Davis Controls Ltd. - Where We Work And Play

Saying that we are a high tech company is one thing.  Having the right people and products to prove it on a daily basis is another.  Having the advanced business software to facilitate instant and accurate execution is yet another and we have talked about them all in this blog series.  But almost as important as who we are and what we do and how we do it, is how we look.  It’s one thing to say that we are high tech, but we also have to look high tech and we go to great pains to project a clean, efficient and professional image to our customers, suppliers and employees.

In Montreal we have recently moved our office one floor down from where we have been for the last 21 years.  We elected to stay in St Laurent for a number of reasons, including the concentration of high tech companies in the area, close proximity to the airport, good highway access and the fact that we liked the facilities.

 

Our new office is larger, quieter and more functional than the space we had before and our Montreal staff are delighted with the new location.  Two new features of Suite 302 include a dedicated reception area, where guests have an opportunity to sit and relax, as well as a proper training room, where we can meet with customers and suppliers to discuss new products and/or applications.  We have used the move as an occasion to reclaim and reorganize our Montreal stockroom and this area once again reflects a cross section of the day to day inventory requirements of the district.  If you are ever in the area, we encourage you to drop in to take a look and say Hi.

 

 At our head office in Oakville, we continue to be more than satisfied with the location and facilities that we built in 1989.  The office has proven to be everything that we had hoped it would be when we first designed and furnished it, 23 years ago.  Over this period, the shrubs and trees and garden beds that looked so scrawny and small when they were first planted are all now full and lush, creating a picturesque sight for anyone coming to visit.  I regularly sit out on the patio after work just to relax and read the paper and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.  But I am not the only one making good use of this setting.

Each year, beginning in May and continuing once a month until at least October, the Oakville BBQ committee organizes a lunchtime feast out on the patio.  While Larry is at the grill cooking hamburgers, sausages and chicken breasts to perfection, Joan, Leanne, Debera and Kim are tossing salads, preparing condiments and pouring drinks at the same time that Roy is setting up the sound system and sun umbrellas, getting ready for the Bar-B-Que buffet.

 

We like to have the entire office participate in these events and encourage all of our field sales reps to plan calls in the area on these days so that they can drop in at lunch time to enjoy the good food and music with their friends and colleagues. 

 

 

 

In early June of this year, we combined an after work, steak dinner BBQ with a sales training seminar that we were hosting at the same time.  Participating in this event were all of our sales reps, including our friends from Montreal, Vancouver, Sarnia, Hamilton and Cambridge and our lunch room / patio facility is just perfect for this kind of social gathering.

 

On June 16, we used our expansive back lawn to host a multi-employee yard sale.  The day turned out to be hot and sunny and we had a steady stream of bargain hunters arriving all morning, hoping to find and deal for that one rare or unusual item that they just couldn’t live without.  We were all set up in time for the early birds who began arriving at 7:00am and by noon, we were all ‘haggled’ out with nothing left to do but pack up and count our booty.  None of us got rich, but it was good fun and we all achieved our main objective, that being to purge the basement, garage or storage closet of years of accumulated treasures.

                                                        

                                                                              www.daviscontrols.com

Davis Controls Ltd. - What's Going On At DCL

In the spring of 1981, Davis Controls was appointed Canadian distributor for the Richard Klinger program of Magnetic Level Gauges manufactured in Sidcup, Kent in England as well as for their line of steam valves and conventional sight level gauges for steam and process applications, manufactured in Gumpoldskirchen, Austria.

By 1989, sales and the relationship between Davis and Klinger had developed to the point where it made good sense for us to enter into a Manufacturing license agreement, authorizing Davis Controls to manufacture Magnetic Level Gauges for the Canadian and US markets.  Under this agreement, the proprietary gauge components were sourced from Klinger in Europe while the pressure bearing fittings and material could be sourced in North America, where we could more easily locate and control the pipe, flanges and other pressure boundary parts needed to satisfy our local ANSI,  ASME  and CRN specifications.

This was our first and so far only foray into outright Manufacturing, and once again, I am pleased to say that this too has been a successful venture for us.  At another level, short of full blown manufacturing, Davis Controls has always been involved in ‘marginal manufacturing’, panel building, kitting and assembly and this activity continues to represent a large component of our value proposition.

