R&R Wholesale: Taking Customer Service to the Bank
byTim Rasmussen
If you’re like most independent industrial companies, your relationship with your banker is of critical importance. But here’s a guess that R&R Wholesale has you beat.
And, similarly, most industrial wholesalers place a priority on customer service. But here’s a guess that R&R Wholesale has raised the bar here too.
But let’s start at the beginning.
There are close relationships with your banker—and then there is Sharon and Bob Filderman. In 1983, Bob founded R&R Associates, a manufacturer’s rep agency, with his father, Robert Filderman Sr. He not only valued his banker, he loved her.
So much so, he married her.
“I was Bob’s banker for three years before we got married. And, I guess he was happy with that aspect of our relationship, because he kept me as his banker for another eight years,” said Sharon Filderman, president of R&R Wholesale, which is based in Westville, New Jersey (a suburb of Philadelphia).
But that relationship ended in 2006. The banking relationship, that is.
Bob saw the need in the marketplace for a wholesaler that truly understood distributors and their needs. He saw the opportunity to build a wholesale company that took customer service to a new level. He decided to start R&R Wholesale.
Only Bob didn’t start the company. His ex-banker did.
“I had been involved with Bob’s business as his banker, then as his wife. We talked business quite a bit. I went to industry trade shows and was able to gain a better understanding of the industrial landscape. And, as his banker, it helped us both, the better I understood the industry,” said Sharon.
“We talked quite a bit about the vision for the business,” said Bob, “and, as a banker, Sharon instinctively understood how great customer service translated to a stronger relationship and better business. So, I asked Sharon to run R&R Wholesale.”
Sharon quit her banking job and started her industrial wholesaling career in 2007 and hasn’t looked back.
“I love this business and, more importantly, I love the people we get to work with in this business. It’s exciting to do something that you love with people that you love…and to see results in the process,” said Sharon.
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| Family members Kristen Stamm, John Cooper, Sharon Filderman and Frank Markovich treat customers like they’re part of the family too. |
When Sharon refers to “people that you love,” that phrase has broad meaning. It applies to her employees, whom she says are like family. It also applies to her customers—and it reflects in how well they are served.
But it also applies to her children, along with a nephew. All three started in the business as teenagers, working the warehouse or in customer service. All three now hold key leadership positions and have been instrumental in R&R’s impressive growth record. Sharon’s son, Frank Markovich, is the operations manager. Sharon’s daughter, Kristen Stamm, is the purchasing manager. Sharon’s nephew, John Cooper, is the IT manager.
“All three make incredible contributions to the company,” said Sharon. “They each bring unique skill sets that are important to our operation and ability to deliver exceptional customer service. And they all know the business from the ground up. We could not have sustained the growth trend we’ve enjoyed without them.”
Since the company’s inception in 2007, R&R Wholesale has seen at least 20% to 25% year-over-year sales almost every year. In 2019, R&R Wholesale experienced 35% growth. And, amazingly, the company has experienced growth in excess of 70% in 2020 so far.
The company has grown from two shelves to three warehouses in just 14 years. This didn’t just happen. It was the result of a laser-like focus on customer service and customer satisfaction.
“We built the business from the customer-out,” said Sharon. “Because Bob’s R&R Associates business worked intimately with distributors, we understood their needs exceptionally well. So, we created service levels and offerings they weren’t able to get with the big national wholesalers.”
R&R Wholesale offers an impressive array of differentiated services to its distributors.
Unlike other wholesalers, R&R Wholesale works directly with distributors to help them cross-sell and convert business. R&R can do this because its team has a level of product knowledge that is unparalleled in the wholesale business.
“I always get someone on the phone who can answer my questions, whether it be about product or price. You just can’t get this service with larger wholesalers. They roll up their sleeves and help us get the best solution for our customers,” said Ryan Mayer, sales manager of Bayview Bearing & Supply in Egg Harbor City, New Jersey.
Additionally, R&R Wholesale will go on joint sales calls and product demonstrations along with distributor sales reps.
“It’s difficult for distributor sales reps to have great levels of product knowledge across the board,” said Frank Markovich, who leads the operations team and plays an active role in sales, too. “They carry so many SKUs, they can’t possibly know all the product details.” So, unlike other wholesalers, R&R will bring that product knowledge to bear on behalf of its distributor partners in the Philadelphia area.
