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Procurement Skills and Salesmanship Enhance Customer Service |
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By Ihor Dlaboha
It’s not often that we come across a successful, consultative DSR who also possesses procurement experience. John Langella, a senior sales rep with Favorite Foods, Inc., Somersworth, NH, is such a professional who combines both talents as he services his customers.
Industry experts have observed that as the foodservice supply chain becomes more transparent, trading partners will need to collaborate tightly to drive business. This form of cooperation is also important from the loading dock to front door of a distributorship. The more knowledge a DSR has about his company’s activities, the better he can tend to the needs of his operator-customers.
Langella told ID in a recent interview that procurement skills and salesmanship have set him apart in helping his accounts.
“It’s been a big, definite advantage,” he said.
“I can offer my customers a lot because I have more insights on the purchasing side of the business and product costs. Some DSRs may not recognize that prices that customers are paying are wildly outrageous but off the top of my head, without exploring, I can see if prices are fair or if the other distributor is taking advantage of the operator.”
Langella began his career in foodservice distribution 28 years ago with C.S. Woods, a bakery and foodservice distributor, working in its cash and carry department. In time, he opened and managed the company’s cash and carry outlet in northern New Hampshire and, as he recalled, slowly moved up the ladders through purchasing and sales.
When Golbon-member Favorite Foods acquired C.S. Woods just more than two years ago, Langella transitioned to the new distributorship, where he maintained his purchasing and sales tasks.
| “I can offer my customers a lot because I have more insights on the purchasing side of the business.” |
Langella’s skills are especially useful today, when the foodservice industry is compelled to deal with inflation-ridden product costs virtually on a daily basis. With his accumulated knowledge of the industry and many contacts, Langella said he is able to provide his customers much needed trend reports well in advance of price increases.
“In the past two years, everybody has been concerned with the flour market. We get reports on the flour market every week, which I give to my customers, rather than just telling them about in a conversation. By handing them a printed report, I provide them with more information and value,” he said.
In the case of flour, prices have increased 100% since the beginning of the year because the government mandated ethanol use, which gave farmers the opportunity to switch to planting cash-generating corn rather than wheat, leaving less acreage for that crop. The resulting shortage was compounded by poor harvests overseas and greater demand in China.
“The mandate turned out to be a huge mistake,” he observed.
Operators, grateful for the information, reacted with disbelief to the price increases, he said. They had expected that despite inflation, prices of flour, sugar, shortening, oil and eggs, which are used in almost all foodservice operations, would remain stable.
“This is especially helpful to them in this environment, when prices have spiraled out of control. It’s easy for the DSR to say prices have gone up but to have something in writing, substantiating that, is beneficial,” Langella said.
After discussing the pricing trends with his customers, Langella advises them that in order to protect themselves they have to increase their menu prices, a solution that sales reps across the country have been offering to their accounts. Some have resisted, others have heeded it. Langella said in his territory, which is around Manchester, most have increased their menu prices.
“Operators also have to watch the costs of every aspect of their business. Today, it’s the only way to survive,” he said.
Langella’s 25 accounts include large and small independent restaurants, noncommercial accounts such as state and county prisons, banquet facilities and delis. He splits his time evenly between servicing his customers and procurement – two and a half days in the office and two and a half days on the road, which he said is enough to tend to their needs.
“I try to visit my accounts once a week. Most of my customers are in Manchester, where I live, so I don’t have to travel a lot,” he said.
Langella’s formula for building customer loyalty is simple – do everything possible to help them. It’s paid off since almost all of his accounts stayed with him following his transition from C.S. Woods.
“I should have owned a pick up truck with all of the deliveries that I have made over the past 28 years,” he quipped.
| “This is especially helpful to them in this environment, when prices have spiraled out of control.” |
He has tapped friendships that he has made over time with brokers and sales agents to help his operators. Langella has been forthcoming with menu ideas and new products to keep his customers attractive to patrons.
Langella has even gotten his wife, Johnna, an assistant foodservice director at a retirement community, to make emergency deliveries when he was out of town or detained – as he said – playing golf.
“Making emergency deliveries is part of the deal. I’ll do whatever needs to be done. I never say no to a well-paying customer,” he emphasized.
Langella does not agree with the observation that over-servicing customers is a wrong course of action today. He explained that perhaps large distributors can decrease their customer service levels but not companies the size of Favorite Foods, which has won awards for being customer centric.
“One thing in this environment, which is so competitive, is that you can’t lose any existing business. With everybody trying to grab new business, the only way to keep any business is to service the heck out of customers. People buy from companies and people that they like. If you cut back on service, you’re opening the door to competitors. I totally disagree with that,” he said.
Langella builds his business by looking for prospects while travelling between calls. Having lived in the area all of his life, he knows which operators are accessible and which could be troublesome. He maintains an active list of three to five prospects, which he updates when one falls off for whatever reason.
“I know which ones are successful and which ones are borderline. I certainly go after the ones that pay their bills,” he said.
| “Operators also have to watch the costs of every aspect of their business. It’s the only way to survive today.” |
Operators are also facing a great deal of pressure from sales reps, with some restaurants getting regular inquiries from up to a dozen of hopeful DSRs. However, Langella is not concerned. He is sure of his accounts’ loyalty, which he has built on the basis of trust, fair prices, service and accessibility.
“I think that I have a relationship with most of my customers and if somebody calls on them with outrageous prices, they’ll come to me first because I’ve known them for so long. It’s very aggressive on the street and prospects are more amenable to listening to new sales reps,” he said.
“When things were good, people tended to lay back a little. Now we sell the fact that we’re independent, which we think is huge right now with all the chains that a grown in this area. We make independents understand that the other distributors support the chains while we only support independents. That’s important to most operators and it gets us in the door.”
With operators complaining about a drop off in patron traffic and reduced revenues, monitoring their payments is crucial, Langella noted.
“I don’t think a DSR would be responsible if he’d let his customers get too far in a hole, which they couldn’t dig out of. We stay on top of our customers and they’re aware of our terms. Ninety-nine percent of them pay when they’re supposed to,” he said.
Another area of responsibility for the DSR is logistics. Langella said that he is often called on to explain to his accounts the value of limiting the number of suppliers and accepting two deliveries a week. Understanding that Favorite Foods can’t be his accounts’ sole supplier because it doesn’t stock produce or fish, Langella said he’d put up with another distributor calling on his accounts.
Despite his success, Langella realizes that the life of a DSR is not easy and he recommends to rookies to be patient and stay the course. A new sales rep should be prepared to devote the first three years of his career to building a solid account base, which will drive his business.
“If you stay long enough, you’ll build trust with your customers and they’ll know that you’ll always be available for them, and they won’t have to see different sales reps every year or so,” he said.
Langella said he is quite content with the arrangement he has right now and wants to continue doing what he’s doing.
“When you’re happy, you do a better job. I want to slowly build my business one account at a time while enjoying life and my kids,” he said.
With comments and questions, contact The Editor. |
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Beverage World
