Business Exchange

HOWARD: This building has got to be over 100 years old.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Even though he left a job and a big company behind, Howard has always looked for ways to treat his small business like a big business, especially when it comes to technology.

HOWARD: Well, I used the technology when we first went in business to try to get rid of writing an order on a piece of paper and a pad, try to get that automated as much as possible, because being the only employee, I wanted to be able to do as much as I could as quickly as possible, as efficiently as possible. So I looked to technology, a small computer or whatever, to aid me to do it that much faster.

One of the major changes that we did after selling the same commodities, which I've said many times, pipe valves--and they've been the same for 30 years--the only thing that's changed on that is the marketing of it. Years ago, we still sold it one on one, face to face, a piece of pipe; you're putting up a building, fine. But with the advents of computers and advents of telemarketing, we can now find out how much we have in stock instantly: How much did we sell of this item year to date? This year? Last year? Are we increasing our sales of this? Decreasing our sales of it? What's the cost? Keep track of it any way we want. We can tell when a customer last bought it: How much did they buy? How much did we make from them? When did they use this item? Is it as seasonal item? This has enabled us to cut our inventory by a third, increase our delivery time--I mean, turnaround time--to a customer, getting them the material that much quicker, that much more efficiently, and yet decrease our inventory so put that money to work someplace else.

Through the advent of the computer, we do telemarketing, faxing out to customers nightly, by SIC codes, not selling the material, just letting them know who we are and what we have to offer.

HATTIE: One SIC code gets XYZ message; another SIC code gets ABC message and it's faxed to them overnight...

HOWARD: Overnight.

HATTIE: ...at a low rate.

HOWARD: A low rate and...

HATTIE: And your machine does that for you.

HOWARD: Machine does it all for us, so overnight we've contacted 200 customers for about $15. And the next day, we have a receipt saying that it was either received or it doesn't--wasn't received; you know a fax was read and you've reached a couple hundred customers, or potential customers, overnight.

HATTIE: So you've tracked that and you know you're getting business from it.

HOWARD: There's no a--question. We've got good responses from it. Customers either say, `We need your services, send a salesman,' or in many cases, it's led to an on-the-spot order, where they need the services immediately, we can turn it around and do it for them, and we've got the order. So that is something that a couple years ago was not available to us. And now with the technology advances that we've had in the last five, six, seven years in PC computers, it's unbelievable. They can put the cost of-- any small business owner now can buy a PC for $1,200. That's enough to help run the business and then get some software in there and program and custom tailor it to keep track of the business very quickly.

In the Studio

HATTIE: Howard Kent has been selling the exact same products for 30 years. Yes, he's added some new bells and whistles, but basically the pipe valve and fitting business hasn't changed much. What has changed is the way he sells pipes, valves and fittings. His infrastructure is a small but powerful computer. He and his salespeople use this hot technology to stay on top of customers and prospects and even anticipate their needs.

For example, the computer sends out 200 faxes every night. Each customer's buying history and their fax numbers are entered into the system. And the computer knows who should receive what messages and when. Doing $3.5 million in sales isn't easy, even if you've been in business for 30 years. Take it from Howard Kent, you must find ways to keep your name in front of even the most loyal customers and find new customers and invest in technology. He's already on the Internet selling pneumatic pumps. And what was once a local, simple business, is now dependent for survival and growth upon technology and going global. Let's go to his Web site.

HOWARD: (Voiceover) As far as I'm concerned, a Web site would be good if you had a totally unique item that you would like to sell; then you get a Web site. But if you just want to say, `I have a Web site,' and look at yourself up there it's not gonna do anything for your business.

Because if you're selling a toilet --a white toilet and you look on the Web, there's five million people selling white toilets. But if you're looking for a specific brand and a specific color that's very unique, now something like that on the Web can bring a buyer right to you.