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With more than 35 years of experience in electrical distribution, Greg Headrick, owner and vice president of Customer Service Electric Supply (CSES) Inc. in Knoxville, Tennessee, has pretty much done it all in the business, but continues to set his sights on professional growth and development. “I felt like I had done all I could do in my last position, but when the opportunity to buy CSES came along I didn’t want to look back and ask what if,” said Headrick. He started his career in the electrical industry as a truck driver for a Knoxville distributor and progressed to warehouse manager, inside sales and operations manager.
To grow CSES, Headrick evolved the company’s business model, changing the customer mix from 80 percent industrial and 20 percent contractor to an even split of contractor and industrial clients. The company also sees business from a long-term government contract.
Growth also came with acquisition. CSES purchased Keener Lighting, a showroom and lighting supplier in Knoxville, which brought additional lighting industry staff, knowledge and inventory to CSES.
Headrick must be doing something right with CSES because he projects sales revenue to top $20 million this year. When he bought the company in 2013, it was a $10 million distribution business that had been in operation since 1984. “Customers appreciate that we are locally-owned and operated,” said John Rose, sales manager at CSES. “They do business with us because they feel decisions are made here and not at a corporate office.”
More customers are likely to come through the doors of CSES as a result of recent developments in the Knoxville area including:
- Denso Manufacturing, a production facility, adding more than 1,500 jobs.
- The development of a uranium processing facility, which will span 15 years.
- Growth of the automotive market in Tennessee.
- Continued expansion of the industrial market.
- A boom in the multi-family housing market.
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Changes in technology are also driving business. “LED lamps have been the largest change in business direction I have seen,” said Rose. “Communication between products and the Internet of Things (IoT) has also drastically changed the industry.”
LED technology is also changing the sales cycle. “It used to be you’d sell a light fixture and then in two years replace the bulb or the ballast in that fixture,” said Rose. “Now, we are selling LED lamps that are good for more than 10 years. We don’t have the residual business of lamps anymore that we used to have.”
However, more people are retrofitting to LED lighting. “So we are seeing that business,” Rose said.
With business locations in former ice cream and bread factories, Rose has a keen understanding of retrofits. At CSES, project and product knowledge are key. “It’s with product knowledge that you adapt to these changes,” said Rose. Last year, CSES spent its marketing funds on employee training rather than branded t-shirts or hats. “Reinvesting our marketing funds enabled us to boost our product knowledge among our greatest marketing tool—our salesforce,” said Headrick. “Customers are looking for information from us to make sure they understand what they are attempting to buy.”
To further help its 25 employees execute sales, the company recently upgraded its internal hardware and software, migrating to a cloud-based system. Ximple Solutions LLC, an IMARK member service provider, provided the business’s new computer operating system. CSES’s next step toward boosting sales is launching an online store that supplements its seasoned customer service team. The staff will also receive tablets.
“The sales team knows to look at the orders and catch things the customer might have missed or ordered by mistake to ensure an order is complete,” said Rose. “This saves the customer time and aggravation. If we were online only, the computer would spit out a ticket that would be delivered to the customer and it might be incorrect. We would then take the materials back from the customer, which would cost them time and money. Whereas, if it’s an incorrect order taken over the phone or in person, we can catch it and correct it.”
IMARK membership has been advantageous for CSES. The company has worked with three member service providers. It has also leveraged business relationships developed through membership to work through difficult situations and make purchases at better prices with IMARK purchasing power.
For more information, visit cses-inc.com.