Pro Tips: How to get customers to buy from you and not online

While it might be convenient to click "add to cart" instead of leaving the shop, technicians miss out on a lot when they forego face-to-face interactions with you, the distributor. It's your job to show them what they're missing and get them on your truck instead of surfing the web. We've compiled a list of tips from fellow distributors who know just how to keep their customers from shopping online.

2. Keep stock and be willing to help

“Having the product in stock and offering that service, you have to sell yourself, that’s probably the two biggest things. Having a product that they can have in their hand and then being able to take care of it when something happens. My customers know that when they come to me with a problem, it’s going to be taken care of, and that will keep them coming back and buying.” 

—Brian Deakins, independent distributor

3. Service, service, service

“Service. What I give them, they can't [get online]. They can't get the pink wigs. They can't get the attitude. They can't feel the love and the appreciation that I bring to the table. I’ve had guys say, ‘When you don’t show up, I’m sad for three days!’ A lot of it is what I bring when I show up ... when you can come into a shop and have an atmospheric change when you pull in and turn on the light.” 

—Robert Tolbert, Mac Tools

4. Taking care of business 

"Personal service. I mean, it's the same old answers, but that's really what it comes down to. It's all in trust that if they break something, I'm going to take care of it, because otherwise I tell them, 'You go online, that's your responsibility.' Whether I sell that line of Milwaukee or whatever, no. That doesn't sound right because that sounds like I don't want to give them service, but ... I do have to prove myself. If I go to a new shop, I have to prove myself — who I am."

—Gerri Schneider, independent distributor

5. Make yourself their first choice 

“With online competitors, service is so much more of a premium than ever before,” he says. “[In years past,] customers bought from a tool dealer because they showed up and the customers didn’t really have a choice. In today’s market, they absolutely have a choice. It’s not about the price; it’s completely about the service.”

—Steve O'Leary, Mac Tools