Nothing helps shape a mobile tool distributor like his or her past professional experiences.
Lewiston, Maine-based Mac Tools distributor Norma Girardin always gravitated toward the types of jobs that made it seem like she was destined to sell tools for a living. Prior to getting her start with Mac Tools, she worked as both a welder and a metal fabricator. While both gigs helped prepare Girardin for a future in which she would spend her days as an entrepreneur and tool salesperson, neither of them had the sort of impact as her time spent as a service manager for a car dealership.
“Everyone will take different things from different jobs,” explains Girardin, who has been a Mac Tools distributor for 12-plus years and covers the middle coast of Maine. “That was something where I learned a lot and got pretty good at dealing with problems. And I took it with me.”
Effectively and consistently addressing the needs and wants of her customers has been a focus of Girardin’s ever since she got her start selling tools. There were occasions when she worked in the service department of the dealership that called for her to assist a person whose emotions were running high, so Girardin was forced to learn how to diffuse an awkward or heated situation while solving a problem at the same time.
“Mostly it was about the person’s situation, more than it was about you,” says Girardin. “But you had to figure out what was making them mad and kind of work with them.”
Her time spent in that role, while valuable, was hardly easy.
“That was probably the most difficult job I’ve ever had,” says Girardin. “That really taught me how to fix something that needed to be fixed.”
The knowledge she gleaned from her past professional experience has served Girardin well in her current job as an entrepreneur and mobile tool distributor. Her approach to selling tools revolves around the idea that she has to show her customers what she has to offer that they can’t get from anyone or anywhere else. Almost always, what she can provide has little to do with how much a tool or piece of equipment costs and everything to do with service.
“My price isn’t the bargain, but I am,” says Girardin. “And I have to take care of things. If I don’t get paid for my service, it’s not the end of the world. The end of the world is when (the customer stops) buying tools.”
Over time, Girardin has learned how to trust in herself as someone who has built a business where she (and her employee, who has worked with her for two-plus years are) capable of providing an elite level of service.
“I’m going to take care of any problems you have,” says Girardin. “And it’s not just me. I have all of Mac Tools behind me, too.”
