PIRTEK South Philadelphia marks 10 years of servicing customers with their on-site hose replacement needs.
Bill Zetterlund is the original owner of Pirtek South Philadelphia, which is located in Folcroft, Pa. Responsible for day-to-day operations is Pat Monahan, who joined the business in 2006 as general manager and became a partner alongside Zetterlund in 2007.
Although the spring of this year was slow in sales, the summer was on the upswing, and Monahan says he’s making sure he stays in the front of customers. "I try my hardest to be on the road every day making sales calls," says Monahan. "I find that if I go to the shop first, chances are I'm not going to get out of there. I make it a point to know my customers and their businesses. I can't help them if I don't get out and learn about what they do. It's our responsibility to find solutions even before customers know they have a problem, especially today when customers are looking for suppliers that really want to be on their team."
Pirtek South Philadelphia's business has evolved over the past decade from being an on-site hose and fitting source primarily for construction and recycling accounts to its current-day status as a sure-to-have-it source for marine, transportation, and manufacturing customers.
Its customer transformation is largely due to the business savvy of Monahan, whose industrial sales experience spans over 30 years. He began to target manufacturing customers in 2006, when manufacturing accounted for only 4 percent of the center's business. Today that number is around 22 percent.
"Since our construction business typically went down each September, we decided to focus on other accounts, such as manufacturing and marine, which are not as cyclical,” Monahan says. “It's really paid off."
Monahan was able to target potential customers by investing in Selectory, a D&B business database that provides comprehensive company profiles. Included is such information as location, products, contact information, personnel, credit worthiness, SIC code and more.
The staff at Pirtek South Philadelphia includes Pat Monahan Jr., Justin Lauer, Jason Dutterer, and Dion Gomez, mobile sales and service technicians; Phil Impriano, operations manager; and Jennifer Ford, administrative assistant.
Founded in 1996, Rockledge, Florida-based Pirtek USA offers a 24-hour, 7-day service that serves almost every facet of industry including construction, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture and engineering.
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