Covering the country (LESCO supplement)

During the early 1970s, LESCO had a problem with its distribution system. What the company did to remedy that problem changed the way it did business for good. To this day, no distributor or supplier delivers golf course products to superintendents the way LESCO does on a national level. That way is the  Stores-on-Wheels vehicles.

As the company was expanding from Northeast Ohio to Michigan and Pennsylvania, it was having trouble shipping materials to its customers on time. Bob Burkhardt and Jim FitzGibbon, co-founders of the company that started in 1961, realized 300 miles was the furthest they could travel delivering products in a timely manner weekly. When the company entered the Chicago market, materials never got there on time, according to Burkhardt.

Then, in 1975 at the GCSAA Conference and Show, FitzGibbon met a distributor from San Francisco who was using a beverage truck to deliver products to superintendents at their courses, however, he was only covering the San Francisco market. There was also a distributor doing the same thing covering the San Diego market.

“The beverage trucks worked because the weather was nice, but we knew we had to have a truck that people could get in and out of,” says Burkhardt, who’s director emeritus of LESCO’s board of directors and a consultant to the company’s management team.

The company ended up using a one-ton pickup truck with a 32-foot cargo trailer that had electric brakes. The trailer held enough supply for deliveries for one week. The original trailer truck, which contained parts, accessories, pesticides and fertilizer, lasted two or three years. Then the company switched to gas mobile-home toters. In the 1980s, the company began using mid-range, diesel, single-axle trailers.

Burkhardt and FitzGibbon chose to expand their distribution with the cargo trailer in Florida because of the number of golf courses in the state and the fact they could conduct business 10 straight months.

“In 1976, we put the first truck and trailer in Florida with a guy who had been in the industry, but he didn’t work out because he was using the truck as a warehouse instead of driving around to the courses,” Burkhardt says.

That first sales rep in Florida was replaced by Ed Williams, who worked for the company in inside sales. Williams worked in Florida for a year, then Phil Gardner, now manager of international and national accounts, replaced him. The original sales route, which still exists today, was a three-way turn in which the sales rep would visit all three areas in his territory every week but visit different customers in each area.

“Nobody had it like the way we eventually did it with routes and territories,” Gardner says.

When the first Stores-on-Wheels truck started in Florida, the only other thing that was going on similar to that was in California where a LESCO customer was carrying various products around in small vans, Gardner says, referring to the distributor FitzGibbon met at the GCSAA Conference and Show. At the time, conventional sales reps were driving around in station wagons or pickup trucks but didn’t have the selection Stores-on-Wheels offered, and few carried a complete package, according to Gardner.

Shortly after the Stores-on-Wheels concept worked in Florida, FitzGibbon put a truck in Ohio and sales improved quickly, according to Gardner. Stores-on-Wheels also entered markets in Chicago; Erie, Pa.; and the Carolinas.

“That market was tremendous,” Gardner says about the Carolinas.

After the company’s sales reps started using the Stores-on-Wheels trucks, they noticed a spike in business, according to Gardner.

“Jim’s idea was to cover the country and open brand new territories,” he says. “Back then, we didn’t have a lot of support from plants and warehouses.”

Continuing its growth, the company put two Stores-on-Wheels trucks in California, one in Phoenix and one in Denver during the mid-1980s. However, the trucks and reps didn’t have the support they needed from warehouses, so the company brought back the two trucks from California and the one in Phoenix and added new territories back east in Georgia and the Carolinas. At that time, the Northeast was already filled in, according to Burkhardt.

“Most of the outer areas didn’t have much support,” he says. “We had fertilizer plants in Wellington, Ohio; Windsor, N.J., and Sebring, Fla. But we would never be able to expand the Stores-on-Wheels if we didn’t use the warehouses. Warehouses in Ohio, New Jersey, Florida and Dallas covered the country. Throughout the years, smaller warehouses were opened in North Carolina and Alabama.”

The growth of Stores-on-Wheels happened quickly at times, according to Burkhardt. For example, LESCO bought a liquid fertilizer company in Marietta, Ohio, in the late 1970s, and that purchase gave the company a foothold on the East Coast and into areas it wasn’t distributing.

“There were a few competitors that tried to copy the Stores-on-Wheels approach, but they never seemed to make it work,” Gardner says.

Successful reps

Overall, the growth of Stores-on-Wheels exceeded FitzGibbon’s and Burkhardt’s expectations. Producing sales; being dependable, consistent and convenient; carrying a wide variety of products and having knowledgeable sales reps contributed to success. But that success wasn’t easy.

“Sometimes it took 10 calls to get a customer because they wanted to make sure you were going to be around,” Burkhardt says.

Being successful was challenging because the company’s competitors claimed it was turning sales reps into truck drivers, so the company countered with advertising, beating the bushes for the right sales reps and word of mouth, according to Burkhardt.

“In fact, there have always been a number of Stores-on-Wheels reps who are former superintendents,” he says. “As we developed along the way, we hired very few established sales reps from other distributors because they didn’t follow our model. They were used to doing things their way.”

“Historically, Stores-on-Wheels reps were chosen based on their golf course experience, providing them with a good feel for what the hot buttons are and what products and services superintendents are looking for,” says Richard Doggett, senior vice president of sales. “And that’s still a goal today.”

Throughout the years, the company has had successful sales reps that didn’t have turf degrees and a lot that did, according to Gardner.

“We’ve had guys with a lot of technical background but didn’t have the personality,” he says. “Superintendents want to spend money with someone they like and someone who appreciates their business.”

Unlike 30 years ago, sales reps nowadays have the support of Service Centers, and many work out of them because they can stock their trucks daily if needed.

Training also contributes to the success. Stores-on-Wheels operators receive product updates through e-training, according to Jeff Rutherford, president and c.e.o. The reps also receive regional training from Stores-on-Wheels and service center managers, and some training is conducted in partnership with major suppliers.

“Stores-on-Wheels reps are selected based on their understanding of a particular marketplace – market by market and region by region,” Rutherford says.

Still growing
The Stores-on-Wheels concept still is growing 30 years after its inception. A new style truck was unveiled in February 2005 at the Golf Industry Show. Until last year, the Stores-on-Wheels vehicles were tractor trailers. The new trucks have evolved and include air conditioning and heat in the trailors, are easier for superintendents to enter and exit, and are easier to navigate around golf courses.

“We’re improving their shopping experience,” says John Schmidt, zone vice president of the Southeast who has been with the company for 25 years and who drove a Stores-on-Wheels vehicle for 10 years. “We’re always looking at the product line, such as fertilizers and pesticides that change based on the turfgrass superintendents are managing. We continue to evaluate the products and take things off the truck that become obsolete.”

Currently, there are 114 Stores-on-Wheels trucks nationally, 14 of which are in Florida and cover every golf course in the state. Last year was a big year for growth because the number of trucks increased from 75 to 111.

Presently, the company’s growth is more deliberate, and it’s increasing its focus on servicing customers. Three new Stores-on-Wheels vehicles have been added this year: one servicing central Virginia, one servicing Minneapolis, and one servicing Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska. Also, one truck was relocated from Connecticut to New Hampshire and Vermont.

As new golf courses are built each year, the company re-evaluates the size of each territory because a truck can only handle so much, according to Schmidt.
Looking toward future growth, additions to LESCO’s fleet transpire based on market needs.

“We’ll be circumspect about it,” Rutherford says. “From a capital perspective, it’s not an issue. It’s leased tucks and inventory. We add them if markets really need them. We’re currently settled into getting the 114 we have operating effectively.”