Sales Tip: Learn as you go

Brian Baker, a multi-route operator and tool distributor with Mac Tools, wasn’t always attuned to what technicians may need as a newcomer to the industry.

“I didn’t come from a technician background, so I didn’t know a lot of the products [when starting out],” he said. “I knew what a screwdriver, hammer, and a wrench were, but there were and are a lot of automotive-specific tools that I didn’t know what the heck they were,” he says. Luckily, he adds, most of his customers don’t always know what they’re looking for, either.

“’I need that one thing that's about this long, and then its got a 90 and a 45-something on the end,’” he says. “[Technicians] trying to explain to me wasn’t quite learning a new language, but similar. Almost four years later, you tell me what you need and 99 percent of the time I know exactly what it is.”