Winter got you down?

Vendor Spotlights t Dealer Profiles t Great Products
Sundry Scene
WINTER 2015 t PUBLISHED BY LANCASTER
FUN
SUN
IN THE
Winter got you down?
Warm up at Disney in
Orlando, Florida, with Lancaster’s
second trade show of 2015.
Between Us
Contents
Winter 2015
New Year,
New Possibilities
3
Between Us
A letter from Geff Lynch.
4
Under One Concise Roof
New Jersey-based Siperstein’s
Fords Paints is a one-stop shop.
Geff Lynch
senior vice president of sales
and marketing at Lancaster
M
ost of us approach the New Year with the anticipation of a fresh
start and a commitment to setting new goals and resolutions.
This usually includes looking back over the past year, taking
stock of all the areas in which we want to improve and creating
a plan for accomplishing things in the year ahead. We usually
are thinking about our personal lives when we go through this process, but I
would suggest to you it is also an opportune time to do this for your business.
This is the perfect time, before the busy paint season, to take a fresh look
at your store and ask yourself some questions that will get you thinking
about ways to improve the shopping experience and increase sales from your
existing customer base.
6
Destination Discovery
A look at the highlights and
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If you have asked yourself these questions, you’ve most likely found some
areas that could use improvement. If so, we think this issue of Sundry Scene
magazine paints a compelling picture of how our upcoming shows can be the
perfect source for ideas and tools that can help you with the above and more.
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gotten from attending these shows in the past. With more than a hundred
vendors on hand, there is no better venue at which to see new products and
get huge savings.
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interaction with hundreds of people who can help you grow your business.
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back to interacting with people in person, instead of through technology, can
have a positive impact on your business.
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parts of the country that are innovating and adapting in unique ways to keep
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and we look forward to sharing more success stories in future issues.
See you at the shows! ʕ
14
Clayton Paint and Flooring
Center Survives, Then Thrives
This Georgia-based Lancaster
dealer managed to expand during
the downturn.
26
The Power of Face-to-Face
Interaction
A column on retailing best practices
by consultant Sonya Ruff Jarvis
Sundry Scene magazine. Published three times a year
by Lancaster Distributing, 1310 Union Street,
Spartanburg, SC 29302.
Sundry Scene W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 3
Under One Concise
ROOF
Dealer
Winter 2015
Profile
Siperstein’s brings together
convenience, experience.
Owner Barbra Siperstein with CFO Jana Siperstein-Szucs.
By Julianne Will
Y
ou have to hand it to
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tongue, and it has stuck in the
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great-grandfather and greatgrandmother Nathan and
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4 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
Nathan Siperstein started as a painter, paperhanger, decorator
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serve customers if he were in charge, so he and Lottie opened a
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Waverly are a new addition. Siperstein’s also offers
free in-store decorating services. But the most popular
product, of course, is paint, says Siperstein-Szucs.
Streamlining the shopping experience to put more—
but not too much—under one roof has been a powerful
point of differentiation for the business, according to
Siperstein-Szucs.
“Competing with the big boxes and chains is our
greatest challenge. We need a way to stand out as being
different and better than anyone else,” she says. “What
we have seen change in the past 50 to 100 years is that
people want a more convenient way to shop. They don’t
want to have to run around to 10 different stores all day.
We want to make it easier on our customers, but avoid
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that they will have a superior experience.”
To that end, Siperstein’s is an authorized service center
for spray equipment and also carries a full line of apparel for
paint crews to better serve their contractor customer base.
For DIY homeowners, the store’s website, sipspaint.com,
features Sip’s Tips, which outlines the basic steps for
painting, staining, stenciling and more, advice gleaned
from the business’s 110-plus years of experience.
Word-of-mouth and personal contact with customers
also come into play for Siperstein Fords Paints. “It is
H[WUHPHO\GLIÀFXOWWRFRPSHWHDJDLQVWDPLOOLRQGROODU
marketing budget,” notes Siperstein-Szucs. So they take
“Great price. Great advice” to heart.
Siperstein’s has committed to social media as well as
Web-based advertising, and also sends out a monthly
newsletter that shows their customers all the “new that
they can do.”
