Ask Ritbearing: Are You Available for Joint Calls & Training?

JOINT CALLS

At Ritbearing we go on two types of joint calls:

1. We go with our suppliers to make calls.

2. We make calls with our customers (industrial distributors, original equipment manufacturers and wholesalers).

The Ritbearing website generates considerable interest in a variety of bearing products for a multitude of applications and industries. Ritbearing’s goal is to expand our market presence, so we must educate the consumers on products and options available.

The function Ritbearing has for suppliers is to not only to represent products in the United States, but also to promote each supplier’s product in the United States. This means Ritbearing has to educate customers in specific target industries about both the bearing manufacturing facility and Ritbearing.

Many times suppliers represented by Ritbearing can offer insight on a specific bearing or application that the end user will find useful, time saving, or cost saving. Ritbearing suppliers can also offer smaller manufacturing runs, lower MOQ’s, and do not back away from specials of any kind.

The mind set of Ritbearing and the suppliers featured is not simply “This is what we have to offer”, but rather “Let us learn more about your application and bearing needs so we can provide the best options and solutions.”

We realize customers and end users are busy and time is of value. The goal with joint calls is to provide value for both the end user and the distributor partner. Value can be achieved through pricing options, delivery options, or product design options that improve functionality. Ritbearing knows your time is valuable, so we ask direct questions to show value.

Ritbearing also realizes this will help the distributor partner in many other ways as productive bearing sales calls with Ritbearing will lead to increased activity on other items the distributor partner can provide.

WHY GO ON CALLS WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS?

You may be thinking that we would try to get business when we make calls with customers. That is a common concern, but the answer is no. We do not solicit direct business on calls with customers.

In fact, many of our customers find it helps them when we go on the calls because as the expert we can identify new accounts or offer solutions that the customer may not know exists.

STEEL MILL JOINT CALL SUCCESS STORY

Here’s a recent example of how a successful joint call went with Ritbearing, our manufacturer, and our local distributor partner.

A steel mill received in a new piece of steel making equipment which had bearings that the end user was unfamiliar with. The steel mill was instructed that they needed to purchase complete bearings from the original bearing supplier when the bearings were taken out of service.

The steel mill thought they had no other option. But our local distributor partner opened up the lines of communication with the local Ritbearing sales representative. Then we were able to bring in our manufacturer’s engineer and assist the steel mill with their concerns.

We were able to provide the steel mill with cost savings based upon our solution.

Our solution involved the replacement of inner or outer rings, depending upon the condition of the bearings after they are removed. The factory could then provide new inner or outer rings with slight adjustments.

If the client had remained with their old supplier, the client would have paid for brand new, complete bearings every time they came out of service. Our recommendation to the end user was they could get up to 5 turns with the bearings we provided.