Frank says product lines like LPS—a line of cleaners, degreasers, lubricants and more from ITW Pro Brands—require some real application knowledge. “It’s a premium product line that is worth the extra cost—we just need to help our distributors sell that value.”
R&R is so invested in ITW Pro Brands products, it works with ITW to provide product training for its entire team twice a year. R&R also offers other benefits most wholesalers can’t or won’t offer:
- No minimum orders
- No fees
- Low minimum freight—including drums—at $1,000 prepaid
- R&R has three warehouses next to each other—so it is essentially one shipping location, which simplifies and lowers freight costs
- R&R offers blind drop shipments
- R&R will send Certificates of Conformance at no charge
- R&R is a certified female-owned business
Plus R&R provides access to products many distributors can’t source directly. For example, R&R carries the entire LPS, Accu-Lube and Rustlick lines (Accu-Lube and Rustlick are metalworking fluids from ITW Pro Brands.)
While many of the products in these lines are “A” and “B” products, there are also some “C” and “D” SKUs that are important, but niche products. R&R carries these full lines (even 55-gallon drums) and affords its distributor customers direct, immediate access, giving them an advantage over competition and allowing them to provide the products their end-user customers need to stay up and running.
R&R enjoyed much of its success this year due to its ability to source products tied to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The wholesaler was able to secure a consistent supply chain of products like PPE, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, and even infrared forehead thermometers.
“Our ability to source these products was critical to our customers,” said Kristen Stamm, director of purchasing. “We work hard to help our customers fill holes in their lines. In this case, providing access to these now mission-critical products allowed our distributors to both help their end-user customers stay open and it helped them open an important new revenue stream.”
“R&R was able to get us hand sanitizer and disinfectant during the early phases of the pandemic,” said Matt Fritsch, general manager of Contractor Service, of Camden, New Jersey. “They even got us access to bottled water, which we had never sold before.
Access to these products helped us provide important needs to our customers. Without R&R, we could not have come through for our customers like we did. If I need something new, R&R is always my first call.”
And R&R’s service proposition doesn’t end with its people. Its website, which John Cooper led the development of using his degree in IT management systems, is fully integrated with back-end inventory. R&R customers can log in and see real-time inventory availability. John is constantly improving the site based on distributor customer input.
“Allowing our customers to immediately understand product availability allows them to provide better service to their end-users. When we equip them to do that consistently, we all win,” said John.
Perhaps the most important benefit of buying from R&R is its quarterly promo flyer program, which it offers free of charge to its customers. R&R designs quarterly product flyers and customizes them with distributor customer logos and contact information. They even print 250 copies free for each customer. And their customers put them to good use.
“Because of the R&R flyer program, we went from almost no MRO purchases to buying thousands of dollars of MRO products like LPS every month,” said Mayer from Bayview Bearing & Supply. “The flyers really open up new opportunities for us.”
Matt Fritsch from Contractor Service agrees. “My customers ask for the flyers every quarter. Having the flyer program has allowed us to expand our offering and sell more. R&R customer service is always first-class—and that includes the flyers.”
But there’s even more to great customer service, when it comes to R&R. The details tell the story and help us understand the prevailing focus of the growing wholesaler.
Mayer shared one such example. One of his customers called on Christmas Eve, needing an emergency rebuild on a pump that was critical to keeping a facility open. Frank interrupted his Christmas Eve plans and sprang into action, going to the warehouse to get the products needed for the rebuild and putting them in a secure pick-up location for Mayer. Mayer was able to get his customer a rebuilt pump the same day.
“It’s easy to say you offer great service,” said Sharon, “but it’s an entirely different thing to make it essential to who you are as a company. We’ve tried to do that—and it shows in our daily interactions. We’re always ready to go the extra mile. Our customers deserve it. And we demand it of ourselves.”
You can bank on it.
This article originally appeared in the Sept./Oct. 2020 issue of Industrial Supply. Copyright Direct Business Media 2020.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The November/December issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Kimball Midwest. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dirk Beveridge, Frank Hurtte, and Mike Marks, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