Next up is a series of educational classes and
JDWKHULQJVRQVLWHLQWKHVWRUH´,GHÀQLWHO\VHHJURZWK
and expansion,” says Siperstein-Szucs. “We have already
started expanding our products to new and different
items. I would say the next thing on our agenda would be
expanding our customer base. We want to reach out and
educate customers about what makes us so special.” ʕ
Sundry Scene W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 5
DESTINATION
DISCOVERY
6 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
O
rlando is known
as a happy family
destination, a place
where the phrase
“fun for all ages” is
amply proved day
after day.
But a trade
show presented
by the nation’s
largest paint sundry
GLVWULEXWRULVPRVWGHÀQLWHO\EXVLQHVVRQWKHFXWWLQJ
edge.
One of Lancaster’s East Coast buying shows takes
place February 14 and 15 at Disney’s Coronado Springs
Resort, in Orlando, Florida.
Of course, at a show for the paint and decorating
retail industry, the cutting edge sometimes involves an
actual edge designed for cutting. Or a paint roller.
Darrell Campbell, of Anderson Paint in Anderson,
South Carolina, recalls that one of the hottest items
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Lancaster show.
It was a 14-inch paint roller cover, and it put the
traditional 9-inch roller cover to shame.
The 14-inch paint roller cover wasn’t exactly unheard
of at the time, Campbell says. But it was getting a new
and overdue marketing push. It really appealed to the
contractors who came into his store, he says. It goes to
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complicated to become a hit at a store.
Jim Wolcott, of Sioux City Paint in Sioux City, Iowa,
says one of the biggest impulse items at his store these
days is a rubber paint-can spout. “It’s this rubber deal
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2QHRIWKHEHQHÀWVRIHQFRXQWHULQJDQHZSURGXFW
at a show versus seeing a video about it on YouTube,
Campbell says, is the opportunity to hold it and heft it
This year’s Lancaster East Coast
show holds the promise of exciting
new products and Disney magic.
B Y
S T EV E
PEN HOLLO W
Sundry Scene W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 7
and watch someone demonstrate it.
“I have gone to the show and been really
impressed with an item I didn’t think I’d be
impressed by,” says Campbell. “And then there have
been times I’ve gotten there and thought, Yeah, that’s
really overpriced for what it is.”
Shannon Partin, of Tuscaloosa Paint in Alabama,
said there really is no substitute for talking one-onone with a vendor. “You get insights into products that
you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else,” he says.
And Jim Smith, of PPG Architectural Coatings,
says he values personal interaction from the vendor
side of things.
“In the store environment, it is understandably
difÀcult for our customers to keep their minds
focused on purchasing. Here they can see new
products, and we can solve their problems,” says
Smith. “Also, as a sales manager who communicates
by phone and email, I don’t always get much face-toface time.”
Rust-Oleum’s Donovan Lee is one of the guys who
will be on site providing insights into products.
“The Lancaster show is a great platform for RustOleum to showcase new and innovative products,” he
says.
Lee says Rust-Oleum introduced 350 new products
over the past 12 months alone.
He’s particularly proud this year of
the RockSolid Áoor coatings,
a concrete
8 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
coating system that he says is stronger than epoxy.
It was a Rust-Oleum–owned product that unexpectedly
brought a lot of new customers into Wolcott’s store: a line
of cleaners called Krud Kutter.
“We do these live radio ads where the DJ calls us and
says, ‘What’s going on in the store?’” says Wolcott. “So
we’ll talk about stuff like Krud Kutter. Suddenly, we had
older ladies coming in, and people who clean for a living,
saying, ‘I think I’d like to give that a try.’”
But being attentive to the cutting edge isn’t just about
gawking at gewgaws, Lee says.
“Staying ahead of the innovation curve is key to longterm success in this industry,” he explains. “Coatings
technology has come a long way in the past decade, and
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before. Attending the Lancaster show is a great way for
dealers to keep abreast of these new developments so that
when their customers come into their stores looking for
these new products, they know they can go to Lancaster
to get what their customers want.”
Paul Engman, sales administrator at Wooster Brush
Company, says Wooster sees the Lancaster show as an
opportunity to present a “living catalog,” to arrive with a lot
of product and full merchandising displays for that product.
“You go to a car show to see a car,” he says. “Watching
a video of a car is not the same thing as seeing a car. You
go to a dealer show to see a paintbrush, to see how it feels
and how it looks in a display.”
