Kevin Crass believes that to run a successful mobile tool business, a dealer has to hold up a reputation as an honest and trustworthy person. Crass has been a mobile tool dealer for Cornwell Quality Tools in the Willamette Valley area of Oregon – just south of Portland – for four years. He holds a rural and small-town route with his primary stops at farms and agriculture equipment shops.
Crass holds an associate’s degree in engineering and worked in manufacturing before “getting off the old corporate wheel.” He says that he has no regrets and loves his job. “I work a lot of hours; I don’t work hard, I just work a lot. Half-days,” he jokes, “only 7 AM to 7PM, Monday through Friday.
Although Crass has never worked as a technician, he believes not having a technician’s background has proved to be more helpful than harmful. If the technicians want a tool, and he doesn’t know about it, Crass asks the technician to tell him about it. “They are more than happy to tell me how things work.” He says, “I think in a way, it helps me that I don’t come off as a know-it-all. I think most of these guys are smart enough to know what they need; they don’t need me to tell them. I think it helps more than hurts to give them the opportunity to teach me.”
In addition to learning from technicians, to educate himself, Crass reads up on the “latest and greatest” tools to market. While Crass doesn’t have the technical knowledge to fix vehicles, he is still able to suggest certain tools to his customers.
Recently, Crass has noticed that portable jump starters belong in the category of “latest and greatest” new tools. “It’s hard to keep them on the truck. They sell really well.”
Listen to customers
The favorite part of his job is being around and working with people. One of the challenges of working with customers, he finds, is meeting all of his obligations, which includes entering orders. A customer might share their request for an item casually with Crass. He says, “Sometimes it’s almost in code.”
The technique Crass uses to combat speaking in code? He listens. “Customers always tell you, but they might mention what they want casually. You just have to listen and try to figure out what they really want.”
He’s not always in a place where he can enter orders into the computer, or write them down, even. “You better be paying attention or you miss out. That goes from shoes to toolboxes. You just have to listen.”
He tries to make it a point to enter all customer requests into the system before he leaves without forgetting. But, he says, “I’ve done it before where a customer says ‘have you ordered my shoes?’”
Crass says that the key to his success is holding up his reputation. “Be honest. If I make a mistake, I tell them.”
He explains that it is extremely easy to tarnish a hard-earned reputation by skirting the truth. “If you make one person happy, that’s great. If you make one person mad, they will tell everyone they know,” he says. “So, I try to keep them happy, as best I can.”
Crass carries this strategy all the way through his business from taking orders to collecting payments. When he first started as a mobile tool dealer, he was too shy to ask for a payment. “Now, I just ask if they’re ready to make a donation to the tool truck. That’s a big difference from then to now, you have to ask politely, or they won’t bring it up.”
He also says that his district manager gave him a sound piece of advice when he first started out, in regards to collections. He said, “Somebody is going to get trained, either they are going to get trained or they will train you.” This advice has stuck with Crass, and his customers know that if they don’t make a payment this week, they will have to make up for it in the future.