"There's no magic. There isn't anything that our company handles that customers can't get from somebody else…It comes down to our people.
Gary Gettle, president
Carlson Systems
Phoenix, AZ — "We sell everything from the simple to the sublime; from a basic hand tool to a completely automated assembly line."
That's how Don Carlson, chairman of the board for Carlson Holdings, Inc. and its related subsidiaries, defines the company his family started in 1947. "Whether it's industrial or construction, fastening or packaging, we're in the business of selling product assembly systems," he adds. "We sell tools that we support with outstanding service because they all need maintenance and repairs."
The company has come a long way since Carl and Julia Carlson set up offices on their front porch, warehousing product in the basement of their Omaha, NE home. Today, the third generation of Carlsons is active in the business and Carlson Systems serves construction contractors from the Canadian border in to Mexico — and with the recent addition of Mid-Atlantic Fasteners, stretches east to the Atlantic coast.
In the 1990s, Carlson Construction Supplies opened stores in Arizona, the first in partnership with a lumberyard. Taking advantage of the building boom in the Valley of the Sun, expansion was quick and decisive in Phoenix, Tucson and throughout the region. And the company expanded into its Western corporate headquarters in Phoenix.
There are rewards
This active expansion has been rewarded with equally rapid growth.
"We're No. 1 in our specific markets," says president and CEO Gary Gettle. "We're particularly proud of that in light of the fact that we cannot control the market — we have zero control over the economy or any of the outside factors.
"There's no magic. There isn't anything that our company handles that customers can't get from somebody else.
"So, why should they do business with us? Why should they stay with us? It's not about price. It's the values we add — service, repairs, team work, respect and integrity.