We are often asked if we have any interest in being involved with a manufacturer under a Representative relationship or ‘Rep’ agreement.  This role differs from that of a Distributor in that it is the function and responsibility of a Distributor to purchase (take ownership), import, stock and resell product.  Sales Representatives on the other hand are intermediaries that act on behalf of the Manufacturer but do not take title to the products and instead are responsible to solicit orders from customers for which they then collect a commission and/or fee from the manufacturer (exporter).   The role of the ‘Rep’ gets a bit complicated when you have the conversation with the customer about who will pay the import duties (not a big deal any more, but it used to be), freight from the manufacturer and brokerage fees that are imposed when the shipment crosses the border and then about what currency the manufacturer expects to be paid in and who will assume the exchange risk.  We, as a Distributor, take care of all of these import transaction issues and provide the product FOB Oakville.  We have elected not to get involved in ‘Rep’ relationships so that we are free to provide the human and technical resources necessary to understand and promote the product effectively.

Field Service and Commissioning are two other activities that Davis Controls is profitably involved in.  We have trained and experienced technicians in our Service department who, in addition to the bench repairs they perform on products that we sell, are regularly engaged in field service and calibration, maintenance contracts, set up and commissioning.  You may recall from my first two blogs that when Mr. Davis started the company in 1933, he single-handedly managed both the Distribution and Service activities of Davis Controls from the seat of his bike, and we faithfully continue in that tradition.

Social Media:  You have probably noticed that our website  www.daviscontrols.com  has been enhanced with the following social media links and while we have quite a bit of activity already on each site, we still have a lot to learn about how to leverage these web-based and mobile based technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue with our customer accounts and contacts.

The fact that you are reading this blog is confirmation that at least this element of our ‘social’ initiative to communicate newsy items about Davis Controls is working.

Finally, the last two activities that I will mention only briefly are Joint Ventures and System Integration, both of which have been tried, but with less than spectacular results.   In both cases these experiments, which seemed like good ideas at the time, were terminated for reasons too complex to review here.  For now, it is enough to say that they have been considered, tried and set aside, at least for now.

 

 

 

                                                                www.daviscontrols.com

 

Davis Controls Ltd. - Embracing Non-Core Technologies & Markets

We have described ourselves as a ‘Distributor of Process Controls and Industrial Instrumentation’, and this ‘Distribution’ model has always been at the center of how we go to market.  That’s not to say that we have always been single minded in our sales and marketing philosophy. Through the years, we have considered other business models in an effort to expand our core competencies, broaden our base and increase our footprint.  For reasons that made perfect sense to us at the time, we have tried to push the envelope by exploring new initiatives, including;

Embracing non-core technologies and markets:    We have always been conscious of the fact that each time we solve an industrial application problem with one of our high tech solutions, one consequence of solving the problem, unless it is an OEM solution, is that the application is no longer a sales opportunity.  We then have to find a new problem to solve for the next sale.  In the late 80’s we made the conscious decision to identify and add a premium line of industrial consumable products to our mix, where the product, in the course of doing its job, is consumed and needs to be replaced.  A solution that the better it works, the more new ones are required.  Such is the case, for example, with industrial lubricants and compressed air/gas filters.

At the same time that we were looking for an Industrial consumable to sell to our customer base, Lubrication Engineers Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas was looking for an Industrial Distribution partner to take responsibility for the sales and marketing activities of their technologically advanced lubricants in Canada.  LE is confident that “No other brand of petroleum lubricating oil whatsoever, regardless of price, will be found superior in condition to Lubrication Engineers products at the end of any given period of use”.

Given these and other synergies, we launched the partnership in 1990, but it wasn’t long before we realized that our Automation and Process specialists were not the right people to ask to sell high performance lubricants and that this task was better suited to Mechanical Engineers, who have a professional interest in moving parts and who understand friction, and Chemical Engineers, who can relate to molecular structure and chemical bonds and how these are affected by application conditions, such as temperature, moisture and others.

In 1993, Lubrication Engineers of Canada Ltd. was created as a separate corporate entity, with its own dedicated sales team of engineers and tribologists and is now a successful enterprise selling millions of dollars of the world's finest lubricants in Canada.  Lubrication Engineers combine the best paraffinic and synthetic base oils with proprietary additive technology to offer the highest possible level of performance. Designed to exceed the specifications and capabilities of ordinary commercial grade products, Lubrication Engineers problem-solving lubricants will increase user profitability by providing:

·         Longer equipment life: less capital expenditures

·         Extended service intervals: reduced lubricant consumption

·         Improved reliability: less unscheduled downtime

·         Reduced energy consumption: less friction losses

·         Environmental advantages: facilitate ISO 14000 implementation

Lubrication Engineers of Canada shares physical office and warehouse space with Davis Controls Ltd. as well as Accounting, Marketing and Warehousing services and IT & telephony infrastructure and support.

