Every year, the CFO and COO of AIS Industrial and Construction Supply, a Denver-based, general-line distributor of construction products, power tools, hand tools, safety products, fasteners, hoses and more, host a joint marketing planning summit, a meeting of AIS staff and up to a dozen key manufacturers. The summit, which takes place around the end of each year, is a hard-core, focused roundtable where AIS identifies specific markets, customers and activities to target with their manufacturers.

"We sit down and go through line by line, and decide what activities to perform," says Mark Mahler, chief operating officer of AIS. "We play the numbers game: how many band saw blade tests do we need a month and the sales success rate; how many demos with a new grinder and the success rate. We really target where we are going to go, who we'll talk to, and how much they're worth."

Over two days, the factory/manufacturer reps come in and do mini-booth sessions with the AIS sales staff. Each member of the staff spends about 45 minutes with each vendor, and by the end of the two days, they have their marching orders as to where they are going to grow their business.

"The first year we did it, six of the 10 manufacturers we partnered with had sales increases of 30 percent," says Mahler. "And that was in a down year. The next year, those in the first year wanted to do it again, and the participation continues to grow."

AIS's summits have caught on, and are proving so popular that they've become invitation-only events. In fact, last year, AIS turned away three times as many vendors as it invited.

"We can't do 30 of these things because it would get so diluted that nobody would get any play," states Mahler.

Sean Kenny is national marketing group manager at Milwaukee Electric Tool, headquartered in Brookfield, Wis.

"[AIS] adds value to the lines they sell, and actively promotes the product line," he says. "A lot of times it's not dynamics that make a great distributor, but the basics. AIS has all the basics that are needed for a world-class organization."

While the joint summits are designed to keep their vendors informed, and their sales staff on target, AIS recognizes that the key to a successful distributorship is a happy, and returning, customer.

Steve Mulder is warehouse manager for Murphy Mechanical, a construction and engineering firm in Denver.

"There are times when I'm in a crunch, and Mark and Kathy [Bemus, inside sales] would stay until 7 the night before preparing my order to be brought over here at 6:30 the next morning," he says. "They've had to do that for me several times. AIS is very service oriented, and they go the extra mile for their customers. They've always been there for me."

States Mahler, "[When discussing what makes our company unique] we came up with a list: flexibility, buying power and creativity. If a customer asks us to drop everything we're doing and take care of them, we can."

Explains Dale Hahs, AIS's chief financial officer, "Flexibility is probably our number one strength. Being small and being accessible, we are able to do things that our larger competitors can't even think of doing, and doing them quickly. We also are in close contact with our software provider, Advanced Business Software, who can create applications as we need them."

As mentioned, buying power is another feather in AIS's cap. The company joined Affiliated Distributors, a marketing and buying group, so that as an independent, Colo.-owned business, AIS could put itself in a more competitive situation in terms of buying power.

Mahler says that a lot of their best ideas come from networking with other distributors within AD.

As for creativity, AIS had a sounding board in the form of its continued association with AD. "With [buying power] and some creative marketing, being focused on our niche, where there is a margin, and where we have strengths that our competitors have weaknesses," says Mahler, "we were able to come up with some creative things that we could do and say…to be sure our customers know about us."

A tag line that reads, "Think Outside the Big Box!," radio campaigns, and a billboard are just some examples of AIS's marketing efforts.

One intriguing idea had a billboard on the corner next to The Home Depot (a neighbor right down the street from AIS).

"We used the 'Outside the Big Box!' tag line, and had our name, a list of our manufacturers, and an arrow pointing down the street towards us," says Hahs.

"We're really willing to try pretty much anything, within reason, to get in front of the customer and let them know what our capabilities are," says Mahler.

Another campaign was put into effect when the company name and focus shifted from Aviation Industrial to AIS. "New name, same great company," was the phrase used to introduce the company, and its expanded capabilities, to customers who hadn't yet dealt with them.

Seemingly obsessed with staying in front of, and in contact with, customers at all times, Hahs and Mahler also host an annual golf tournament. Foursomes consist of customers, potential customers and supplier participants. The key to the tournaments, aside from bringing in new customers and reacquainting themselves with old, is for a fun time to be had by all.

"The golf tournament is kind of unique," says Hahs. "We try to get all the vendors to play, and match them up with a target customer. They get to know them, and the next time the customer receives them for a joint sales call, it's a friend calling on them, rather than someone they might want to blow off."

AIS's golf tournament has been a success since its beginning, with 140 participants this past year.

"We make it more of an outing than a tournament, really," says Mahler. "It's more about relationship building and friendship than it is about business."

