Earning Customer Loyalty in Material Handling

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 30, 2009 -- Dewitt, NY – December 1, 2009: As part of its continued effort to provide young material handling professionals with the most up-to-date and useful information possible, MHEDA Edge has recruited industry veteran Ron Gilleland to contribute an article to its November issue. Gilleland is national sales manager for Bluff Manufacturing, a manufacturer of specialty warehouse equipment located in Fort Worth, Texas.

Gilleland’s article is titled “Earning Customer Loyalty” and focuses on teaching young material handling salespeople how to create truly great customer relationships. Earning loyalty, Gilleland explains, is the key to sustained success in the business. “If you can turn yourself into a worthy partner in your customer’s business, if he thinks that you are truly interested in his success, you will find that he roots for you. He will find ways for you to win his business because that is what you have always done what is best for him,” he says.

To accomplish this, you must prove your worth to the customer. In the article, Gilleland offers five steps to do just that.

1. Study problems before you develop solutions. You don’t truly serve a customer by simply selling them a product—it has to be a complete solution.
2. Study products. In material handling, product knowledge is paramount. Read everything you can about the products you sell.

3. Make suggestions about process or safety before you are asked. Don’t hesitate to send a written outline of a problem or a potential danger in their operation.
4. Operate the way your customer asks of you. If they prefer e-mail, but you’re a face-to-face guy, you’re going to have to type away.
5. Look at the seams. In any operation a great deal of time and money is spent on systems and process.

To find out more about these suggestions and how they can benefit you, check out MHEDA Edge (www.mhedaedge.org), the online resource for young professionals in the forklift, conveyor and general material handling industries.

For more information, contact Dan Vest, Editor of The MHEDA Edge, (315) 445-2347, email: dan@datakey.org.


About MHEDA

Founded in 1954, the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) is the premier source for manufacturing knowledge, education and networking. Through its member journals (http://www.TheMhedaJournal.org), e-magazines, newsletters, and industry wiki (http://www.wikimheda.org), MHEDA connects the manufacturers of storage and handling, lift trucks and conveyor equipment and distribution leaders for the purpose of delivering optimal solutions to the users of those products. MHEDA publications are the industry’s voice for all matters related to the latest technology and the most up-to-date processes spanning the movement and storage of all materials. A 501(c)3 organization, MHEDA members span all of North America.

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