As we learned about Renco Sales from President Brian Fitzpatrick and Vice President Alice Bihner, the first takeaway was that 2024 marks the company’s 50th year in business. Terrific timing for a Wholesaler spotlight article! 

Starting in Southern California and eventually expanding coverage into Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and, more recently, into the El Paso, Texas, trading area, Renco proudly represents an array of plumbing and toilet partition manufacturers. Headquartered in Corona, Calif., Renco has 25 employees and a 30,000-square-foot warehouse where, depending upon the manufacturer represented, they are a buy-sell, commission or consigned inventory representative. 

Like many manufacturer rep firm origins, Renco’s start was intermingled with other rep firms and manufacturers’ rep changes. In 1974, Jack Reynolds, an Elkay employee, started Renco Sales; Elkay was his first line. He departed Renco soon after when an opportunity came along at Price Pfister. 

At the time, Price Pfister was represented by Keyline Sales, a long-time AIM/R member that has provided two past AIM/R presidents. Delco Sales (a spotlight interview in 2023) ended up with both Elkay and Delta and chose to stay with Delta. George Vandergrift Jr. left Delco Sales to become the principal of Renco, with Elkay as his anchor line. 

Jon Thomas: What makes Renco unique?

Brian Fitzpatrick: “Sheer customer service. The outside sales team finds the customer, and the inside sales team keeps the customer. As our customers become younger — or I get older! — they are used to and expect one-click service. Amazon Prime is the bar; one click away is where you must be. It seems as if we are constantly coaching our manufacturers about that. Our customers expect that from us, and we expect that from our manufacturers — through a portal or a customer service team.”

JK: How has AIM/R been beneficial to Renco?

BF: “We use legal services with Dan Beederman and ISQuote job quoting and tracking software, and we have used Nancye Combs for HR.”  

Alice Bihner: “The networking opportunities are probably the most important aspect of AIM/R membership.”

A takeaway for Renco from the last AIM/R conference — located in Destin, Fla., last September — is using QR codes on all employees’ business cards. This includes not only the static information version but one that will autoload the recipient’s Outlook (with permission). 

JK: How does Renco define success?

BF: “A couple of our wholesalers share internal surveys with us; seeing Renco at the top or near the top of customer surveys makes us feel successful: ‘Renco can do it, just call Renco, they’re the easiest.’ 

“Very low employee turnover is success to me. The creation of a team is hard work. People are your biggest asset, your largest liability and your most significant line-item expense. The byproduct of a great team is financial. Money is a byproduct of working hard and enjoying what you do, but it is also a tool to get you to another level.”

JK: Does where you are located (Southern California) impact what you need to offer to acquire a new employee or retain a current one?

BF: “Medical insurance is a big part of our package, as is our profit-sharing program. Also, how we manage people is a big part of the attraction, ensuring that employee and employer expectations match.”

JT: What rep responsibility changes have you seen occur during your tenure and what do you see coming?

BF: “All manufacturers used to handle order entry; now that is totally the responsibility of the rep. I can recall when fax machines were state-of-the-art; each of us had a fax in our house so we could forward orders to our manufacturers.

“When interviewing for a major line, one of the questions I ask is how do you handle order entry and customer service? My speech is: I have a dream today; my dream is for you to have a portal that provides this range of information, including the ability to see live inventory everywhere so that when a customer calls in, we can provide a definitive and complete answer. 

“There is nothing worse than a cooling-off period. By the time you can get back to the customer, they have probably gone elsewhere and bought the material from someone who could immediately provide those answers — all the way to the point of quoting the freight cost.”

Fitzpatrick shared an example of testing ChatGPT during a breakout session at last fall’s AIM/R conference. He said it is very clear AI will impact the future of our business in ways we still can’t envision at this point. 

Jon Thomas, CPMR, is president of N.H. Yates & Co., Hunt Valley, Md., and a member of the AIM/R board of directors. Jessica Kolaitis, CPMR, is VP of Operations at Tim Morales & Associates.