On top of his game

Feb. 4, 2015
Superior service and persistence with customers keep this Louisiana Matco distributor’s business booming.

Every day of the week, Matco Tools distributor Craig Wineinger spends about 12 hours on the road to service his customers. After he finishes his route around 6 PM, he grabs dinner and then goes back out to the truck with his wife to restock inventory and count down the till.

This day-in and day-out dedication has helped Shreveport, La.-based Wineinger achieve a Top 30 ranking all three years in business, and he hopes to continue this success.

Wineinger has run his route since October 2011. With windshield time topping off at a minimal 150 miles per week, Wineinger’s main stops include some independent repair shops, body shops, industrial facilities and a number of dealerships. He counts about 300 customers on the books, but will also have customers that pay in full when they purchase off his truck.

Wineinger has set a long-term goal for himself, and his family, with the business. He’d like to retire with Matco Tools, by signing up for three 10-year renewals with the company. "That’d put me at about 60 (years old)."

"I figure, what I’ve done in the three years, if I can do that in 27 more years, I should be able to have everything I want and retire, send my kids to college. All that good stuff."

From the beginning

Wineinger first began working at 16 years old as a mortician in Greenville, Texas, where most of his family resides. Married to his high school sweetheart, Cara, Wineinger was concerned about putting in the long hours at the funeral home.

"I worked for a small, family-owned firm. I got to where I was working 70 to 80 hours a week. I was working nights. It started to affect my marriage. So it was basically time to choose – my job or my family," says Wineinger. "I went the family route."

He left the business to pursue a career running a mobile route for clothing delivery service provider Aramark. He ended up in Louisiana by way of a promotion to district manager with the company, but found the corporate position just wasn’t for him.

One night after an exceptionally grueling shift that lasted somewhere shy of 17 hours, Wineinger came home from work and mentioned to his wife that he wanted to find another job. What did she think about owning a franchise?

Wineinger did some research and found information about Matco Tools online. He submitted an application for consideration, and received a call two days later. After an extensive discussion with a district manager, Wineinger decided the job was for him.

When talking over the route with Cara, he explained to her that "If I can sell uniforms, I can show up and sell tools," says Wineinger. "The uniforms are just an image of a company. Tools are actually making them (customers) money."

Basic shop approach

Wineinger’s truck doesn’t have a driver walkthrough, so he has to get out of his truck each time he arrives at a shop. Before heading into each stop, his general approach is to go to the back of the truck to check orders, how much customers owe and pick up any special orders to deliver to customers in the shop.

"Usually if a guy orders something I won’t go in (the shop) empty-handed," says Wineinger. He wants to ensure that the technicians notice he’s dropping off these tools for his customers.

"I want to bring in the product and let the other guys see ‘that guy’s bringing you a product.’ They might not do anything, but they know I’m getting product to the guy every week."

He drops off flyers every other week. The week he isn’t handing out a flyer, he’s in the shop to see if anyone has interest in purchasing something from the previous week’s flyer.

Wineinger has printed his business cards as stickers, so he can put them on catalogs for easy access to his contact info.

Once he visits with everyone, he’ll head back out to the truck and customers will follow.

Selling the service

Wineinger stresses the importance of what the job of a mobile distributor actually entails to dealers just starting out.

When Wineinger has new distributors ride along on his truck, he explains to them, "You have to sell tools. But that’s not how you need to look at it. You need to look at it as, 'I want to be the guy to service you.' Provide the service that they (the customers) need, and you’ll be their guy."

Wineinger says it’s important to go into every shop, in order to talk with the customers and introduce yourself. This includes veteran customers and new hires alike.

"I go in to see if there are any new guys and introduce myself to them. You never know when they hire a new guy."

After the initial introduction, Wineinger will remain persistent by making sure to stop by that technician each week. He mentioned that for some customers, it’s taken as long as two years for them to come around. But once he sells a customer, he continues to provide the follow-up service to ensure they continue to buy.

Wineinger consistently maintains a positive attitude and strives to provide great customer service. He takes time with every customer. Even during his last stop of the day, he has the same demeanor and approach as the first stop that morning.

