Maryland-based distributor Noah Hammond recently went independent. After nine years with a franchise, he decided to part ways with his flag and joined the GearWrench Street Team in January.
Hammond previously worked for Lowe’s out of high school and went into management, where he gained retail experience. He then shifted his professional focus to body shop work after about 10 years with Lowe’s to gain an understanding of the automotive market.
“It’s good, because I’ve got retail experience and it carried over to this,” says Hammond, of his mobile tool business.
“I just wanted to own my own business.”
Hammond says this idea likely stemmed from his experience with his father and grandfather, who are both woodworkers who owned their own businesses. “The idea of owning my own business somehow got into my genes.”
While Hammond makes a hobby of woodworking in his spare time, he decided to go the franchise route with what he knew: tools.
Controlling the growth
As Hammond has transitioned from a flag to an independent, he has noticed that there are some differences in terms of working with a newer organization and going independent.
He says his main challenge currently is controlling the growth he’s seen with the transition.
“You’ve got to manage your money and finances with growing. Right now, it’s growing so fast – I have to manage my ordering, and what people are paying,” says Hammond.
“That’s probably the biggest challenge I have right now; trying to reign back growth a little bit, because it’s easy to order $50,000 in tools, and all of a sudden you can’t pay for it.”
Hammond has found many benefits to working with the GearWrench Street Team. He says the company is putting together a “council of distributors” to assist with providing suggestions for improvements and changes, in which Hammond will participate.
Hammond has also also has begun talking with other distributors transitioning to the GearWrench Street Team about his own experience.
“The one thing I do like about GearWrench is that they’re extremely receptive to that feedback,” says Hammond.
“When GearWrench comes out with a new tool, they send me one, full retail. It’s just nice to see that the company wants you to succeed.”
Hammond works with the Street Team through his exclusive warehouse distributor, Medco.
“GearWrench tracks your sales through one vendor. So even if I bought GearWrench through (another warehouse distributor), it wouldn’t count toward my purchases (with Medco) at the end of the year.”
While this gives Hammond reason to stick with one warehouse distributor (WD), he has another reason for working primarily with Medco as well.
Regarding Medco, Hammond appreciates the ease of use with the WD’s website. As long as the item on the webpage shows “in stock” Hammond can order by mid-afternoon and have the product next-day. “I’m so close to Philadelphia that if I order something, I get it tomorrow. So I can promise somebody I’ll have it, and it hasn’t let me down yet.”
When setting up payments with a new or existing customer, Hammond keeps his terms at seven to 10 weeks.
However, another adjustment Hammond has had to make is setting up financing for his customers. Previously, he had the ability to extend credit for larger purchases. He has started working with a leasing company called Time Payment to begin financing larger balances. “They’ll do anything over $500, and they’ll credit you same-day. They’ll overnight you a check for the full balance, no recourse to me.”
With this program, Hammond is able to transfer the customer’s balance to the leasing company. The customer is then responsible for paying directly to Time Payment instead of Hammond.
“The only recourse they can have is if the customer doesn’t make their first payment, so it can come back to me,” says Hammond. To counteract this, he makes sure to take a down payment during the initial transaction.
Bringing on a second route
Two days per week, Hammond runs his Maryland-based route in Caroll County, which consists of a number of small towns northwest of Baltimore. The other three weekdays he covers Montgomery County, including Gaithersburg, Md., which borders Washington, D.C.
While the drive from those smaller Maryland towns to Gaithersburg takes more than an hour, one way, Hammond continues to see these stops on his route.
“It’s a weird area, but you’re so close to Washington, D.C. There’s a lot of government money, so I go there because almost all of those shops are always busy.”
While he does appreciate these stops on his route, he finds the windshield time can be a burden on his day. He spends nearly eight hours per week en route to different stops.
Hammond has worked to bring on a second route with a recruited technician, Tim Crawford. To create a more optimal route, Hammond has looked at tweaking his route as he transitions Crawford to the road.
“He’s going to take some of the stops that I don’t want to go to anymore,” says Hammond. “Sometimes, people might not like me for whatever reason – it’s just a fact. They might like him better.”
Adding a second route also allows Hammond to expand his footprint a bit farther, including Pennsylvania, near Gettysburg. “He’ll come down and help me support some of the guys that I can’t see,” says Hammond. “We’re going to expand to areas that I don’t cover.”
Crawford will drive a GearWrench-wrapped Ford Transit on his route, and he is currently establishing himself by driving around to different shops.
“Right now, he goes around in his car and he’ll drop stuff off for me, or collect money for me if I can’t make it,” says Hammond, of Crawford.
When Crawford first began mapping this route, he rode along with a GearWrench Mobile Specialist for a week. “They didn’t sell out of her truck, they just took orders. That really helped out a lot.”
Products to stock
Hammond used to sell quite a few tool storage options through his former flag. He hopes to continue this trend in the future, but currently doesn’t sell as many boxes or carts as he would like.
For pneumatic tools, while Hammond is eager to stock any line a customer asks for, he prefers to sell Ingersoll Rand.
