Branch managers at Preferred Pump receive a monthly profit and loss statement that provides all of the information they need to run the branch like their own business.
Preferred Pump values its partnership with its vendors and manages its inventory to assist them, according to Tom Bowers, director of marketing/group manager.
When it comes to plumbing and heating, China has big problems. A quickening pace of urbanization has left China with 661 cities that are home to about 42% of its 1.3 billion people. Yet, much of China's vast land mass is arid. Its per capita water resources are equal to only about a quarter of the world average.
Most wholesalers cling to a business model for a customer that no longer exists. Big Box merchants and DIYs blur the line between retail and wholesale as they hungrily look to take a bite out of the traditional wholesale distribution market. Forget about demographics. That's your customer they're after.
The Industrial Piping Division (IPD) is a special interest group of the American Supply Association (ASA), formed to serve a sector of the industry involved in industrial pipe, valves and fittings. The group consists of wholesale and manufacturing firms within the ASA and offers its members educational programming, industry events, as well as networking opportunities.
All over the United States, in thousands of companies, there are two or more very powerful (and mostly frustrated) people in the precarious position of daily choosing loyalties between management and their countrymen. These people control the stream of information between management and labor. These people are typically Hispanic bilingual people.
Most of Preferred Pump's branch managers do a little of everything, according to Tom Bowers, director of marketing/group manager. “Their obligation is to their customer first,” he says.
Preferred Pump & Equipment, LP, based in Fort Worth, TX, has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the past 14 years. It was founded in 1982 as a small distribution company in Texas and has evolved into a leading wholesale distributor of domestic water system products in the United States, with 30 branches.
Preferred Pump offers a Dealer Awards program that provides customers with merchandise or trips based on their purchases. The 2005 program was effective for purchases shipped and invoiced between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2005. Preferred customers were invited to enroll by completing a form and having an officer, owner or manager sign it. Customers earned one award point per $1,000 in program period purchases.
Here are the top 10 products from 10 different manufacturers that were featured in editorial coverage in SUPPLY HOUSE TIMES in 2005, based on the number of reader inquiries we received after their publication.
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