic is subsiding. Many are welcoming back customers, but curbside pickup, plexiglass counter barriers, personal protective equipment, heightened cleaning and disinfecting, e-commerce and digital marketing are all playing integral roles in their “new normal.”
Plumbing & Heating Wholesale Inc. in Sioux Center, Iowa closed its counters for six weeks before reopening most of them on May 11 with plexiglass protection. “While shut down, all counter personnel were tasked with making a minimum of 10 outbound calls per day to stay in contact with customers—from business principals to the technicians—they serve every day,” said Mike Plasier, CEO of Plumbing & Heating Wholesale and chairman of the IMARK Plumbing Board of Directors.
The company continues to offer curbside pickup for anyone who prefers to use that service. During the pandemic, Plumbing & Heating Wholesale also engaged with Moblico to offer text communications directly to counter and inside sales personnel. “This has been very well received; the number of texts we are receiving grows each day,” Plasier said. “We also invested in the broadcast messaging feature but have not begun to use it for marketing purposes yet. This is a service we will continue to promote. Efficiencies are gained for all parties. Less time spent at the counter means our people pull orders more efficiently and phone call traffic for receptionists and others answering phones is reduced.”
Communication via pictures sent by text has also helped inside personnel to zero in on exactly what customers need. The company also implemented local delivery, allowing for delivery at 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. within a 5 to 10-mile radius of all its locations every weekday. “Some locations are continuing this service into the future as it has been well received and has helped us increase sales in some locations,” Plasier said. “This will result in additional hires early this summer.”
When territory managers were off the road for weeks, they were active helping with enhanced deliveries and were tasked with making 10-20 outbound phone, Facetime or Zoom contacts with their customer base and with prospective accounts. Enhanced and continued service to some more remote locations resulted in onboarding new customers. “As competitors reduced services, we saw an opportunity to increase our service to hopefully secure some new long-term relationships,” Plasier said.
When territory managers returned to the field on May 11, the company required all calls to be scheduled and accepted by the customer and to have an agenda—including cold calls. Other requirements for in-person calls are to maintain social distance practices, have hand sanitizer for use before and after entering a customer’s facility and have a mask available should a customer prefer the salesperson to use one.
“We are running an e-commerce site currently but are under way with a project to improve our offering with a Second Phase/Trade Service product offering that will greatly improve the customer experience on our website,” Plasier said. “We are currently running approximately 9% of overall sales through our current e-commerce platform. Our goal is to exceed 20% by the end of November 2021.”
The company plans extensive training for its territory managers and inside salespeople to assist customers in using the tools available on the new website. “We expect our sales team to be experts in the functionality so they can be our champions promoting the use of the site,” Plasier said.
Plumbing & Heating Wholesale will extend additional offers to incent web order entry including web order entry only specials, added terms for web order entry, additional cash discounts for web order entry sales and added incentive points for web order entry.
The company’s counter salespeople will continue to be tasked with making outbound calls to customers. “We are asking them to touch base with customers one and two days ahead of our delivery routes,” Plasier said. “There is always to be an agenda for the calls to promote a new product, training or counter day; to ask about a job; follow up on tasks and ultimately ask for an order.”
Brandon Goldstein, general manager of Woodhill Supply in Cleveland, Ohio purchased personal protective equipment including masks and gloves, as well as a five-gallon bucket of hand sanitizer. During the pandemic, he also drilled holes in the building to run power and phone lines outside where the company set up a cart for curbside pickup orders. “We exchanged goods outside,” he said. “Customers were appreciative that we were still open. We never changed our weekday hours, but we cut Saturday hours. It was a strategic decision to only open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. with an emergency line for orders if the building was shut down. For about six weeks, we limited our Saturday hours.”
As of press time, the company was fully reopened with plexiglass shields in front of every counter and cashier station. “We were really progressive in how we approached the COVID-19 pandemic,” Goldstein said. “We followed verbatim what recommendations were made for safe practices and did some extra things, such as extra floor cleanings using scientific methods to create hypochlorous acid, which hasn’t been CDC-approved for COVID but has been for norovirus and HIV/AIDS in addition to spraying everything down with sanitizers…and maintaining social distancing.”
Prior to the pandemic, Goldstein started shifting business into the digital realm and offering more e-commerce solutions to customers. Now, he sees an even greater need to do so. “It’s not easy and it’s not cheap, but customers deserve it,” he said. “At the end of day, customers sign our paychecks. If we don’t look out for them, we’re not doing our job.”
Throughout the pandemic Goldstein considered com-munication with staff key to continued success. “If your staff doesn’t know what’s going on, they get really scared so I focused on being really transparent and the leader they needed,” he said. “If they came to me for an answer, sometimes it wasn’t always the answer I wanted to give or I didn’t know the answer or I wasn’t qualifi ed to make the decision but being honest and transparent built respect and trust and it was better than making up an answer. If I didn’t know, I told them I didn’t know but I kept researching and looking for the answers. Transparency was No. 1. That and honesty. And I think they will always remember that I told them the truth.”
Goldstein takes pride in the fact that Woodhill Supply did not have to close nor lay anyone off throughout the pandemic. “It is honestly something we are very proud of,” he said. “We have been in business for 62 years. We are a smaller company with two branches and a staff of about 45. They all have families and I didn’t want to lay anyone off.”
Plumbing distributors had to quickly adapt to the changes made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic and have to continue conducting business in the “new normal” as they are essential to modern society, not only for the products and services they provide to their customers and communities but also for the employment opportunities they provide to thousands of Americans who would be impacted if they had to shutter for good.
