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"Chicago area construction is booming," Mike explains, "so that's part of it. And, the fact that we're not heavily tied to residential construction is also a benefit. I really feel for the guys selling nails, compressors and other things directly connected to residential work. Working within a 50-mile radius of Chicago, we're 80 percent commercial and 20 percent industrial, so we've escaped that situation."
Taking advantage of strengths
"Our future is on the commercial and industrial side of the business and I don't see any slowdown coming," adds Tom Gleason. "One year we might do a lot with one group of contractors, and the next year it's another group, but the work is going strong overall.
"That's one of our strengths, we sell to a large group of contractors and sell them a broad range of products in several segments of the market. Our success is partly due to the overall Chicago area economy. You go downtown and see cranes in the air everywhere. There are high-rises going up all over. We have at least two trucks going down there every day."
The military calls it "boots on the ground," and ELFCO employs similar tactics when it comes to getting close to its customers. It's "boots on the ground" take two forms: outside salespeople and delivery truck drivers. Almost everyone within the company started in the warehouse and as a delivery driver.
"That's our hands-on training program," Mike explains. "Drivers learn what the customers want and need. They learn what customers are facing in the field and how our products are being used. That's important and we're making about 250 deliveries a day, so they see a lot."
ELFCO's six full-time inside salespeople also work closely with customers, and form a solid team with the company's seven outside salespeople.
The inside sales staff regularly takes orders via email, but the Gleasons point out that many of their longtime customers are still rather "old school" and prefer to call an order in to a "real" person. They feel a stronger connection with a voice on the phone as opposed to using email or a FAX.
