Rising through the ranks
Sonnet Supply president/CEO Linda Navarro conquered adversity and rose to the top at this cutting tool house
By John R Johnson -- Industrial Distribution, 1/1/1999
Upon arriving in Los Angeles on the back of a motorcycle in 1977, Linda Navarro remembers asking the question, "now what do I do?"In desperate need of a job, Navarro knew nothing about industrial distribution, not to mention cutting tools. Her brief background in Canada had been in publishing, but Navarro nonetheless applied for the file clerk job posted at Sonnet Supply just outside of LA. "I'm not a file clerk," she said when she arrived for her interview, "but I need a job."
Eric MacNeil, then Sonnet's president, gave her a shot. Twenty-one years after arriving in LA as an 18-year-old in need of a paycheck and a little direction, Linda Navarro is president of Sonnet Supply, a prestigious cutting tool house that caters mostly to the aerospace industry. Along the way, Navarro worked in the warehouse, did inside sales, moved to outside sales, ramped up Sonnet's telemarketing program, became vice president, and, finally, president in December of 1997.
There were a lot of frustrations along the way and learning curves to be negotiated, but Navarro steered through the tough times and now uses her experience to help drive her young staff of 15 employees, the majority of which is comprised of women.
"I know every job here and what it entails, and you can't put a price on that," says Navarro. "I put myself in my employees' shoes a lot of the time. I know the hardships that a rookie here has to go through."
That's because she's gone through them all herself. Navarro remembers one of her first sales calls after being named an outside sales rep. "I knew the products, most of our lines, and how to run some of the machines, but I was so green," she recalls. Upon reaching her first account, she was greeted by a buyer who stated "I don't deal with women so there's no need for you to come back."
Navarro admits to crying her heart out as she climbed back into her car. "I had never experienced rejection before," she says. But for every negative, there seemed to be a positive. The engineer on her next call said "I know you're a new kid on the block, so let me teach you about the tools I purchase. You're not too bad for a girl."
"Her growing up in the industry [is reflected in her management style,]" says Tom Cornwell, western regional manager for Onsrud Cutter, Inc., a major supplier to Sonnet Supply. "She's seen it from floor sweeper all the way to the top, so she has a very good handle on what it takes."
Not just for men anymore
Dr. Merle Hilliard is the 77-year-old chairman of Sonnet Group, a $10 million company consisting of Sonnet Supply, Sonnet Tool Co. (a cutting tool manufacturer) and Sonnet International, a tool exporter. He founded the firm in 1946, when it was a rarity to have women in the business.
"There was a time in this industry when male order-board people (inside salespeople) were the only ones acceptable," says Hilliard. "Now the majority of our order board is female. The business has changed."
Indeed, distribution is dotted by more and more women chief executives. In an industry where it is common to reward some employees with tickets to race car events or football games, the women on Navarro's inside sales staff get goodies from Victoria's Secret.
Despite being the logical candidate to succeed MacNeil when he retired in 1996, Hilliard gave Navarro a one-year trial period as chief executive officer. Navarro passed the test. Hilliard noted her marketing skills and ability to network and find new accounts, as well as successfully manage and motivate her staff.
Navarro was recently named to the steering committee for the Young Executives Forum, a branch of the Industrial Distribution Assn. In July, Navarro was elected president of the Los Angeles Industrial Distributors Assn. She also participates in the Small Business Network Development held at the University of Southern California.
"She's not writing the business she gets based on the fact that she's a woman," says Hilliard, "but because she's a very competent person. She can hold her own."
Customer is king
A big part of Navarro's approach -- and that of everybody at Sonnet -- is customer service. "We treat the customer like a king, and in return it brings more business for us," she says. That is clearly the case at AHF Ducommon, a job shop in the defense and aerospace industry in Gardena, Calif. The firm makes parts like wing control fuselage body panels, as well as the structure for the external tanks that go into space with the Space Shuttle.
"If Sonnet didn't provide service on time, we literally could shut down the production line and stop the launch date of the shuttle," says Brian Bennett, senior manufacturing engineer at AHF. "With Sonnet and our other suppliers, we weigh purchases more heavily on delivery and people keeping their word than we do on price, especially when the penalty we face is a hell of a lot higher than the few nickels you're going to save."
However, for those who are extra sensitive about price, Navarro has no problem opening her books to reveal her true costs. It's a policy she feels strongly about, although it's one that often results in bewilderment on behalf of Sonnet's customers.
