A rising star emerges in central Missouri

Oct. 1, 2014
Mac Tools distributor Tom Seagraves approaches the half-million sales mark in three years; a genuine interest in customers and commitment to the community play a key role

In central Missouri, the automotive repair techs really know their tools. And when it comes to buying tools, they expect a salesperson who knows as much as they do and is willing to explain things to them.

In the past three years, a newcomer has established a name for himself – Tom Seagraves, a Mac Tools distributor based in Columbia, Mo., which is midway between Kansas City and St. Louis. Seagraves won the Mac Tools President’s Club Platinum Award for sales in 2013 after winning the Gold award in 2012. This year, he is on track to do close to half a million dollars in sales.

But Seagraves has established himself as more than a competent tool salesman. In addition to winning the President’s Club award in 2013, he also won the Founders Award in recognition for his commitment to his community. Many techs know him as a genuine friend and a community leader. He takes an active role supporting charities. He sends Facebook messages daily to his friends and customers.

People find him genuine and engaging. His outgoing personality undoubtedly helped him become one of the leading tool distributors in a short amount of time. But his road to success came with its fair share of bumps.

Seagraves did not come from a privileged background. When he was 10 years old, his family moved from a gang-infested part of Los Angeles to a small farm in southern Missouri, where his grandfather took an interest in helping him.

Had it not been for his grandfather’s positive influence, he may not have become the successful business owner and community leader that he is now. And to this day, he serves as a volunteer to young people and supports his community in other ways.

By the time Seagraves entered Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. in 1989, he had held a number of jobs and had established a good work ethic. But he did not have a clear vocational direction. After one year of college, circumstances forced him to move back to Missouri to help out his mother.

In 1993, he returned to Lynchburg and got a job as an automotive service manager. In that role, he became familiar with mobile tool distributors.

For the next few years, Seagraves held different jobs. From 2000 to 2005, he worked for a large travel center chain and managed several locations on the East Coast. After multiple relocations, and in an effort to put some roots down in a community, he and his wife, Janice, moved to Columbia. He still wasn’t sure about his career path. He took a job selling mobile phone accessories.

In 2010, he passed a Mac Tools truck on the road and wrote down the toll-free number. He remembered Mac Tools from his time working as an automotive service manager. He called the toll-free number and left a message, and the next day a Mac Tools district manager returned his call.

The Mac Tools district manager, Jeff Phillips, explained the company’s opportunity to him, and suggested he consider what other distribution companies had to offer before making any decision.

“When he told me to check out other companies, that was a sign of integrity on his part,” Seagraves says. “That is important to me.”

In checking with other mobile distribution companies, Seagraves did not feel the other companies were as interested in helping him as much as the Mac Tools DM. He was attracted to the chance to be his own boss and spend his time visiting different businesses. “This is really the last business you do with a handshake,” he says. “I take care of you and you take care of me.”

Mac Tools had not had a truck in the Columbia market for several years. The DM met with him several times and explained the business and rode around with him to repair shops.

Seagraves was in his early 40s and he felt he had the skills needed to be a tool distributor. He was experienced in sales and business management. He also liked working with people.

But he had never owned a business, and he wasn’t sure that he was qualified to be a mobile tool distributor. He belonged to a local entrepreneur’s roundtable organization, and before making a decision, he discussed his interest and his concerns about the Mac Tools opportunity at the roundtable. When the people in the roundtable asked him what he was afraid of, he said he feared failure. When they told him the possibility of failure is something that business owners have to accept, he overcame this fear.

The next day, Seagraves signed on as a Mac Tools distributor. His DM helped him write a business plan. He cashed in a retirement account and took a bank loan to raise the funds for his starting inventory and his truck, an 18' 2004 Mac Tools truck which he found on a tool truck website. His DM handed him a list of 500 customers in his area.

Seagraves determined his weekly sales goal based on a five-year payback plan to cover his truck purchase and his starting inventory.

He rented a storage space for his truck, and arranged to pick up his daily tool deliveries at a local UPS store.

A good start

His prior sales experience came in handy. “I love good customer service when I go places, so I give good customer service,” he says.

In his first week, Seagraves met his sales goal, despite the fact that some customers would not buy from him because they did not know him.

The Mac Tools business management software made it easy for him to keep on top of his inventory and receivables. The software also supported credit and debit card purchases, which accounted for most of his sales. He uses an Intuit card processor.