The second important exclusive Distribution appointment Davis Controls received for an Industrial Consumable product, at least for Eastern Canada, was from Parker Hannifin, for their Balston branded industrial filtration products.  Parker offers a wide range of Balston products for industrial applications including:  Compressed Air Filters, Sample Filters, Vacuum Pump Inlet and Exhaust Filters, High Efficiency Liquid Filters, Filters for Hospital Applications, Natural Gas Filters, 0.01 Membrane Filters, Steam and Sterile Air Filters for Food Industry, Nitrogen Gas Generation Systems and Compressed Air Dryers.

The addition of Balston filters to our product offering has not only opened many new doors for us (i.e. hospital steam applications – for sterile surgical packs), it has provided one more solution for us to present to existing customers (i.e. 99.99% sterile air for the Food Industry).

In hindsight, the decision to add high tech, industrial consumables to our product mix has proven to be a winning strategy.  In my next blog release, I will tell you about some of our other strategic ideas for growth, not all of which have turned out to be the unqualified success that Lubrication Engineers and Balston have been.




                                                                           www.daviscontrols.com

                                                     

Davis Controls Ltd. - Understanding Our Customers

Understanding our customers business as well as their application is important to the success of our relationship.  Then using that knowledge to provide him or her with the best possible solution is our mission.  We do our best to make sure that every proposal that we make, positively affects our customer’s bottom line, by providing reliable, high quality, technical solutions.

 When our sales reps realize that the majority of customers first choose who to buy from before deciding on what to buy and that the power of their influence has less to do with content and more to do with context and their listening and questioning skills, they become less focused on pitching Features and Benefits and more determined to ask the right questions, listen carefully and understand the problem from the customers point of view.

With all of the above in mind, we recently employed Tangent Knowledge Systems to conduct a two day Sales Training seminar entitled “Selling has Nothing to do with Selling”.  What appealed to me was that Tangent promotes a neutral, non-selling posture that requires the salesperson to have a deep and thorough understanding of the customer's business, problems and compelling reasons to change.

Included among the long list of topics discussed were;

·         Poor prospecting skills that stunt sales growth

·         Lack of a systematic sales process, resulting in poor pipeline management and unpredictable forecasting

·         Wasteful follow up, quoting and proposing techniques that lead to long sales cycles and higher costs of sales

·         Sales people causing their own frustration by wasting time, information and resources due to improper account qualification.

·         Salespeople's inability to call at higher levels and to locate true decision makers, causing lost opportunities and sales.

·         Inability to truly differentiate one's offering, causing commoditization and erosion of margins.

·         Salespeople selling transactionally instead of strategically, causing higher acquisition costs and bad deals.

Time will tell if this coaching exercise will lead to enough behaviour modification to improve individual performance and differentiate Davis Controls from our competition.

                                                                           www.daviscontrols.com

Davis Controls Ltd. - "The Magic Bullet"

And while prestigious performance awards from suppliers and the positive message of appreciation for outstanding results that they convey are an important prize for any Industrial Distributor or Application Service Provider to receive, they are not easily earned or casually conferred.  They are the official, ceremonial recognition of months of determined preparation, application engineering, demonstration, solution selling, negotiation, perseverance and success.

But if you were to ask me, or even better, a Customer...Why did we win the order?... What set us apart ?...  What was different enough about us to convince the consulting engineer to specify us or the customer to buy from us?  What answer would we get?  I am pretty sure that in most cases, it would not be “PRICE”....at least I hope it would not be.

Under ideal circumstances, we need a strong economy and healthy target industries that are growing and spending money, but these alone do not guarantee Davis the sale.  So WHY US?  What is our differentiator?  Do we even have one?

I heard a speaker recently who insisted that we paint ourselves into ‘Commodity Corner’ if we think that any of the following elements are what make us special;

Great Customer Service: Who doesn’t lay claim to great customer service, whether it’s true or not

Quality:  We have quality products that will do the job, but so do many of our competitors

Our Reputation / Our Brand: - Of course this is important.  We could not even open our doors day after day if Davis Controls had a bad reputation, but how much business does this win?

