It’s safe to say most veteran mobile tool dealers would balk at the prospect of abandoning their route, moving across the country and trying to recreate their professional success by calling on new customers in a place so far from where they call home.
Longtime Matco Tools distributor Justin Griswold is fully aware of this fact. However, it won’t stop him from seeking a better life for his family. As a result, he, his wife, and their two children recently left their home in Rio Rancho, N.M., a suburb of Albuquerque, to get a new start in the Tampa, Fla. area. An eight-year veteran of selling tools, Griswold is approaching the move as an opportunity to grow, evolve, and ultimately improve himself as a distributor.
“Over time, I became complacent and no longer operated the same as when I started my business,” says Griswold. “So, the job for me is not to 100-percent reinvent myself, but to identify the weaknesses in my operation and improve.”
Professionally, everything was going great for Griswold in New Mexico. He made good money. His business experienced steady and measurable growth. But he wanted more for his family. More specifically, Griswold wasn’t thrilled with the education system in New Mexico, and with two children, ages six and 2 ½, the time seemed right to undertake a move.
“I want to have better opportunities for my children, and the area we moved to has some nationally awarded public schools, which is amazing,” explains Griswold. “I want to give them a better start.”
Though he is confident in his decision to relocate his family to Florida, Griswold readily admits he is not completely sure what the future holds for him professionally. Hitting the reset button on his business is a bold move, but Griswold says he’s fully prepared for anything.
“My wife and I have acknowledged that, when we started, we had little capital,” he continues. “We had a small inventory, and I didn't have any idea of what I was doing. Now, after eight years, I have experience, we have money in the bank, and I have twice the inventory.”
In order to achieve the results he was accustomed to in New Mexico, Griswold plans to focus on developing relationships with customers, building rapport with technicians who aren’t buying from him, and staying on top of collections.
“You take all of that for granted after you’ve worked an area for a certain amount of time,” says Griswold.
“I’m excited to have new customers that are going to be able to get on my truck and say ‘So what’s new this week?” he continues. “I’m going be able to offer them products they haven’t seen before.”
