P.T. Coupling makes case for a consultative sales approach in hose market

Everyone knows many of the components of the traditional sales model.

You're typically asked to quote on either a single item, a group of related components, or perhaps even everything needed by a factory's maintenance repair operations. Your competitors generally are quoting as well, and the final decision may take into account such variables as application, delivery, product specification and, of course, price.

But in the hose market there really is a better way to do things, according to Brent Lilly, director of sales and marketing for PT Coupling Co. of Enid, Okla. He outlined that better way in "Consultative Sales Approach—Partnering with your End User," during a recent digital regional training program put on by NAHAD's Hose Safety Institute.

"The consultative approach is different than traditional selling," Lilly, a 38-year veteran of the hose business, said in an interview. "It's a deeper dive into the process."

Consultative selling can involve the hose manufacturer—or in PT's case, a coupling producer—joining together with a distributor partner to jointly approach end-use customers. He said this partnering can go beyond a relationship, beyond the price per transaction and involves demonstrating additional service and interactive application knowledge.

"This is getting to that next level, which is helping them from a consultant basis on how to better manage their hose operations for less downtime, fewer inventory investment dollars, and to make sure there is compliance with the plant's safety regulations, with industry oversight regulations and, in a lot of cases, ISO standards," Lilly said.

Getting started
Finding the right people to talk with at an end user is critical. He stressed that it's not just the purchasing department that needs targeted, but the various staff members who influence the buying decision. That means getting an audience with the production manager, maintenance supervisor, the safety director and engineering.

"The first thing is to talk to them about how you would like to help them create and maintain a hose management system," the PT Coupling official said. "Each of those areas have their own areas of needs. Those are not brand needs, and you have to make sure you address each of their concerns."

For example, the safety department would want to hear about how the hose management system would cut down on employee injuries or how good the product is at transferring dangerous materials.

Conversely, the production people are concerned about keeping product flowing through their plant and equipment running. "It is a non-durable, so it does not run forever," Lilly said. "You need to get them to understand you can come in with a really solid hose management system where you can kind of predict and plan, so at 3 o'clock in the morning they're not trying to replace parts or products that may or may not be on the floor."

Once you've gotten the OK to go forward, one of the next critical steps is to perform a proper facility inspection. That involves reviewing the condition of the hoses, noting any cover cuts, scrapes or kinks. It's also important to look at the fittings, keeping an eye out for rust, wear, leaking, broken or damaged elements, and movement marks on the cover that indicate the hose is slipping and becoming detached, he said.

Another vital part of creating the hose management plan is ranking how critical each of the hose assemblies are to the end user's operation. Those ranked high risk, or "A," receive the most scrutiny and the greatest frequency of inspections. Those graded "B" or medium risk, get less frequent inspections, and those at "C" require even fewer inspections.

You then collaborate with the plant to put that testing schedule together, and when items may need recertified as well.

"A distributor and manufacturer together typically will be able to come in and train staff on how to do something," Lilly said. "On a lot of hoses, you can't tell if it's ready to fail unless you get elongation measurements. You can't tell if a hose is thicker or if it's deteriorating from the inside out, which is what a lot of hoses do. But you can take a test timing table that says what the elongation percentage was from a year ago to this one."

Gaining a buy-in
End users are becoming more receptive to predictive type tools that are gaining favor in the hose industry and are offered in various forms by a variety of hose manufacturers and other industry participants, including PT's own hose management system, he said.

"I think one of the purposes of this was to teach our distributor sales people how to make that connection," Lilly said, "because at the end-user level they're all being driven to have a safer work environment ... and are seeking ways to reduce inventory levels."

People in the industry are becoming more adept at using web-based management and purchasing systems. "Companies like ours are at the leading edge of helping distributors begin to take advantage of those customers' needs beyond just the product itself," he said. "And we're offering the technology tools to create that system."

It's end-user needs that are driving the demand, but he said the challenge is to get distributors to utilize this technology as another tool in their arsenal, and to let the ultimate customer know they are available. This also brings the opportunity to quantify certain aspects of the business, such as how much cost there is per hour of downtime or safety stop, and how much a proper hose management system can help mitigate these costs.

But putting in a system isn't enough, Lilly added. Unless there is a process to analyze the data that is captured, the system won't be fully utilized. It's a whole chain that starts with the hose and fitting makers, passed down to the distributor, who then helps the end user.

"That data has to be captured properly, but the system itself provides the analytics that people in the past have not had time or resources to go do on a regular basis," he said.

And though the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic can make everything a big tougher to implement, Lilly said it still can be done.

"You can still do training remotely, and people are doing that," he said. "If you're not there to do it in person, it's really important to give process documentation that is written up, complete with forms, templates and worksheets. And you have to not only train them on what to do, but how to do it.

"You have to take a step or two back and say, 'How can I accomplish this without the in-person perspective."