“Always be your customers’ and your prospects’ best employee. Do things that most people wouldn’t do to help them make money in their business.” ~Todd Hauser
Todd Hauser of Martin Bros. Distributing Co. Inc. in Cedar Falls, Iowa has earned top honors as AFDR’s DSR of the Year for 2022. Todd was a founding member and retired board member of AFDR.
Todd’s main territory is in North Central Iowa, but he also has accounts in ten different states. Hauser is about 100 miles from his warehouse.
How did you get started in this business?
Todd: I’ve been in food service sales for 38 years, 30 of those years with my current company, Martin Bros. I worked for a little company before that for seven or eight years which was bought out by Martin Bros. I grew up in the family restaurant and catering business and our family of my parents and four kids all worked at the restaurant. When I was about 22, I decided to try something different. So, I got into the other side, food service, and it was a great move for me. I’ve been in national accounts off and on, but I’ve been basically in food service sales as a DSR or national accounts for 38 years in total.
What were some of the hardest things to learn when you first began in a small company going up against the big guys?
Todd: I think starting out when you’re a new DSR, it was all about product knowledge. When I worked at the small distributing company, Martin Bros. was the big company that I had to compete against. Since I grew up in the restaurant business and had been an operator at one time with my family, I knew how to think like an operator. I had to use that to my advantage when I would be calling on people because I didn’t have a great breadth of products to offer. So, it was maybe more knowledge and hands-on.
In Northern Iowa at the time, a lot of the small bar restaurant owners kind of warmed up to me because they knew I kind of knew their business and what they were going through. But product knowledge then and even now, is indispensable.
How are you learning about products now since there are not very many sales meetings? And how are you reaching for that knowledge, whether it’s a brand-new product to the industry or new to your inventory?
Todd: In the last few years, we’ve had fewer in-person sales meetings. We have some really good vendors that service us at Martin Bros., and I count on those meetings to learn about items, whether they are new or we just began stocking them.
Also, the product training and information AFDR sends out are very helpful, plus the information I find online, or the info I receive from a broker or manufacturer rep who asks for my opinion on a product.
I never thought I’d say I miss sales meetings, but I have realized that when we get together as a district with a broker or manufacturers rep, how valuable that is. So, I hope someday we get back to where we’re in person and get to taste and smell and see the stuff.
Are samples important to your sales growth?
Todd: Very, very important. It is important to get that sample to a good, qualified customer, as important as it is to get it to our sales reps, so they taste it, smell it, know how to use it, and know how to sell it. Samples have always been tough to get for years. We all know that. But the good brokers, the good manufacturers, they still know a way.
There are fewer reps/brokers going out anymore so as a DSR, if you show up with a sample, and if you have the right product for the right customer, it is very impactful, and you’ll probably have a very good success rate of getting them to try it.
How are you sampling now? What’s your best approach to actually get a sample to a customer and get it sold?
Todd: If you pre-qualify the customer, usually our good broker/manufacturer reps, not all of them, but many of them will authorize us to either take a case (versus two meatballs to try, LOL) out of stock and send it, which is the best way because the customer can get it on their normal delivery, the normal way they would get it.
But some of them (because there are a lot of rules) might take a little more time because there are many companies that won’t let us pull something out of stock, but they’ll pay $250 to send a case FedEx with dry ice to get it to the customer. And that’s fine but seems overkill on expenses. But then, on the other hand, if my sales manager gets us a bunch of samples bagged up and we split them up and we do the old, “drag the bag,” you really must be there with those smaller samples helping show it or cook it up, otherwise if you ship a small sample, they get lost or eaten by the help.
DSR Dave: Like Todd said, if it’s in stock or even if it’s not, send it out on their truck so it gets there at the right time with the rest of the order. How much cheaper that would be (for the manufacturer) to bill back for the sample. Because reps/brokers are not taking as many samples out, manufacturers could save if they thought of it differently.
Todd: There’s a smaller company we’ve done business with that has come up with four or five new appetizers, and they are making up Sample Kits at the factory. They ship the sample kit to us, we assign an item number, and are able to sample them to say, Mom and Pop places versus a full case.
To me, it’s the most efficient. So, we have X number of sample boxes from this company in our freezer warehouse and we talk to the customer, show point of sale, give them customer feedback, and if they’re interested, just key it in and it goes out at no charge, and it comes on the truck. If you don’t have dry ice and you are hauling stuff around in 80-degree weather, the integrity of the product is never going to be like it would be coming off the truck.
So, to me, if a manufacturer is really going to do it right, that’s what they should do. They don’t have to give a free case to everybody. If they would make sample packs and we slot them, it seems very efficient. And you’re getting the product to the customer in the condition you want it. Maybe some of the larger distributors wouldn’t do this, but it works.
Are you selling many different brands now because of the product shortages in the supply chain than you were maybe two or three years ago, that maybe even were not on your radar screen?
Todd: Absolutely. Some of the manufacturers in the past few years have not been as reliable as in the past. And it’s all about communication. They should simply tell us that the product is no longer produced, because we know many companies have had to cut back on what they produce because labor is a problem everywhere in the factories.
Yes, we have utilized some smaller companies, some call them boutique manufacturers, not the biggest, but they have good products.
Are the customers pretty open to you showing them these products you wouldn’t have shown three years ago?
Todd: Yes, but the only problem is sometimes the smaller companies, when they have a great product that really takes off, you may run into the problem that they don’t have the capacity to produce it.
Are you prospecting differently than you have most of your career?
Todd: Over the past few years, Covid changed everything. Operators have had fewer visits from salespeople and they probably would welcome your call more than in the past.
Here’s an example, I went into a nice little steak house in a town of 5000. Had lunch and started talking to the bartender. By the end of lunch, I figured out she was the owner, and I introduced myself and the company. She was upset with her current distributor because nobody had really called on them, mostly because of the pandemic things. And their rep wasn’t smart enough to come up with alternative items that we ALL were out of. I ended up making like, two or three visits to her, and she wanted some pricing and a few samples. Now I’m getting 80% of their business.
John Martin used to say, the problem is your opportunity. So, I made a suggestion to this customer that used to make many homemade appetizers but was having labor problems, to try some good premade upscale appetizers and make a signature sauce. They loved that.
They had been stuck with two other distributors who had not been to see them in a year and a half, and were not receiving any new ideas.
What do you usually talk about with the prospect on your first real sales call?
Todd: Well, my main thing is once you get past the pleasantries, I just asked them a lot of questions. I ask them what their biggest struggles are now… every place, the biggest struggle is labor. Doug Cohen, our general manager, always said something like this, “If you could wave a magic wand, what would your perfect distribution look like?”
So, if they begin telling you their biggest struggles, they are telling you what they need help with. And if you can come back with solutions for their problems, you are going to get noticed right away.
Be a Resource and Sell Something!!
