Page 39 - NECO News

of the day, it all worked out and everyone was happy with the results.”
The cousins acquired two businesses first, then the next two, then opened a fifth, then bought two more. To consoli- date the two halves, they put all the businesses back under one name, Baron’s Major Brands.
The business, when it was led by Souter’s uncles, affiliated themselves with what was first Key Dealer (Nationwide), and now with NECO, Souter said.
“That buying group with NECO is part of what allowed us to focus on our business. They’re the education piece,” Souter said. “They’re the ones that helped us and guided us. What it does for you is it gives you access to training, to best practices. It gives us better buying power. It gives us network informa- tion, critique groups. If there’s a NECO event being held and they’re going to do something on best practices, we’re going to be in those classes. That helped us grow.”
Baron’s Major Brands does a little bit of everything to keep reaching out to customers and growing its base: service, installation and events such as cooking demonstrations in show kitchens.
“We’re connected to home builder associations, chambers of commerce, retailers’ association,” Souter said. “We partner with cabinet shops. We host in-store events. We work with charities. We try to do it all.”
The service component has proven to be a challenge, how- ever, and one that Souter is serious about mastering.
“It’s not something that anybody aspires to do among the current millennials – they’re not really driven to do that hands- on work,” Souter said. “To outsource is to hope somebody else will do that work and that’s not the way we do it.”
Instead, Baron’s implemented a service school about 10 years ago, working with the New Hampshire Technical Insti- tute, to provide technical training leading to certification. The
goal, Souter said, is to make technical training in appliance ser- vice a desirable and achievable career for young people. It’s a lofty goal.
“You can always find quality sales people, or administra- tive people to do your operations, but that’s not the case for service,” Souter said. “We have enough staff to do the work today but if I look down the road 10 years, a lot of those peo- ple currently in the job will be retired. You don’t always find younger people looking to be a technician and that’s what we need to do.”
One place Baron’s is looking for future service technicians is in its own delivery department. By targeting delivery em- ployees with the right skill set, Baron’s is building its own team of service technicians from the ground up.
Another area of growth for Baron’s is its wholesale division, which is only about three years old. This is where big jobs, such as multi-family housing projects that need appliances installed on a deadline, are managed.
“That’s not your retail sales division,” Souter said. “It’s han- dled completely differently. We’re starting to expand again and starting to see those big projects, like adult senior living proj- ects. It’s because the economy’s coming back. I think there’s a big future there.”
And the thread that connects all the disparate parts of the business is NECO, Souter said. From the basic benefit of in- creased buying power to continuing education in new media marketing, it’s the way to keep moving forward.
“I don’t know how dealers can do it as a sole proprietor trying to make all the decisions,” he said. “Right now they’re teaching us about digital marketing. One of the first things we learned was have a plan. Have a focus. You don’t know where you’re going if you don’t have plan.” N
DECEMBER 2016 NECO News 39