Wineinger also explains the importance of talking with every technician in the shop.

"Every guy in the shop is buying tools from somewhere. If he’s buying tools from someone else – I ask the question 'What have I done?' or ‘Why is he not buying tools from me?'" says Wineinger.
"I don’t predetermine if a guy buys tools or does business with me. I’m in sales, part of my job is to go sell tools and talk to guys to turn the business."

Wineinger goes on to explain the second half of the service he provides, after the initial sale. He consistently follows through on warranty, and will replace tools for customers.

"There are some things that I 'eat' to make a happy customer, instead of building up some grief," says Wineinger. Meaning that in order to provide a satisfying customer experience, he’ll sometimes take the loss. "If the customer thinks it’s warrantied, it has a warranty."

While Wineinger will set terms with his customers and expects weekly payments, he also remains flexible with customers in times of need.

"Image is everything"

"The most important customer is the one in front of you. That’s huge," says Wineinger.

With that, he finds it important to focus on image and how he presents himself to his customers and at shops. He tries to keep a clean, well-stocked truck.

"I do stay clean shaved. I tuck my shirt in. I don’t wear blue jeans, except on Fridays," says Wineinger. "I think image is everything."

Wineinger enjoys his business, and likes the freedom around making his own decisions that directly impact him. He also says one of the job’s highlights is the relationships that he’s built so far with customers.
He keeps his own personality, but Wineinger likes to mold himself and his presented personality to the customer he’s talking to at that moment.

"The cool thing about this (job) is you meet a lot of different personalities. The only way you know how they are is if you get talking to them," says Wineinger. "One thing I try to do in this job is adjust my personality to 'What am I doing in this situation?' Some guys are strictly business, some guys are laid back."

He has a knack for talking with his customers. He still remains professional, but he works and talks with them on “their level.” “I try to be myself. I’m more of a laid-back type. I feel like I can talk to anybody.”

He also says it’s important to be understanding with those customers.

"If you understand guys, and you help them out that one time, that’s a friendship for a long time. Because they know you helped them out when they were in need," says Wineinger.

Wineinger says that he averages a dedicated five minutes to every customer. He doesn’t rush speaking with the customer in the shop or on the truck, but he maintains efficiency and consistency when approaching everyone.

"I try not to rush the customers because that’s when you could get your big ticket item sales."

To gain clarity when Wineinger has a bad day, he offers another piece of advice to distributors:

"Just sit back in your truck and look at it. You’re the one that makes the day," he says. "If it’s going to be a bad day, you choose to make it a bad day." Instead of concerning himself with the bad event, such as a delinquent customer, he adds, "That’s okay. Chalk it up as a loss and sell more tools."

Finding a work-life balance

One of the biggest challenges Wineinger faces is work-life balance. His wife, Cara, helps out with the business, but also maintains a full-time job as a home health nurse. Along with that, the Wineingers have two children, ages eight and 11.

Wineinger had weighed his options with adding a second route, which Cara would run, but decided against it because of his family life.

"The problem is it comes to teacher conferences, PTA, basketball, football, gymnastics, soccer. We wouldn’t have any time for that," said Wineinger. "I want my kids to still have a nice childhood, and do everything they want to do. If my wife was running that (second route), there would be absolutely none of that. It’s not worth it to me to make my kids suffer just for me to have a little bit more."

One of Wineinger’s challenges is being able to attend those same practices and events for his family.

"I can be there all weekend, no big deal. But sometimes the after-school activities affect me, because I’m on my route for so long."

Wineinger mentions making adjustments to his schedule sometimes includes having his children join him on the truck.

"If my kids get sick, I put them on the truck with me. Put a bean bag in the back," says Wineinger.

"My son rides with me during the week in the summer. My daughter, she’s very blunt. She’ll start to ask guys, 'How much money you got?' It’s not a bad thing, too. She’ll say, 'Are you paying cash, or are you paying credit? Come on, we gotta go!'"