Good Results: If we didn’t produce good results, we wouldn’t even be here

Our Employees / Our People / Our Team:  Once again, who doesn’t say this?

Expertise:  Everyone says “We have Trained and Knowledgeable sales reps”.  I would be the first to insist that Product knowledge is critical...and we do our best to provide training where needed, but surely this must be presumed by every customer

Consistent and Reliable: This is where I can put in a plug for Macola and e-Synergy and our CRM and BAM software.  These tools help us to be consistent and reliable quickly, but these are only tools

We are Responsive...at least I hope we are

We are Innovative…at least I am told we are

Customers Trust us / They have a Relationship with us 

All of these traits and characteristics of a corporate formula for success are essential and I am convinced that we do them all pretty well, but they are also expected by our customers.  Collectively, they represent the minimum requirements to even be in the game.  Everybody else is laying claim to these ‘unique differentiators’ too. They have become a punch line and when we say them, we sound the same as everyone else.

When I heard this entire list of ‘essentials’ disqualified as being “too essential” to every business to be claimed by any one business as their differentiator, at first I thought, ‘WOW, that’s right.  We need to identify and capitalize on something that is so different and uniquely ours that it sets us apart from everyone else’.

When I heard the same argument a second time, I thought, ‘it’s compelling, but something is just NOT right with the premise’.  A winning combination of all of these things must surely create a competitive advantage.

When I heard these ten important corporate attributes dismissed as commodities for the third time, I realized what I didn’t agree with.  Sure everyone claims to be uniquely expert in some or all of these areas, but the truth is; they can’t all be.  Everyone has products, some are better than others.  Everyone provides a service; some do it better than others.  Everyone has a reputation – again, some are better than others, but the real flaw in the argument is the suggestion that good people are commodities.  In the same way that weak, unskilled, untrained, unmotivated people are corporate liabilities, good people with superior skills and strong values can and do make all the difference.

The ‘Magic Bullet’ is the people. It has to be!  They cannot be dismissed.

And just as important as having good people, is having time with good prospects.  There is never enough time.  We don’t have enough of it and neither does our customer.  Success begins with successfully arranging for a customer to see us and ends by making the most with the time we are granted.  Once we have been given a sales opportunity, we can’t afford to waste it with an ineffective or unproductive presentation.

                                              
                                                                 www.daviscontrols.com

Davis Controls Ltd - How's Business?

It may be due to the general state of the economy, or possibly it’s out of a genuine concern about our corporate health, that I am often asked the question “How’s business?”…. and I’m always very pleased to answer honestly, “It’s never been better”.  For the last 3 years, while the economy has been weak and uncertain, Davis Controls has been on a bit of a roll, posting robust growth and solid profitability and so far this year, we appear to be on that same trajectory.

Sales are up in most territories for nearly all of our Product lines, and several of our important suppliers have seen fit to officially recognize our performance by awarding us their most important prize for sales excellence.  We proudly display these attractive plaques in our lobby for all to see.

2010 Awards

Gems Sensors: The ‘A CUT ABOVE’ Award for the Channel Partner who demonstrated the Highest
   Sales Performance

Danfoss:  The ‘ACHIEVEMENT IN EXCELLENCE AWARD’ for Outstanding Sales Performance

Eurotherm: For ‘EXCEPTIONAL SALES VOLUME and EXCEEDING SALES   QUOTA’

2011 Awards

Gems Sensors: The ‘A CUT ABOVE’ Award for the Channel Partner who demonstrated the Highest Sales Performance

Danfoss: The ‘ACHIEVEMENT IN EXCELLENCE AWARD’ for Outstanding  Sales Performance

Gems Sensors: The ‘KINECTIC GROWTH’ Award (Sales) for the Channel Partner who   demonstrated the Highest Year Over Year Dollar Growth

 Acromag:  The ‘OUTSTANDING SALES ACHIEVEMENT AWARD’ in Recognition of
                    Sales Achievements for the Process Instrumentation Group, Resulting in Outstanding
                    Territorial Sales Growth

These honours are very special to us, since they demonstrate clear confirmation that our efforts are not only appreciated by our suppliers, but that our strong results continue to distinguish us among their other successful partners in the channel.  With a bit of luck, we should be able to add two or three more suppliers to our ‘Wall of Distinction’ this year.

                                                                    www.daviscontrols.com