You can’t carry everything on your truck. There isn’t the room or the cash to do that. So, there’s a balance between what you stock and what you special order.
Using his previous year’s sales report from Cornwell’s software, Cornwell Dealer Andrew Phelps says he “spits out the top three pages” of his annual sales report to be sure he has the most sold items stocked. Phelps also has regular conference calls with other Cornwell dealers and determines what his fellow dealers find hot and tries to stock those items.
Keeping an accurate tally on your inventory is key. If you find a deal on an item, you need to know how many you have in stock already. You don’t want to overload on an item just because your inventory count is off. This ties up cash and space.
Phil Sasso is president of Sasso Marketing Inc. (www.sassomarketing.com), a technical marketing agency providing advertising, public relations and promotional services to tool and equipment marketers. Subscribe to his free marketing tip at philsasso.com/blog.
