Around 600 Cornwell Quality Tools mobile tool dealers got together April 8-9 in Orlando, Fla., for the annual Cornwell Tool Rally. The dealers had not been together since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 48 percent of the dealers were at a tool rally for the very first time.
“This is by far the most well attended tool rally, and the attitude and enthusiasm is unbelievable,” said Bob Studenic, president and CEO of Cornwell. “Everybody is pumped up. I wish we could can the enthusiasm for future use!”
The theme of this year’s tool rally was “Forging Ahead” — a nod to forging through COVID, inflation, and supply chain issues.
“We’re forging through the process of continuing the business, continuing our sales plan, our marketing plan without being distracted with all this other noise that’s impacting every business out there,” Studenic said.
Cornwell just finished another record year in top-line revenue with 11 years of year-over-year growth.
New products
Some exciting new Cornwell products were launched at the tool rally, including a power crib tool storage solution for the company’s Platinum tool storage.
“It’s quite impressive,” said Don Russell, director of marketing. “It’s heavy. It’s got a lot of weight to it, but we have some slides on it, so when it’s fully loaded with tools you can literally undo the latch and open it up with two fingers, it slides out like butter.”
Cornwell also released a new line of tools storage called the "Elite Series", which is meant for smaller areas and is a good starter box. This is something Cornwell is able to build out of its own plant in the U.S.A.at a very nice price point, Russell explained.
“We are starting to see demand for that smaller starter box, but this might be looked at as an alternative to a service cart due to offshore pricing pressures,” he said. “This is being looked at a little differently from our dealer force.”
Lastly, Cornwell is introducing ratcheting wrenches with 120 teeth — a first for a mobile tool dealer company. This is sure to be a hit among technicians because the more teeth you have, the smaller the angle you have turn a ratchet for it to engage and the user can get into tighter places.
“With 90, 80, 70 teeth, there isn’t enough room for you to swing the ratchet for it to click to be able to rotate the bolt,” Russell said. “This one has a three-degree swing which is unbelievably small.”
Recruitment
Cornwell finished a fantastic year in 2021, with 47 new tool dealers coming on board. A brand new recruitment website was recently launched and with the “Great Resignation,” more technicians are looking for other career opportunities.
“Technicians are looking at ways to further their career, and they are seeing this family-oriented, really awesome franchise opportunity,” said Andy Scott, Cornwell’s director of sales. “They can control their destiny. They work hard repairing cars, they have that knowledge base, they come and work hard for their own family and be their own bosses.”
Many new recruits appreciate the family feel of Cornwell. It is a family-owned business that is clearly focused on treating dealers like family, and the majority of revenue comes from franchise owners.
“As leadership, we are always thinking about how decisions affect the franchise owners, not shareholders — because we don’t have any — not how it affects the medical side of our business — because we don have that,” Scott said. “It’s all about doing the right thing for our franchise owners.”
To further ensure consistent and open communication, the organization is staring the Cornwell Dealer Council that will meet once a year at the Cornwell facilities in Ohio to facilitate idea exchange.