For 3M’s Jim Heeg, the right way to do a show is solo.
“I know some vendors send three guys,” he says, “but I
prefer to do it by myself. Does that mean I sometimes have
a line? Yes, it does. But I am always busy. That’s just sort of
how I am. When I do it myself, I know exactly what happens.
I am sort of a control freak when it comes to that stuff.”
Lancaster is in its 21st year of doing trade shows,
according to Adrienne Melton, marketing logistic manager
for the company. The company now presents three
shows annually—one in Las Vegas (where it teams up
or co-locates with the National Hardware Show), one
in Connecticut and one in another Eastern locale that
changes each year.
This year, that locale is Orlando. The Orlando show
will feature 100-plus vendors and 400 to 500 attendees,
says Melton.
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East Coast one, are unique among the trade shows he
attends.
“The Lancaster shows are among the few shows out
there that focus just on paint and sundries,” he says.
“I think this appeals to traditional paint-store owners
Sundry Scene W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 9
because it allows them to go to a show that is focused
on their needs while not overwhelming them with
too many vendors selling products that are not paintrelated.”
Jon Cox, of Proform Technologies, says Lancaster is
“one of the few distributors out there that still presents
multiple shows.” He says participation in these shows
is “vital” to Proform.
“Obviously, we do give them a decent discount, a
good discount, so that when the dealers come down,
they’re not wasting their money,” he says.
The attendees come to do business—lots of it. But
the way they talk about business sure makes it sound
like pleasure. There are many explanations for this.
For one thing, there are the aforementioned deep
discounts available at Lancaster trade shows. Many
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worth of inventory at each show.
Leber says she also takes advantage of policies
that allow her to “buy now, pay later” and set separate
shipping dates for portions of orders. There are also
instant cash rebates on large orders and SPIFs,
another sort of cash incentive.
Wolcott says there is even expense reimbursement
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are always given away at Lancaster trade shows, and
on a scale far larger than boxes of commemorative
paint stirrers. Wolcott says he won a Segway one year.
He says he knows a guy who won a car.
For most of the attendees, a Lancaster trade show
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“We really do [see it that way],” says Campbell. “My
wife no longer works in the store. She’s a stay-at-home
mom. So we’ve always taken full advantage of the show.”
Fun is all well and good, but a Lancaster trade
show is an opportunity to get a lot of work done, and
attendees take full advantage of that.
Leber says it is unwise to go into the show unprepared.
1 0 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
“People laugh at me,” she says. “I am always so
prepared. I go into the show like a storm, and I’m out. I
have stickers on all of my pages. They get a good laugh
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of the venue where the show is being held.
Wolcott says a “pretty nice point-of-sale system” at
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And yet some people come to the show cold, Campbell
says.
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come prepared and still need the whole weekend.”
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things that change their business for the better.
For example, Campbell did not expect to be offered
a chance to launch his own private paint label. “That
private-label thing totally caught me off guard, being
just one store,” he says. “I’m not Home Depot. Why
would anyone approach me to start my own privatelabeling program?”
But as it turned out, Campbell was able to start his
own private label at a cost and on a scale that made
sense for his business.
For retailers, getting the most out of the shows isn’t
just about talking to vendors. It’s also about talking
with fellow retailers.
Lora Toller, of Clayton Paint and Flooring Center in
Clayton, Georgia, cites a particular reason for wanting
to touch base with other retailers across the country at
Lancaster’s trade shows: She wants to hear about their
struggles and learn how they’ve weathered—and still
are weathering—them.
“When you think about all you’re getting from
it,” she says, “the chance to network, to meet a lot of
different store owners from different locations, to hear
about what’s going on in different places, to get ideas,
to get a feel for what the economy is doing—it would be
a shame to miss it.”
Toller says she and her husband don’t necessarily
look for the hottest items. They look for things that
can’t easily be found at big-box stores. “It helps
distinguish us,” she says. “It sets us apart from them.”
New products aren’t all they take home with them,
however.
“We always come back with fresh ideas,” she says.
“Just walking around the show sparks up ideas. We
never leave disappointed.”
Unfailing friendliness and courteousness is how
Leber would characterize the demeanor of the vendors,
even under the most stressful of circumstances.
“They’re just a lot of nice people,” she says. “They’ve
been known to come into my store and set things up.