Seagraves wasn’t surprised by his ability to sell tools, even though he didn’t know a lot about tools when he began selling. He learned quickly by asking his customers what each tool they bought is used for.

The hardest part of the job in the beginning was paying for his purchases on schedule and updating his sales and collections on a daily basis. He was surprised by how much time it took to manage the business and meet his sales goal visiting 10 to 20 stops per day, five days a week. “It takes a lot of hours to make this work,” he says.

He stays current on his weekly purchases, which average about $3,500. He carries between $80,000 and $85,000 worth of tools on his truck.

From day one, Seagraves has “toted and promoted.” “Toting and promoting” takes more time than just walking into the shop without tools, but Seagraves claims techs are more likely to come out to the truck when he carries tools into the shop. It’s also a good way to educate customers about new products.

The first year was the hardest, since there were techs who would not buy from him until they were certain that he was going to stick it out beyond one year. Seagraves is grateful to his DM for his moral support, and for the other Mac Tools distributors he meets with periodically in Kansas City. “I built a real good rapport with those Kansas City guys,” he says. In addition to the business advice he gains at these field excellence meetings (FEMs), there are special offers on tools. “To me, that’s a reason to go to the FEMs,” he says.

Key to success: honesty

One of the most important traits a distributor needs to win customer trust is to be honest with them, Seagraves says. If you forget to bring them something they asked for, just be honest about it and they will not hold it against you. “These guys will sniff you out in a heartbeat,” he says. “They all know each other. All it takes is one time to break that trust.”

When a new tech comes on board at a shop, the other techs tell him to buy their tools from Seagraves. “That makes it all worth it,” he says. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it is the most rewarding.”

“I’m not in it for a one-time quick sale; It’s a relationship,” he says.

Seagraves visits a shop at least six times before deciding whether the shop is worth keeping on his route.

Financial guidance pays

Seagraves realized early on that some customers need help managing their finances. If a customer has trouble making their weekly payments, he tells them not to buy anything until they have the money.

He gives a customer three chances to make payments on a timely basis before placing them on “cash only” status.

Seagraves sometimes offers his own credit on high-ticket purchases, depending on a customer’s history. If a customer has a good history with him, he will finance larger purchases on the truck as long as a down payment and weekly terms are agreed upon. He financed a $3,700 toolbox purchase for a loyal customer with a $1,000 down payment and an agreed upon $50 per week.

He allows customers to skip a week’s payment if they tell him specifically when they will make it up.

“You don’t always get it right,” he says about extending credit. “I try to ‘overcommunicate’ with them on terms.”

When a customer told him that he couldn’t pay him because he needed the money to pay his rent, Seagraves asked him who would pay his (Seagraves’) mortgage. “I don’t get a 40-hour-a-week paycheck just for showing up,” Seagraves explained to the customer.

Most techs recognize that good quality tools are not the cheapest, Seagraves says, and that the convenience he offers them by coming to the shop every week also carries a cost. On occasion, some techs tell him that certain tools are available for a lower price on the Internet. Seagraves’ immediate response to this is not to argue, but to tell them that it’s their money, and if money is the issue, they should do what they think is best.

“With an attitude like that, they end up buying from me,” he says.

One customer in the market for a scan tool told him an automotive parts store offered the tool for a lower price than Seagraves quoted him. When Seagraves told him to take the lower price, the customer was impressed with his honesty and has been a loyal customer ever since.

Another reason they buy from him is that Mac Tools has a credit program that other sources do not offer. In addition, there is no service available from Internet websites or from chain retail stores.

Loyalty rewards helps sales

This past year, Seagraves introduced a loyalty rewards program that has helped his sales. He punches the customer’s loyalty card every time they spend $50. When the card has 10 punches ($500), Seagraves credits them $25. “I’ve had guys come on the truck and have competitions to see who would fill their punch card up first.”

Mac Tools credit program has been helpful for toolbox sales. Seagraves typically has one toolbox on his truck.

To enhance his toolbox presentation, at the 2014 Tool Fair he ordered a Macsimizer Toolbox with a hutch and with drawers that were different colors so customers could see all the color options available in person. He will also mount a video screen inside the hutch of that toolbox to show Mac Tools videos from the company's YouTube channel.

By placing hooks in the threading in his truck’s ceiling, Seagraves has been able to hang packages that grab customer’s attention on the truck.

