Snap-on rules, the mechanic drools
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THERE CAN be few people who have failed to spot a Snap-on Tools van on the road. And if you work for a haulage company, vehicle dealership or garage, the chances are that you receive regular visits from a Snap-on dealer peddling his wares — high quality tools to be more precise — on a buy now, pay later basis.
This is the age of the neon shopping arcade; the mail order catalogue; and the superstore where tills have been replaced by cash registers that produce receipts like quarterly bank statements.
Personal service with a smile appears to have been replaced by the brutal "move them in; take their money; get rid of them" approach.
It is therefore satisfying to know that there is still such a breed as the travelling vendor who has the goods that customers require and who is, quite lite rally, prepared to go out of his way to cater for their needs. A Snap-on Tolls dealer is one such being.
Snap-on Tools does not supply through retail outlets but instead relies on it's network of 285 self-employed franchised dealers throughout the UK and Ireland. The dealer network accounts for more than 90 per cent of the Snap-on set up. The remainder of the company's sales are made by a team of direct employees who concentrate totally on the "industrial side" — selling tools to manufacturing plants, power stations, and similar operations.
The dealers, though, concentrate on the smaller fry, namely mechanics working for commercial vehicle dealerships, haulage contractors and plant hire companies.
Ken Herber, Snap-on`s Northern regional sales manager reckons that more than 90 per cent of mechanics pay for their own tools and it is therefore the mechanic himself, rather than the company he may work for, who pays a Snap-on dealer's wages. The system operated by Snapon is fairly attractive and straightforward for the mechanic: each dealer has his own local patch and calls regularly (often weekly) in his wellstocked van to the mechanic's workplace.
The mechanic can choose the tools he requires on the spot, and in return for a downpayment can take them away with him immediately. He pays his next instalment on his newly acquired tools when his Snap-on dealer calls the following week, and will usually settle up in full within eight weeks (though the pay back period differs from dealer to dealer).
The attraction for the mechanic is immediate possession of, say, £40 worth of tools, which he pays for at a rate of only E5 per week. Because the dealer comes to him at his workplace, he does not have to spend his spare time shoppil around for tools, and perha more importantly he can del payment.
Ken Herber says that sor mechanics own £3,000 to E4,0 worth of tools and therefore tl advantage of paying by inst. ments is all the more obvioi Ken refers to the Snap-c system as a pay-as-you-ea tool club. Those mechanics wl prefer not to join the club can course pay in full at the time purchase.
A Snap-on dealer is, I wou guess, the sort of person who craving to be his own boss ar realises that by working as self-employed franchise dealE he goes a long way towari achieving that goal. While Snap-on dealer can certain consider that he is his own bos he can also receive comfort fro the fact that he has an organis tion behind him that is co cerned about his well being.
When taking on a new dealt Snap-on looks for a bright, amt tious, hard working individu4 The company even likes to me the potential dealer and h family at home, not only to e sure that he has adequai parking facilities for the van th is to be his livelihood, but also• obtain a better overall picture the candidate.
Ken recalls the time when man was interviewed at one the company's branches (the are six spread throughout UK and Ireland) and appeared • be more than suitable.
When the second stage of Vinterviewing process took pla( at his home — an interview th was to decide his future man put his feet up on the tab and left his television set o while discussing possibly a single most important event his working life. On that eN. dence, Snap-on decided that did not quite have the approac it desired.
A dealer has to put in or hours, a substantial financi investment, and perhaps give L. me of the advantages that he ay have had in his previous job a company car, for instance. 1r these reasons, Snap-on likes a opportunity to meet briefly e people closest to the future !e'er.
It is not just a family business rives often help out with the )ok work) but more a "full me and more occupation", iys Ken. A dealer's day is not rer when he arrives home. His .hicle has to be cleaned and reocked, and there is regular per work to be done.
Having been through Snapn's vetting process, the dealer
• once accepted — then has to west in his future. He has to roduce an initial £4,000 and sually has to commit himself to
four-year agreement with a finnce company in order to pay
ar his van. (An exceptional pplicant may be allowed to tart up with less than £4,000).
The £4,000 investment can -oadly be broken up into three
itegories: £1,500 as an initial
Dwn payment on the van; 1,500 to Snap-on; and approxi
lately £1,000 as "back up" ioney which also takes care of iministrative expenses such as .:enses.