It’s just a great show and a good group. They’re all very
helpful, in my experience.”
Lancaster “just has wonderful shows,” says Heeg.
“There really is no better place to introduce and
promote a product.”
Engman likens a Lancaster trade show to a family
reunion.
“I am serious about that,” he says. “I am all about
dealer shows. People buy for people. I see dealers come to
these shows who I have known for 30 years. I shake their
hands, tell them it’s good to see them again, ask them
how business is. For building great relationships, there’s
nothing like a dealer show. I hope they never go away.” ʕ
G O F O R T H E S H O W, S T A Y F O R T H E F U N
H
aving the show in Orlando provides extra opportunities for fun.
Kemper Bushnell, catering and convention services manager for
Disney Destinations, identified the highlights of the many perks for
Lancaster show attendees:
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purchase lets you skip the lines at the theme-park ticket windows, save money and
customize your free time to suit your individual agenda.
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t&YUFOEFEIPVSTGPS8BMU%JTOFZ8PSME® Resort hotel guests
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Roy Yamaguchi all have eateries in town.
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Clayton Paint
and Flooring
Center
Survives, Then Thrives
Dealer
Profile
A family move
spared the owners
the Vegas bust.
The Clayton store and owner Keith Toller.
By Steve Penhollow
L
ora Toller and her family didn’t move away from Las Vegas
to escape an economic downturn.
They moved away to escape a boom.
Vegas was hit particularly hard during the most recent
recession. But the decision to leave was made a decade
earlier, when the population of Las Vegas was exploding.
1 4 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
Winter 2015
Toller, who had grown up in the area, wasn’t so sure
anymore that it was a good place to raise her children.
“It was growing so quickly,” she says. “At the time,
we had a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old. We were concerned
about our kids growing up there.”
In Vegas, Toller’s husband, Keith, had been vice president
of three Benjamin Moore stores owned by her brother. The
family made its way to Georgia, where Keith Toller found
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into an agreement to manage and then purchase a paint
store in Clayton. They got the keys in 2007.
A year later, Atlanta—a couple of hours south of
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In 2010, the impact was felt in Clayton, Toller says. Asked
how the store (now stores) had survived, Toller responds,
“We’re still surviving. We were fortunate to have had good
business up to that point. But it was rough.”
The Tollers will be buying for two stores when they
visit the show in Orlando on February 14 and 15. Even
in the midst of the recession, they were able to acquire
a second store under unusual and unusually favorable
circumstances in nearby Cornelia.
Because of how the economic downturn was affecting
Cornelia at the time, “we were able to do it creatively,
without a lot of expense and with support from Benjamin
Moore,” says Toller.
6KHVD\VDEDQNLQWRZQWKDWKDGÀQDQFHGDORWRI
different businesses suddenly started calling everyone’s
notes, wreaking havoc. “[The paint store in Cornelia] was
a business that had actually gone under,” she says. “If we
didn’t do something, someone else would have.
“The clientele was there,” says Toller. “The business
had been there for 16 years. They had a very good
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of the imagination, she says, but “customers eventually
started coming back.”
Clayton is a lower- and middle-class community with
a smattering of vacationing millionaires, Toller says, and
Cornelia is larger and more solidly middle class. Toller
says the population in Rabun County, where Clayton is
the county seat, doubles in the summer thanks to wealthy
Atlantans on holiday.
So the Tollers’ marketing strategies have to be unique
to each store.
Because Clayton is a second-home market, the
marketing there must focus a great deal on contractors.
“We do that through the [Georgia Mountain] Home
Builders Association and also through the [Georgia]
Association of Realtors,” she says. “So we have really good
relationships with them.”
Part of the marketing concept in Clayton involves
reaching part-time residents, many of whom have more
money, or more money to work with, than the full-timers.
So Clayton-oriented ads run in higher-end magazines,
on billboards and on radio stations favored by the parttimers.
The Tollers depend even more on billboards in
“They might not have even planned on
using our store, but because we went
above and beyond the call of duty, they’ve
decided to do business with us.”
Cornelia, which has more of a small-town feel.
Because of the store’s history, some people in the area
still don’t know it has reopened under a new name and
new management, Toller says.
