I am blessed to work for one of the nation’s largest HVAC distribution companies, Johnstone Supply, which does close to $2 billion in annual sales and operates more than 380 stores nationwide. A few years ago, our corporate office sent a survey to our contractor base looking for answers about what our customers most valued. The results might come as a bit of a surprise.
The No. 1 item a contractor wants from an HVAC supply house is not the lowest price. What is most important is for the supply house to have adequate stock on hand. Our survey concluded that product availability was indeed the No. 1 concern, regardless of the contractor’s size. We actually had categorized contracting companies into various sizes, such as two to five trucks, six to 10 trucks, and so on. We found that different size contracting companies have differing needs. Technical and business training were important for the small contractor, but not as much for the larger contractor that typically provides in-house training for their staff, so such services were unnecessary. Larger contractors were more interested in speed of delivery and a broad product selection, and consider these services more valuable. The larger contractors are more interested in stocking programs or just-in-time inventory.