“Ingersoll I stock because I’m familiar with their tools,” he says. “I can rebuild some of (the tools) on the truck. If a guy has a problem, I don’t have to try and send it to somebody. I can usually fix it myself. Or I can get the parts, and they (the customer) can do it.”
For cordless tools, Hammond likes to sell Milwaukee, particularly because of the company’s warranty process.
“If a customer brought me something that’s broken, we can go online. Milwaukee will give me a UPS shipping label for free and they guarantee within five days of them receiving the tool that you’ll have it back,” says Hammond. He also feels comfortable selling the tool because of its five-year warranty.
For diagnostic tools, Hammond enjoys working with Launch Tech USA because of their customer service, and the company’s willingness to work with Hammond’s customers.
“I love Launch. Anytime you ever have an issue, you call somebody up. I’ve had them email patches to customers to fix things. They’ve given customers factory pages out of the factory repair manual,” he says.
Hammond also sees opportunity in expanding his business, via Medco, by selling more consumables. He currently stocks and sells items such as oil drain plugs, shore bits, drill bits and glass cleaners, which Hammond says customers usually buy at auto parts stores. “Of all the other tool guys, nobody else sells them. I triple my money with this stuff.”
Knowing the customer
Of the stops Hammond makes, about 10 percent of the shops include heavy duty, and nearly 90 percent of his customers are in the independent automotive aftermarket. Of his independent shops, about one quarter of those are body shops.
Because Hammond previously worked as a body man, he’s more familiar with the necessary tools and preferences of body shop techs.
“I know what sanders they want. I know what paint guns they want. That’s the thing tool guys don’t know. I know, just from working at the body shops, that my tool guy never had any of that stuff,” says Hammond. He will sell different paint gun brands such as Awata, SADA and DeVilbiss. He finds that while it’s important to stock these brands, it’s also important to listen to what the body shop customer is looking for.
Coming from a shop background himself, Hammond can relate well to many of his customers.
“Mechanics will tell you – they’re pretty honest – they’ll tell you if they think it’s a bad price or a bad deal, or they don’t like the way you’re doing things. Usually all you have to do is listen, and they’ll tell you.”
While he can relate to these customers, he has transitioned his mentality to be more business-like when he approaches shops.
“I used to talk with them a lot, try to be their best friend. The next thing you know, you’ve only made it to five shops and you haven’t made any money. You haven’t sold anything,” says Hammond. “I think you’ve got to try and keep it focused on selling tools. If they want to talk about tools, and what this does, or why I think this is better, that stuff I talk about.
“I try to keep it on-topic. It doesn’t always work.”
While Hammond does wear GearWrench-branded apparel on his truck, he tries to keep his appearance more casual around customers. “It’s dependent on where you go. If you dress more like them, it helps.”
Regarding his approach to shops, Hammond will always bring flyers into the shop and he’ll usually tote and promote product.
“That’s a huge part of selling, is toting it (into the shop). A lot of distributors, that’s the first thing they drop. But if you carry stuff in, you hardly ever carry it back out.”
While Hammond does believe toting tools into the shop is a big part of his business, he makes sure to be mindful of customers at shops who carry higher balances.
“I’m almost trying to reign them in half the time. Selling is the easy part of this business. People don’t realize – you’re not a tool salesman, you’re a bill collector. You’re a banker. It’s not selling tools; they usually sell themselves.”
Setting his own schedule
Hammond’s typical day is shorter than some distributors.
Hammond enjoys being able to work his own schedule, particularly when it comes to balancing work and family.
“That’s the hardest part, and that’s why I don’t work as much. I know a lot of other tool distributors that don’t have kids, they’ll work 7 AM to 7 PM. I don’t. I make a decent living and I’m happy,” says Hammond. “To me, it’s (family) important. You have to spend time with the kids.”
He has two young boys, ages six and eight, and makes sure to take them to school around 7:30 every morning before he begins his route. He’s usually home by 5:30 PM so he can spend time with his family in the evening as well.
Hammond’s wife, Amy, also works full time.
The challenge of balancing work and family is one of Hammond’s main reasons why he likes his job most: he can make his own hours.
“You can come and go as you please,” says Hammond, still emphasizing the importance of sticking to a route. “You can do your own thing, you’re in charge. I really like it now that I’m really independent.”
That flexibility also has afforded Hammond the opportunity to take a vacation with his family. While in the past he would take a Friday off to create a long weekend, or stay a few extra days at his previous flag’s annual tool show, he plans to take a full week off this year.
“Now that I have someone working for me, I can just have someone collect. He’s already done it for me,” says Hammond. “At least there’s money being made.”
“For right now, I really enjoy it. It’s a whole lot more refreshing doing it.”
Top 5 Tools
- GearWrench 120XP Spline Drive Ratchets (No. 86126)
- GearWrench 11-pc pinless Universal metric sockets
- Ingersoll Rand 2235 1/2” Impact
- GearWrench locking flexhead ratchets (multiple styles/sizes: 120XP and 84 tooth – 1/4” 3/8” and 1/2”) – can use the 120XP version
- GearWrench universal bit driver sets (multiple styles/sizes: stubby, spline drive, torx, specialty sockets, safety torx, triple square. 3/8” 1/2")