Toller says they enlisted the aid of the Habersham
County Chamber of Commerce in Cornelia to generate
word of mouth regarding the rebirth of the store. The
chamber helped make an event of the return of a paint
store to Cornelia by hosting a grand reopening and a
ribbon cutting.
However, getting the word out is still a work in
progress, she says.
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merchandise, and those items seem to sell better at the
Cornelia store.
“More people are watching those shows and doing
those projects down there,” she says.
Sundry Scene W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 1 5
But the Cornelia store also offers a line of items with a
lower price point, because its clientele tends to be middleclass homeowners—not contractors representing upperclass homeowners.
As for competition, it works a little differently in the
sort of rural region where both stores are located than it
would in a city.
“Even if something’s 10 miles down the road, it’s
competition for us,” says Toller.
Service is the differentiator, she says. In-home
consultations and a three-layer recordkeeping system
(two electronic methods and one card-based method) are
two ways they deepen customer loyalty.
1 6 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
Toller says they can go back 20 years for some
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And they’re not averse to reopening a store after
closing time to help someone out.
“They might not have even planned on using our store,”
says Toller, “but because we went above and beyond the
call of duty, they’ve decided to do business with us.”
Toller believes the customers in their region are less
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brimming with big-box options.
Lancaster’s Orlando show will be a “nice little
vacation” for the Tollers. For most attendees, the Las
Vegas show has the most obvious vacation potential.
But having grown up there, the Tollers see things a
little differently. It’s the Orlando show that will have the
highest recreation quotient.
Toller describes their Lancaster sales rep as incredible.
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WKHSDVWIRXURUÀYH\HDUVµVKHVD\V´:H·UHH[WUHPHO\
happy with them.” Just because Clayton Paint is “one of
the smaller stores” doesn’t mean they get smaller service,
she says.
The Tollers have two daughters graduating from
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WKHIDPLO\EXVLQHVV%XWWKH7ROOHUVDUHÀQHZLWKWKDW
“Owning your own business is great,” says Lora Toller,
“but it’s hard work.” ʕ
B R I G H T
Product
highlights
from
*
I D E A S
Lancaster’s
inventory
Concrobium Mold
Control
®
F
ight mold like a pro
with Concrobium Mold
Control®. Bleach-free
formula eliminates and
prevents mold with no
harmful chemicals. Crushes
mold right down to the
roots as it dries and leaves
an invisible antimicrobial
shield to prevent mold from
returning. EPA-registered
solution works on any hard
surface and fabrics too.
Two Big Shows,
One Big Location
I
n May 2015, the Lancaster
Buying Show will be co-located
inside the Las Vegas Convention
Center along with the National
Hardware Show. We’ll see you there!
Go to lancasterco.com for more
information.
ene
Sundry Sc
t PUB LISH
FALL 2014
LAN
ED BY
CAST ER
Excitingws
Windo
cor,
Merit De
s
The new
Window
Exciting ps dealers
hel
venture business
do better coverings.
in window
Pro du ct
Hig hli gh
ale r
ts t De
Pro file s
t Lan cas
ter Ne ws
DecisionMakers Read
Sundry Scene
To reach them, email
sundrysceneinfo@
lancasterco.com and
find out more about
advertising in these
pages.
1 8 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
EndRot Kit
W
hy replace when you can restore?
There is a better way: the EndRot
system for complete wood
repair and restoration. With
the EndRot system, you can:
1) Stop the progression of
wood rot/decay fungi in
your home
2) Restore rot- or insectdamaged wood
3) Protect your investment
for many years.
The EndRot Kit contains enough material to repair a window or
door. For more details about the EndRot System, visit our website
at www.systemthree.com. UPC Code: 6-46697-00138-0
GE Max Stretch
Sealant
C
ompare our stretch. Maximum Stretch: 800%
elongation; spans up to a 2” gap. Paint
Friendly: won’t cause paint to crack, fade or
change sheen. Exceeds ASTM C920 class 35+/35% joint movement. Exceeds ASTM C834 – 18C
for better flexibility in most temperatures. Indoor/
outdoor. Low VOC.
SKU – M90044 White
SKU – M90045 Clear
SKU – M90047 Gray
SKU – M90048 Woodtone
NOW AVAILABLE IN ALL LANCASTER
DISTRIBUTION CENTERS
Stripe 3
Series
Marking
Paint
A
fast-drying marking paint
designed to be sprayed in an
inverted position. Uses a patented
technology to cut the environmental
impact in half (as compared to a
standard solvent-based marking paint).
