Kel-Welco keeps customers healthy

By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 5/1/2000

Kel-Welco sales representatives stay ahead of the pack by sticking with their customers through thick and thin.

Bob Eichelberg, vice president of sales and marketing of the Omaha, Nebr.-based distributor, says the business is about developing customer trust and knowing what the customer needs. The company motto, We have service after the sale,' keeps the staff focused on this philosophy.

"A large percentage of our business is relationship selling," Eichelberg says. "If it's not right, [they know] you're going to take care of them. A lot of our customers know the outside salesman by first name."

After 25 years in business, the privately held power tool, fastener and construction-related products distributor has nine Midwestern branches in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. A 34,000 square-foot distribution and training center is part of the Omaha headquarters complex and each branch location has a Tool Hospital,' or tool repair center.

Kel-Welco plans to open a tenth location this year. Eichelberg says an outside salesperson is teamed with an inside salesperson at each branch. Local sales representatives also get involved with area business and civic organizations.

"When we move into a town, we join the chamber and other community groups," Eichelberg says. "We find out where the local construction hall is and where the local drywall union is. If you're going to do business in a town, you have to be part of it. A lot of distributors have a main office and open a branch and just want to sell. We want to become part of the community."

Although Kel-Welco does not release revenue figures, Eichelberg says the company can be categorized as medium to large based on sales and has enjoyed double digit growth for the last five years. Industrial Distribution classifies mid-sized companies as those with annual sales between $10 and $50 million. Eichelberg says about 30 percent of the company's revenues comes from sales of power tools and construction equipment. The rest comes from related items like safety equipment, ladders, clothing and fasteners.

Closing deals and schmoozing at local business organizations such as the Iowa Roofers Association in Des Moines represent the peaks in any sales job. Yet employees also willingly walk with customers through the valleys. From negotiating with manufacturers when a tool isn't quite what the customer needed to researching available solutions to unique needs, Kel-Welco goes the distance.

Steve Murnan, vice president of Omaha Door & Window Co., Inc. credits a Kel-Welco representative with finding an industrial dust collector to collect sawdust and going beyond the call of duty to help his staff install it. Murnan says he's been doing business with the company since co-founder Phil Welch, Jr. made a personal sales call to his window and door installation shop in the mid 1970s.

"We have good service from them, they'll even come and pick up the tool that's not working," Murnan says. "[Recently] we had some cordless drills that didn't have quite the power that we need. They called the manufacturer's rep in. The rep agreed that it's not what we needed and they upgraded us to a different tool. We had to just pay for the upgrade."