'Hand tools: What's ahead for this industry mainstay?'

The battleground for a company's future success will be played out by how well a company trains its employees and how well they in turn convey that information to the customer.

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'Hand tools: What's ahead for this industry mainstay?' #1
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Training employees key to success
The battleground for a company's future success will be played out by how well a company trains its employees and how well they in turn convey that information to the customer.
The more a person knows, the more they can achieve. When a person is well trained on product knowledge, application and safety, the results can be of great value to the distributor/customer relationship.
It's relatively easy to look at most products and have an understanding of how they work. Many products even look alike in their general characteristics. At one time a brand name was all one needed to trust that a quality item was what he would receive. With the world economy and global sourcing being the new mode of business for some, we are finding out that old processes may not be trustworthy. This is where the training and education factor is critical to a company's success.
Concentrate on details
When training a sales force, we concentrate on product specifications, manufacturing processes, raw materials, engineering and safety as well as the features and benefits that our product will deliver to the user. As we manufacture our products, we constantly have safety in mind. We strive to train our sales force and distributors about the safe use of products and how they are manufactured to deliver safe operations. We also train our sales reps to train our distributors on the safe use of our products. End user training in conjunction with a distributor always generates a better understanding of the products and their functions.
While discussing product information to some has become mundane, we have focused on the why's of the product information. For example, all steels are not the same; some can barely deliver enough strength to complete the job. Perhaps the most critical decision of all is price, which in most cases is decided by one main characteristic, professional or retail. If a salesperson cannot explain why the product is better than what can be bought from a retailer, how will the user ever experience the benefits of your quality ingredients? Be prepared to discuss and differentiate the characteristics of a professional-grade product. Companies that focus only on price and not total cost may end up compromising the safety of their workers and their total productivity. By extending the training down the line, we as manufacturers and distributors ultimately pass our knowledge on to the user. I'm sure that we can all agree that we can all sell more products with a better educated workforce.
We have found that the best way to train distributor employees is by holding lunch and learns, counter days, using video and Web-based training aids, ride alongs and end user sales calls. Regardless of the medium, it's important for the distributor to participate and measure the employees' knowledge of products. This knowledge may be the only differentiation between their sale and the "big box" sale.
Employee training takes discipline and commitment, but in the end all parties can greatly benefit from the additional knowledge.
Greg Helbling,
vice president of sales,
Wright Tool Co.
Latest developments = enhanced designs, new materials
At Dead On we plan to continue incorporating materials and designs from outside the traditional tool industry. For instance, our TI7 titanium hammer is actually the culmination of advanced design, precision casting and golf club technology. We recognized that the hand tool category has been neglected in the area of technology and industrial design. We see a real need for tools to not only function but to look good. Along with product design we also are continuing our exploration of advanced materials to further enhance the function of existing hand tools. For instance, we utilize a high-strength S7 tool steel, in our investment cast hammer heads. We also pioneered the use of copper impregnated, sintered metal pawls in our Maasdam Pow'R-Pull comealongs.
Opportunities for additional sales?
New products are consistently a great means of generating fresh consumer traffic. New products or product enhancements create new purchase needs that may not have existed.
Impact on existing models?
Undoubtedly, new product innovations create a risk of obsolescence and price deterioration for existing tools. However, due to the lack of real innovation most hand tool products have long since passed into the mature stage of their product lifecycle. Most distributors have already dealt with this issue and price erosion has somewhat peaked. However, the sales opportunities (and increased margins) generated from the new products should out-weigh this downside.
Suggestions for displays?
Dovetailing with our product development philosophy at Dead On, we see a real opportunity for distributors/retailers to borrow from non-industry retail role models. Apple stores with their "genius centers," grocery store traffic pattern designs and fashion store merchandising treatments are excellent examples of retail innovation available to the tool marketplace.
Future growth?
Assuming we are talking about U.S. domestic market only, we see a potential for growth, even in today's difficult economic environment, through new application tools, improved industrial design, brand-awareness and improved features.
We recognize that today's consumer is increasing their demand for products that allow them to be unique. We see the lifestyle element as a key trend occurring in the tool market.
Distributors/retailers should focus on value-added services to enhance the selling opportunity. "Over-the-top" service, compelling POP/POS merchandising and increased store personnel product knowledge are critical elements needed to secure consumers' attention and loyalty.
Robert Adams,
president/CEO,
Pull'R Holding Company, LLC.
Be progressive, aggressive
Progressive manufacturers continue to improve their product lines in two ways. They will update and improve their best sellers to attract new users and motivate previous purchasers to purchase the new updated model. As an example the 10-inch Knipex Cobra capacity has just been increased by 30 percent to 2 1/2 inches. This tool now grips as large an object as most other 12-inch tools giving the professional user more bite for the money and a reason to buy another tool.
Aggressive manufacturers will also consistently add new products to their line to help their distributors better serve their customers. We've introduced seven new insulated sets and the capability of producing custom insulated sets to meet unique demands. As the world's largest producer of insulated tools we have the volume to price insulated tools reasonably and not impose the huge price premium.
Growth potential?
The growth area in hand tools continues to be the professional segment. The economy segment knows no bottom for prices or margins and construction/industrial merchants who try to compete with the "Big Boxs" will lose every time!
"Stock it, and they will come" has never been more important than today. At $25 to $45 an hour a tradesman will not continue to support a distributor who doesn't support him with a good inventory of pro quality hand tools.
Try new products from those manufacturers who have a no-penalty return policy for new products that don't sell.
Enhancing the selling position
Require that your salespeople be salespeople not just commercial visitors who only pick up orders and take care of problems. Require that they take something new into every call and demonstrate it properly. Many suppliers will even help defray the costs of salesman's samples.
Alan W. Sipe,
president and general manager of Knipex Tools LP (Knipex —Werk in U.S.)
author: A.D. "Butch" Horn




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