Produces vivid marks, does not clog,
and is safe for grass.
Sundry Scene W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 1 9
Vendor
By Julianne Will
Old Masters
Tackles the
Tricky Questions
They offer resources for retailers
as well as retailers’ customers.
W
ith a name like Old Masters, it’s
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City, Iowa, would be the one to call
with your trickiest cases.
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various other sundries, Old Masters provides a wealth
RIUHVRXUFHVDW myoldmasters.com. Its Learn section
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FRQVLGHULQJ',<SURMHFWVZLWKVWHSE\VWHSJXLGDQFH
RQVXUIDFHSUHSDUDWLRQVWDLQLQJUHPRYLQJROGÀQLVKHV
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to dream about the potential within their homes.
For retailers themselves, Old Masters provides
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Dealer Resource Center and online Technical Data and
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Old Masters is proud to sell exclusively to the
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out that “the most expensive product you’ll ever sell
your customers is the one that doesn’t work.” Their
2 0 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
Winter 2015
Spotlight
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WKDWREMHFWVRIGLIIHUHQWPDWHULDOVFDQEHPDGHWRPDWFK7KH
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0DVWHUVZLOOFRPHDQGJHWLWDQGUHVWRFNZLWKWKHLUIDVW
PRYLQJSURGXFWV
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\HDUZHORRNIRUZDUGWRVHUYLQJWKHQHHGVRIRXUFXVWRPHUV
FRQWLQXLQJWRFUHDWHH[FHSWLRQDOSURGXFWVDQGSURYLGLQJWKH
KLJKHVWFXVWRPHUVHUYLFHLQWKHLQGXVWU\µVD\V6DUDV
7KHFRPSDQ\LVHDJHUO\DQWLFLSDWLQJ/DQFDVWHU
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reps about what the next year holds.”
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Vendor
Winter 2015
Spotlight
Sashco Serves
as Caulk
Ambassador
Since 1936, Sashco has been
excited about caulking. We’re
on a mission to get everyone
else excited about it, too.
A
t Sashco, we’re driven by a
passion to make products that
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you, we get frustrated by the
screwdriver that bends, the cutter that
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That’s why we only make highperformance, high-margin products
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be tops in consumer satisfaction&KHFN
out the Internet star ratings!) They help
build your store’s reputation and deliver
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it “delighting the customer with a better
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Sundry Scene W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 2 1
Our most popular product, Lexel®, is proof positive that
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another caulking product that sticks to just about anything
(including wet surfaces), can be applied in temps from 0°F
to 120°F, is paintable, is 19 times clearer than silicone and
can stretch up to 800 percent of its original width, even
when it gets a little nick in it.
Features Are Boring. Happy Customers Aren’t.
A list of fancy features doesn’t mean much unless those
features make your life easier (and your caulking aisle more
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packaged in one product will make your contractors and
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quality caulk that will likely survive a zombie apocalypse,
as well as exceed their own exacting standards, they’ll use
it time and time again. Then they’ll go looking for more
products made by the same company, at the same store.
Good news: Lexel isn’t alone. Sashco makes a full line
of high-performance, high-margin products to keep you
SURÀWDEOHDQG\RXUFXVWRPHUVKDSS\
This Is FLRP’n Awesome
Have you heard of that caulking-aisle merchandising
program that increased sales by 92 percent? We have. It’s
called Sashco’s Fully Loaded Retail Partner program, and
that number is no joke. A chain of hardware stores in the
northeastern United States saw its sales of Sashco products
increase 92 percent after implementing the FLRP program.
There are thousands of caulk choices out there, enough
to leave the most ardent caulking connoisseur confused
and frustrated. The FLRP program takes a small piece of
your caulking-aisle real estate and turns it into a powerful
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stores are transformed from confusing and frustrating into
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centers.
Great Minds Think Alike
For 20 years now, Sashco has been proud to partner
with Lancaster to deliver high-performance products to our
shared customers: contractors, DIYers and other caulking
enthusiasts who demand great products with excellent
service. Be sure to visit our booth at both the Connecticut and
Florida Lancaster shows to learn a bit more about Sashco
and exactly why we get so worked up about caulking. ʕ
CHANGE THE WAY YOU
ADVERTISE
in time for the Lancaster Show at
the National Hardware Show
MAY 5-7, 2015
IN LAS VEGAS
Vendor Spotlights t Dealer Profiles t Great Products
Sundry Scene
WINTER 2015 t PUBLISHED BY LANCASTER
BONUS
Distribution at
SHOW!