In addition to some assistance from his children, Cara also does a lot for the business. She assists Wineinger with after-hours items such as restocking the truck in the evening, and cleaning and straightening out the truck every night.

Without any intention of taking on a second route, Cara also signed up and attended the official two-week training course for new Matco Tools distributors, so she had a better understanding of the business.

"I wanted her to go to the school to learn the system," says Wineinger. "So, if I got terminally ill, had a bad car wreck or something [she could take the route over] because this is our primary income."

"She could quit her job, run the route and it wouldn’t change for these guys (the customers)."

Having the right inventory

Wineinger and his wife will complete an overhaul on the truck twice a year to move inventory around. Generally, Cara will take a vacation day from her job in order to spend an entire day rearranging the truck.

After the Matco training that Cara attended, Wineinger explains she became motivated the weekend she returned to change up the truck.

"She was so excited about going to school and doing all this that she wanted to put her touch into it."

Because Wineinger doesn’t come from a technician background, he’s not familiar with actually working on vehicles. He says this can sometimes be challenging for more complex tools, especially scan tools.

"I really try to learn, but I’ve still got a long ways to go. I always like to give a guy a demo with something like [a big-ticket item]. I’d rather let him play with it before he buys it."

"If he likes it, then it’s automatic," says Wineinger, as he snaps his fingers. "If he doesn’t like it, he’ll say ‘Maybe I can get the shop to buy this.'"

While Wineinger doesn’t have a technician background from turning wrenches previously, he still finds ways to educate himself about tools and equipment.

Wineinger has a fully stocked truck, and tries to make sure he has any product on hand that a customer may ask for. "If I don’t have the inventory, then I don’t have what they need."

When he doesn’t have that specific tool requested, he’ll always offer to special-order the product.

"If I order something (for a customer), I order him one, and I order me one," says Wineinger. "Because usually he’s probably not the only guy that needs it, right?"

Once he orders the second duplicate product for the truck, he then adds that product to his regular product SKU order.

Stay motivated: embrace the fear

Wineinger notes that there’s an importance of defining relationships with customers, in terms of friendships versus keeping it professional.

"Even though I get (to be) good friends with these guys, I don’t have a problem keeping business and friendship (separated). When I show up here on Wednesdays, it’s business. If we go out on the weekends, it’s a friendship," says Wineinger.

"These guys will become your friends. But, it’s how you make your business and friendships work."

When distributors are first starting out, and ride along with Wineinger as a primer to getting into the tool business, Wineinger explains to the new distributor that there’s a fear of the unknown.

"I tell guys, if you stay scared it’s going to work for you. Because as long as you’re scared you’re going to do whatever it takes to move product and stay motivated."

Wineinger has continued this thought process now that he has three years in the business.

"Eventually, it could all come to an end. Guys could quit buying tools. That’s what keeps me motivated to get up every morning, and make sure that’s not going to happen."

Wineinger explains that it’s important to always be afraid, because that keeps him motivated. "If you get too comfortable, you aren’t on top of your game."

Sponsored Recommendations

ZEUS+: The Cutting-Edge Diagnostic Solution for Smart, Fast, and Efficient Auto Repairs

The new ZEUS+ simplifies your diagnostic process and guides you through the right repair, avoiding unnecessary steps along the way. It gives you the software coverage, processing...

Diagnostic Pre- and Post-scan Reports are Solid Gold for Profitability

The following article highlights the significance of pre-scans and post-scans, particularly with Snap-on scan tools, showcasing their efficiency in diagnosing issues and preventing...

Unlock Precision and Certainty: TRITON-D10 Webinar Training for Advanced Vehicle Diagnostics

The TRITON-D10 lets you dig deep into the systems of a vehicle and evaluate performance with comparative data, systematically eliminating the unnecessary to provide you with only...

APOLLO-D9: Trustworthy Diagnostics for Precision Repairs

The APOLLO-D9 provides the diagnostic information and resources you need to get the job done. No more hunting through forums or endlessly searching to find the right answers. ...

Voice Your Opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Vehicle Service Pros, create an account today!