Seagraves is not hesitant about breaking apart tool sets to sell individual items. Once a set is broken, he replaces the missing item and rewraps the set using a shrink wrapper.

He has a video screen on his truck that plays a series of promotional pictures that Mac Tools supplies. He also mixes in pictures of his customers that have purchased toolboxes and tool carts.

One customer who happens to be a woodworker is building Seagraves a moveable shelf for the rear of his truck.

Popular new sellers include high lumen flashlights, alignment creepers, height adjustable stools and double-jointed, ergonomic pliers that offer more torque without opening as wide.

Reprogramming gains favor

Techs are slowly gaining interest in reprogramming tools, he observes. Many techs in the Columbia area attend the annual VISION conference sponsored by the Automotive Service Association of Missouri/Kansas in Overland Park, Kan., where they learn about reprogramming and other technologies.

Seagraves has also done well with the Mac Tools ET99 scanner. He has taken one from his inventory and made it a loaner that he lets customers use for a week at a time. Once they have used it for a week, it is an easy sell.

He has been less aggressive selling capital equipment since he finds the automotive parts stores highly competitive in this segment. “I can’t have all parts of the business,” he says. He has sold some lifts and some compressors.

Social media drives sales

Seagraves has found Facebook to be a great selling tool. He posts monthly Mac Tools promotions on his Facebook page, along with his own specials. The Facebook page allows customers to see new tools even before Seagraves brings them to the shop. “It keeps them fresh in their minds.” He posts Mac Tools videos as well as videos of himself demonstrating tools. “It’s another way for them to see the tools.”

Customers have texted orders to him after seeing specials he has posted on Facebook.

He also uses Facebook to build interest in specials at the annual Mac Tools Tool Fair. Prior to the Tool Fair, he asks customers what they want him to find for them at the Tool Fair. He also tells customers to follow him on Facebook to find out what specials he comes across at Tool Fair. He informs customers that if they text him orders by a certain time during the Tool Fair, they can get special deals.

About half as many customers order new tools from Tool Fair after the discount period ends.

He also posts videos he takes with his iPad and a Bluetooth microphone. During this year’s Tool Fair in Orlando, he posted a video demonstrating a floor jack. “The video worked really well. Because of this video, I sold four floor jacks to one dealership,” Seagraves says.

A video showing him talking with legendary car designer Chip Foose during the Tool Fair drew 1,000 views on Seagraves’ Facebook page.

He has about over 400 Facebook followers, and the number continues to grow. He posts messages at least daily.

Seagraves also promotes his tools as the sponsor of a local film festival. He sold a DeWalt tool kit from his ad on the film festival’s Facebook page.

A community leader

Most of his community involvement comes from a genuine interest in helping people.

Every year, Seagraves and his wife, Janice, volunteer for one week at a camp near Kansas City for disadvantaged youngsters. Last year, Mac Tools honored Seagraves with its Founders Award, which recognizes the distributor/franchisee who goes above and beyond to bring values to life. The Seagraves have also volunteered for Big Brothers and Big Sisters and are active in their church. “I feel like we need to give back to the community,” he says.

He also sits on Columbia’s Human Services Commission which oversees social service funding for the city.

This past year, Seagraves organized a fundraiser on behalf of patients at Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, part of the University of Missouri Health Care System in Columbia, and donated a customized Mac Tools toolbox as a grand prize. During the first two weeks of the fundraiser, Seagraves had the box on his truck so his customers could see it. In the next two weeks, it was on display at the cancer center and tickets were sold at the gift shop. This raised more than $5,000 for two patient assistance funds at the hospital.

At the request of a shop owner, Seagraves donated a DeWalt tool kit for a benefit auction to raise money to help a tech whose son suffered from cancer. The tool kit drew a $1,000 donation to the cause.

Future growth plans

Seagraves is now more than half way finished paying off his startup loan. Once he has paid off his loan, he looks forward to adding more trucks. He has been encouraged by the feedback he’s gotten from multi-route distributors at the Tool Fair.

He has never forgotten the important role model his grandfather was to him as a youngster, and he continues to do his best to support his customers and his community. He sees the mobile distributor role as an opportunity to help people while also earning a good living.

Tom Seagraves’ Top 5 Tools

Dewalt DCK280C2 Kit
Dewalt DCK31153 Kit
Mac Tools AWP050 1/2" impact wrench
Mac Tools 29-pc Cobalt Drill Bit Set
Mac Tools ET99 scanner

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