Customer Service -The Path to Higher Profits is proving to be an excellent tool for getting the focus onto the customer and off the individual employee. With this attractive little 40-page tool, distribution teams are focusing service discussions on the core contract, developing service guarantees and constructing their own lists of what contractors, OEM and MRO customers value most from distributors.

As they work their way through the quick but relevant internal customer service exercises, the distribution team members come to understand the entire transaction from the customers' viewpoint, not just their individual jobs. The team also enjoys learning about customer profitability and comparing the costs of serving customers to the gross margins they generate.