For more than 50 years, J Supply has been serving commercial customers is northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama as a distributor of industrial, safety, and janitorial supplies. They cover “just about everything needed to run a manufacturing plant.”
A member since 2014, J Supply has made it a priority to invest their time, energy, and resources into the relationships, tools, and opportunities NetPlus has available to its members. Whether they’re adding suppliers, initiating Growth Plus plans, attending trainings, or increasing their purchases within the group, they’ve grown with NetPlus in some capacity every year of their membership.
We had a conversation with J Supply’s NetPlus liaison and Sales Specialist David Boylan to get a better understanding of how our members effectively make the most of their NetPlus membership and what benefits they prioritize.
NETPLUS: You reached NetPlus Perks Diamond status again this year! What are some key ways you achieved that?
J SUPPLY: I think it is mostly a natural evolution of our leadership team. J Supply President Freeman Robbins, Vice President Rhett Rogers, and our newest Partner Ballard Betz recognize the value of partnering with NetPlus Alliance. Combine that vision with the enthusiasm and leadership of our 40+ year veteran Sales Manager David Woodard and his sales team, the faithful performance of our warehouse and delivery team, and I guess it should have been a slam dunk! Although, I’m pretty sure we had an extra push from some NetPlus team members to help us cross the finish line.
We also made it a priority to attend the Annual Meeting and really engage. You have to prepare beforehand, purposefully work the event, and follow up after.
NETPLUS: For you, what’s the primary benefit of attending the Annual Meeting?
J SUPPLY: There are several. Dedicated, organized one-on-one meeting times with our suppliers at key decision-making levels. That’s the primary benefit of the Annual Meeting. The suppliers I questioned almost to the letter explained that attending is “absolutely worth it” from their point of view. While there might be bigger shows, the scheduled appointments provide value above and beyond traditional shows.
At the Annual Meeting you get hands-on introduction to new products and technologies that can’t be duplicated in an email or printed catalog. You also benefit from networking opportunities with suppliers and fellow distributors alike. It’s nice to learn you aren’t the only one struggling with: [insert your industrial distributor hair pulling out issue here]. It’s amazing how much you can learn from your fellow distributors who have “been there, done that” with your particular issue.
NETPLUS: Has NetPlus Academy played any significant role in your membership?
J SUPPLY: Without a doubt. I’m reluctant to claim that NetPlus Academy is “the best-kept secret” to keeping your sales team up to date on product information, but those are the facts. If you miss a day, you miss a lot regarding NetPlus Academy. Block out some calendar time to engage with supplier webinars, try to complete one course per week, find and attend a training session whether virtual or onsite. At the end of the year, you’ll be amazed at the positive impact of NetPlus Academy training support.
NETPLUS: What are the top benefits of your NetPlus membership?
J SUPPLY: Our NetPlus membership enables us to operate effectively as if we were a much larger distributor than we really are. Four things come to mind: training, marketing, relationship building, and rebates. NetPlus Academy brings a wide range of products and professional development training content to members through BlueVolt. We would normally have to either add staff internally or obtain resources like that through outsourcing at significant additional cost. Our team members enjoy earning $BlueBucks rewards in the form of a gift card as part of completing training courses.
NetPlus also takes time to engage with us and our suppliers on social media to elevate our brand, in some cases with worldwide impact. Our customers and prospects recognize the support and connections we have with our suppliers through NetPlus and hopefully want to become part of that network of excellence.
While we have the ability to purchase direct or through redistribution on our own, something magically happens when we reach out to a supplier as a NetPlus Alliance group member; clouds part, the sun shines, birds sing, music starts playing. In reality, we enjoy a much faster and higher level of support as NetPlus members vs. going solo. Our collective purchasing power and connections are greatly amplified in our supplier’s mind when we represent NetPlus Alliance.
And of course, rebates. Sure, I’ve been heard to say out loud, “forget about the rebates, look at all the value-added intangible benefits!” For those of you who are shaking your head, we do appreciate the rebate program, but please know NetPlus offers so much more than just that.
NETPLUS: How have you strategically prioritized Growth Plus planning?
J SUPPLY: We’d like to say that we are so well organized that we have our Growth Plus plan implemented to an infinite level of detail. The reality is, we stay so focused on serving our customers that we have to create space to effectively manage Growth Plus. Fortunately, we took advantage of the Annual Meeting one-on-one sessions with suppliers to develop our short list of Growth Plus plan targets. Our suppliers have taken time to reach out and help us hone our Growth Plus plans to realistic targets with a reasonable chance of success.
NETPLUS: Are there other ways you aim to reap the rewards of your membership?
J SUPPLY: We are working on elevating the typical local open house event by leveraging support from our NetPlus supplier partners. That’s something we would probably not be as effective at if not for our NetPlus membership.
NETPLUS: What advice would you share with new members or members looking to maximize their membership this year?
J SUPPLY: Slow and steady. “How do you eat a truckload of Jello? One bite at a time.” Much like the New Year’s diet and exercise resolution, if you take on too much and go all out at the beginning, you’ll soon become overwhelmed and give up by mid-February.
Find a few brands and products you think are a best fit for your company, then choose some basic steps to move them forward. Sales training, lunch-and-learn meetings, targeted product flyers matched with consistent social media engagement, local customer-facing opportunities where you feature the short list of NetPlus suppliers you want to help differentiate you from your competitors.
Decide you don’t have to be an expert at everything. Reach out to NetPlus for support; they will handle it or put you in touch with someone who can. We all do more daily with less resources than we ever had. Put the NetPlus team to work for you, share your needs with them so they can do what they do best and you can focus on your area of expertise.