FUN
SUN
IN THE
Winter got you down?
Warm up at Disney in
Orlando, Florida, with Lancaster’s
second trade show of 2015.
Ad deadline date is March 15, 2015
2 2 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
For more information email
sundrysceneinfo@lancasterco.com
LANCASTER
Vendor
By April Corbin
Spotlight
Pricing on painters’
tape a sticky issue
But 3M knows deals at the show makes products go.
I
f you’ve ever wanted to feel like a superstar,
just work the 3M booth at one of Lancaster’s
three annual shows. 3M account executive
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attendees literally form a line and eagerly await
speaking with him about products.
“One of the sales guys walked up to me last
year and told me there were some vendors who
weren’t all that busy who asked him, ‘Who’s
the sports entertainer or celebrity in that booth
up front? The one with the line.’” Heeg retells
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acknowledge that the anecdote serves as proof
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company has with Lancaster.
2 4 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene
Winter 2015
“We do over a million dollars of
business in those three conventions,”
says Heeg, adding that the
attendance at shows helps connect
them directly with customers they
might not otherwise reach. “It’s been
a wonderful opportunity.”
Headquartered in St. Paul,
Minnesota, 3M is an international
conglomerate behind tens of thousands
of products sold in almost 200 countries
around the world, resulting in global
sales of $30.8 billion in 2013. With
operations in more than 70 countries
and an emphasis on innovation, 3M is
involved with countless industries and
types of products.
For the paint and sundry industry,
though, it’s all about the tape.
Remember that $1 million in
sales from the three conventions? A
solid 75 percent of that is painters’
tape, says Heeg. He estimates that
about 15 percent is made up of the
safety products—namely two types
of respirators that 3M offers. That
leaves 10 percent for everything else,
such as sandpaper sponges.
When you have a price-sensitive
product such as the popular blue
painters’ tape, offering the best
deals and incentives is the key to
everyone’s success, says Heeg. He
explained that this is why 3M offers
SPIFs (sales performance incentive
funds) on items such as these.
“That’s what really brings those
guys in,” he says.
Lancaster conventions help make
these connections possible and
deliver good results, which is why
3M is a repeat visitor. In addition,
says Heeg, it also comes down to how
low-maintenance the partnership is.
“Everyone I deal with at Lancaster
is easy to work with,” says Heeg. “It’s
just great, and the growth is going to be
there. They’re getting into everything.
We need distributors like those guys.” ʕ
By Sonya Ruff Jarvis
The Power of
Face-to-Face
Interaction
T
echnology has liberated us in so many ways,
including the opportunity to be productive
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believe that these modern-day conveniences
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We are complacent because we are
relying too heavily on social media, emails and text
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hard work to get to know who your customers are—
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While social media offers dynamic platforms
through which to engage your customers and to have a
continuous dialogue even when they are not shopping
in your stores, the best time to build loyalty from your
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so busy running the store that you sometimes forget
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The best opportunity to create a loyal customer is
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about the last time you interacted with a customer and
whether you took the time to make that customer feel
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are some simple interactions with customers that can
leave a lasting impression, depending on how you or
your team members handle the situation:
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front of you ready to pay and the phone rings, do you
pick up the phone and start taking care of the phone
customer? Or do you ask the phone customer to kindly
wait while you take care of the customer who was
waiting well before the phone call?
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item, do you point in the general direction or take the
time to walk them to the item?
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of stock on the shelf, do you
immediately tell the customer
that there is no more, or do
you look it up in the system to
see whether there are any left
in the store or to determine
the next date of delivery?
1H[WWLPH\RX·UHIDFH
to-face with a customer,
ask them how you are
doing and whether you
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Take advantage of the face
time you have with your
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you it will lead to invaluable
business relationships and
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Sonya Ruff Jarvis is managing
member of Jarvis Consultants
and has worked in the homeimprovement industry for
nearly 20 years.
2 6 W i n t e r 2 0 1 5 Sundry Scene