Independent mobile tool dealers Rob Pochos and his wife Zeita agree that the key to a successful mobile business is letting potential buyers know you're there to help them in any way they may need.
"If you're good to people and show them, 'Hey, I'm just up here to help you guys,’ they take care of you [too]," Pochos says. But it isn’t enough to do it one time. It needs to be a regular occurrence.
"You've got to be there every single week,” he says. “These other tool guys aren’t. You have to find out [what buyers need]. My motto is the week that I don't check with you, that's the week that you want or need something."
It's a lesson that Pochos learned early on after initially taking on his route. He was a very young seller when he first started running his truck and learned the importance of remaining available to customers as a reliable and valuable seller early on.
"I was literally talking to myself when I went to this one stop," Pochos explains. "I said 'God, I can't believe I'm doing this. This is an absolute waste of my time. I've been coming here a month and a half and this dude barely gives me the time of day,’” That day’s check-in netted Pochos a $275 bill of sale, all because he decided to see if his customer was in need of any products.
"If I would have listened to stupid me, I would have driven right past that [shop] and the next tool person in there would have gotten [that business]."