But in return, Snap-on also ikes some risks of its own. The 1,500 that it initially takes from dealer remains his and is condered more of a goodwill stake an anything else. In return, nap-on provides him with 16,500 worth of tools which he asically pays for as and when is paid for them by his cusmers. (Obviously the agreelent between dealer and comany is not quite so simple).
It is possible for a dealer to ay for his E16,500 (at list prices) worth of tools within a couple of years, depending on how well he budgets and how well he sells.
A good salesman who is not paying himself too highly can even clear his debt to Snap-on within a matter of months. From then onwards, the dealer only pays for the tools he re-orders to top up his stock.
But a well organised system such as the one operated by Snap-on is useless without the right product range. There are about 2,500 items in the standard Snap-on UK range, and about 9,000 in the world-wide catalogue, all of which are available in the UK to special order.
Snap-on was formed in the USA in 1920. The company name originates from one of its early inventions: four bars, and ten sockets Which snapped on to the assorted bars — the original socket set, according to Ken Herber.
The company has grown into a mammoth corporation with a turnover of more than C300m per annum. It has several manufacturing plants throughout the USA, Canada and Mexico and its products are marketed in more than 120 countries.
In the UK, Snap-on tools are exclusively sold to mechanics through the 285 strong mobile dealer network rather than through high street retail outlets.. The tools and ancillary products are of top quality, says Ken. There is, he says, an immense company pride in the quality of its goods.
Snap-on's 300 page "catalog" shows a wealth of tools and equipment, from the smallest of hand tools to sophisticated engine analysis systems. The company values highly its variety of .wrenches (spanners, to you and I) which are slimmer but still as strong as others on the market. Socket sets and individual sockets are also prevalent in the Snap-on range, as are its tool chests, boxes and cabinets.
"Unquestionably," says Ken, "we sell more toolboxes than anyone else."
He estimates that, because of the way they are abused by users, Snap-on sells more screwdrivers than anything else.
"If there is a most popular product in the range, it would be the screwdriver. Of course, we wouldn't sell so many of them if they weren't misused".
Snap-on appreciates that while the quality of the tools themselves is a dealer's main selling point, his van also plays an important role. The purchase of a van is a dealer's responsibility, though he does receive some indirect help from Snapon. The .company can arrange finance facilities for him and can often negotiate good discounts.
There are, says Ken, numerous benefits in having the company's tools sold via the mobile dealer network. One obvious advantage is that wherever a Snapon van goes, the company's name is being boldly advertised.
Ken, recalling the days when he Was a successful dealer, says that while sitting in his van at a set of lights or in a traffic jam, he was often approached by potential customers who would ask him to call at their workplace.
Most vans also have the name But if a dealer is doing his job properly, he should be getting to the customers before they get to him. When he ventures out into ]his allocated territory he is supplied with a list of all the Igarages in his patch, the approximate number of people using tools, as well as details of routeing.
All territories have the same potential and all are equally set up, says Ken. There is obviously less demand for tools in some rural areas and threfore a dealer can in some circumstances use a smaller van and carry less stock.
There are tool warehouses/administrative centres at Basildon, Basingstoke, Bristol, Kettering, Warrington, and East Kilbride. Support is also provided by 32 company-employed field man agers who provide product training and advice in salesmanship methods and business operations. A field manager will also spend a few weeks with a dealer in the early days as he familiarises himself with his territory and the business of selling tools.
Of course there are occasions when a man fails to meet his sales targets and is finding life as a Snap-on dealer too demanding. If he is only selling to five customers in 10, he is below par, says Ken Herber.
In such circumstances Snapon will offer advice and as sistance to the dealer and will genuinely attempt to rectify the problems. If all else fails, the dealer can throw in the towel, the company will take back its stock from him and usually the incoming dealer who is to replace him can inherit the previous dealer's running account (the money owed by his customers).
He can often take over the old dealer's vehicle too. The out going dealer, depending on how well he conducted his business leaves Snap-on with his original £1,500, possibly more, but in extreme cases — when the venture has gone disasterously,wrong — the dealer can actually leave owing money.
But failures are rare. The key to a Snap-on dealer's success is ability and effort.
Naturally, Ken Herber thinks highly of the Snap-on system and product range. He claims that the franchise deal that his company offers is the best avail able in the UK, and is equally enthusiastic about the quality of Snap-on tools. "Mechanics drool over them."