Aside from the golf tournament, Hahs and Mahler extend relationship-building invitations for customers to Colorado Avalanche hockey games and Denver Nuggets basketball games.

"Customers want to buy from people that they like, and people that they have a good time with," says Hahs. "It breaks down barriers every time you do something off-site with someone."

As an example, Mahler talks about one industrial contractor that they were struggling with. They would always get some business, and he was always nice, but they couldn't understand why they couldn't get over the hump.

"We invited him to our first Monday Night Football event, and he had so much fun," says Mahler. "He'd been around the block, and knew exactly why we were taking him, but he rewarded us for thinking of him with his business. Our numbers with him tripled in three months."

Of course, getting in front of the customer is one thing, but providing him with good services is another. AIS offers its customers a wide range of specialized services.

"Opening our tool repair division was done at the request of one of our largest customers at the time, who wanted to close their in-house tool repair," says Hahs. "We set it up specifically for them, then expanded it and offered it to all our customers. It originally was a one-man outfit, then two, and now it's three."

As a business-to-business operation, AIS keeps the tool repair open only to their core customers. With little walk-in traffic, they've been able to maintain its exclusivity.

"It worked really well for us," says Mahler. "It's a significant revenue generator with a high profit margin. It's a service our competitors don't offer—we fix what we sell."

AIS's front-area showroom is relatively young at two years old. Less of a lure for customers, the showroom is what Hahs describes as a visual line card. A customer will walk in and get a good idea of the products AIS carries. While Mahler contends that the company's walk-in traffic hasn't improved because of the showroom, Hahs has seen plenty of orders with additional products found in the showroom.

A band-saw welder also is an added perk for AIS customers.

"That was for our customers who don't do too good of a job of keeping track of how many saw blades they have, and when they use their last one," says Mahler. "We couldn't provide a quick turnaround service for them before, because they had to come in from Arizona. We saw an opportunity to increase our business and add a service, so we put in the welder."

AIS was founded by Hahs' grandfather, along with other investors, in 1945. The company originally was located on the grounds of Stapleton Airport in Denver, at the same time the airport itself was being built. Hahs' grandfather, Paul J. Christensen, saw a need for someone to supply the new airlines as they grew. He bought surplus hardware after World War II, and set about his mission.

Over the years, Christensen found that he couldn't sustain a business only with aviation, so he started adding more industrial lines. The company also moved locations. With that, the then-Aviation Service Supply became Aviation Industrial Supply.

"He started with two or three other partners, ended up buying them out, [and brought in family members]," says Hahs. "It seemed like ever since then, every year he added more industrial lines, and then about 10 years ago, we switched the focus and added construction. Things were booming out here, and the new airport was being built."

Hahs' uncle and the company's current president, Coby Christensen, who started working at the company when he was 12, continues to carry on his integral role in AIS, as well as offer valuable leadership and advice to Hahs and Mahler.

The construction of Denver Inter-national Airport proved to be a jumping off point for AIS, Hahs and Mahler.

"The current source of construction supply couldn't keep up with the demand from all the contractors, and we've always been inventory specialists," says Mahler. "We increased our inventory of what the contractors would buy, as opposed to an airplane mechanic or an industrial account. After the project ended, we maintained those relationships. And as they started to build other things, they kept calling us."

Mahler and Hahs try to maintain three market niches for AIS. One focus is the industrial electrical-mechanical contractor. Not the guys who show up to do a quick job, but those who build hospitals, schools—primarily infrastructure work. They maintain an industrial base that is more the heavy smokestack industry: refining, mining, transportation, and utility generation and transmission. The balance is a municipal presence. AIS has 15 manufacturers that hold contracts with the state, and municipal agencies can select from those vendors.

"We try to give ourselves a little bit of insulation from economic swings in all three sectors," says Mahler. "If construction is down, then we've got municipal and the industrial business to stay the course. And when construction is booming, we fly."

Tony Reinhard is purchasing manager/operations manager at Crabb, Inc., a mechanical contractor in Denver.

"AIS is like an extension of our company," says Reinhard. "Their service is better than one job at one time; they are extraordinary for weeks, months and years. Their focus is achieving satisfaction for the customer."

"Ours is still very much a face-to-face business," says Mahler. "…Our creativity kicks in, and our methods to get in front of the customers are non-traditional. All our competitors have outside sales guys, and they're all out beating on the same doors to get the business. If we find ways that are unique to present our message, can accurately communicate all the services we provide and the inventory that we carry, and let them know it's a privilege to do business with them, we've done a good job."