To build their customer base, distributors need to do more than just sell product or offer a standard service, according to LeRoy Burcroff, vice president of Bearing Service Inc. Helping customers solve their own problems through end-user training results in lifelong partnerships, he said in Case Study: Preempting Problems.  

By training customers to solve some of their own problems, distributors bring a higher level of service to the marketplace. Distributors have a better chance of maintaining their relationship with a customer if the end-user is equipped with the information needed to solve their own issues, Burcroff says.

Additionally, this proactive approach with customers enables distributors such to identify customer’s unique problems and demonstrate how training can help them. Burcoff says, end-user training results in the distributor becoming “not just people who sell parts”.

Read more about how this power transmission distributor improved customer and manufacturer relations in Case Study: Preempting Problems.