"My books are open to all of them," she says. "I need a certain profit in order to operate, and in return my books are open. It's wonderful, but a lot of people are shocked by the openness. People are not used to being that open, but this helps the customer trust us. When I open my books, I've just worn my heart on my sleeve and shown them the value of our company. Then, they trust us and usually give us first call for their requirements.
"I have everything on paper, and when I say I need a certain profit, they can see what I've paid for the product. There's a certain profit a distributor needs to stay in business."
One of the policies Navarro has implemented since being named president is using the same "open book management" policy within Sonnet Supply. The firm has always been privately owned and financials have been private, too. But Navarro insists employees have an understanding of what the business costs are, and how Sonnet makes a profit.
"We've never told our employees how our overhead runs, but it promotes such a team spirit for everyone," says Navarro. "Rather than an employee just knowing one piece of the business, they know that there are bills that need to be paid, and that [working efficiently] is the difference between a big raise and a small raise. They know exactly what they need to do as individuals and as a group, and they strive for that."
The ideal marriage?
If anything, Navarro is a relationship person. She greatly values her partnerships with customers, and credits them with helping the company survive in the early 90s, when California was swamped by recession and Sonnet's employees were cut from 42 to 15. She frequently refers to her employees as family, and feels a responsibility to better their career paths and their lifestyles.
However, just as important are Sonnet Supply's relationships with its manufacturer partners. One reason the firm has stayed profitable, Navarro says, is because of its close relationships with manufacturers. Navarro hand picks the lines that Sonnet carries, and while she's added some new ones recently, Sonnet is still without an indexable turning line because Navarro hasn't located the perfect partner for that product.
"I'm very selective, because I'm a long-term person and when I make a decision I want to stick with it," she says. "I see it as a marriage; I want to make sure it's what they want and that we are reading off the same sheet music. There are few manufacturers who see the value of a partnership, as opposed to just giving their line to everyone and anyone.''
One that does see the benefit is Onsrud Cutter, with whom Sonnet has had a strategic relationship for several years. Sonnet is one of Onsrud's five aircraft "warehouses," or distributors that maintain their contracts with the aircraft industry. Aside from that, Onsrud and Sonnet are working on developing seminars for customers that will further add value to the products Sonnet sells.
"They are one of our very long-term distributors, and have probably been within our top 20 distributors for over 20 years," says Cornwell. "They stock very heavily, they are technically competent, and Linda has been to our training sessions. [Education] is a key to keeping this going, because the components we make are cutting edge, like thin-film diamond products that go into very special applications. These tools are very expensive and highly technical, and if the application isn't right it could create major problems.''
Navarro feels strongly about spreading the wealth of knowledge available from her vendors and staff to her customers. She also works with Onsrud to aggressively define new customers.
"We've concentrated on finding every user of routing bits and attacking them," she says. "With Tom's technical knowledge and the synergy between our inside and outside sales teams, we've identified anyone using a router and they know who Sonnet is. We're putting seminars together which are value added features. It's a win-win situation. We want to help educate the customer. We don't want to just sell the cutter; we want to help those beginners who are just starting in the business and need some education."
That's easy to understand. Just over 20 years ago, Linda Navarro was in the same shoes.
This article was adapted from the November, 1998 ASMMA/I.D.A. Convention Guide.
COMPANY SNAPSHOT
Sonnet Supply
Headquarters: Hawthorne, Calif.
President: Linda Navarro
Founded: 1946
Locations: 1
1997 Sales: $10 million*
Specialty: Cutting tools
Web site: www.sonnetgroup.com
*Includes sales for Sonnet Supply,
Sonnet International and Sonnet Tool Co.
Entertaining new markets
At one time, the defense industry accounted for nearly all of Sonnet Supply's revenue. But with the end of the Cold War, and the recession of the early 90s, the defense and aircraft industries now make up just over half of Sonnet Supply's sales.
Linda Navarro, Sonnet Supply's president, looks to Hollywood for new markets.
"We're slowly slipping into the entertainment industry," says Navarro. "A couple of studios have opened recently near Sonnet, and we're looking into those. The entertainment industry is thriving. All studios have maintenance and machine shops, and they need our knowledge and equipment. That's where we can be a real asset."
That's not to say that Sonnet will ever de-emphasize its aerospace business. "We'll always do aerospace because we're very good at it," says Navarro. "The pie is smaller, but we still feel we can get our good share of that pie. We are putting our effort into looking at other industries, but defense is still where we got started, and we hope to get a bigger portion. Aerospace is our steady marriage, but our growth may lie in [other] industries."
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