A Career in Sales and Marketing
Mike Faubert is the Director of Marketing for Keeper Corporation. He works out of the company’s corporate offices in Connecticut, where he lives with his wife and son. We talked to Mike about his current position and his career in sales and marketing in the hardware and automotive accessories industries.
Insourced: What is your position and what are your primary responsibilities? What do you “do”?
Faubert: My title at Keeper is Director of Marketing. At Keeper it means taking a leadership role in bringing products to market, from sourcing the product in Asia or other countries, to doing a cost analysis so that the product is in a position to be competitive with other similar products in the marketplace at an acceptable margin for the company. It also can be defined as defining and creating the packaging which, in my world of consumer packaged goods, is critical.
Keeper Corporation is a leading manufacturer/distributor of automotive aftermarket products such as bungee cords and tie downs used to secure cargo when you travel.
In a normal day, I direct our two graphic designers who oversee packaging. Packaging is critical for a consumer packaged goods company. I also work with our purchasing and logistics departments to assure our product is being manufactured correctly, is arriving when it is supposed to arrive, and is being well received at retail. I am also constantly receiving products from outside inventors for review and analysis. While most don’t fit in our company’s model, new products are extremely important in our commodity-type industry.
Insourced: You had an interesting transition from your last position. Describe the sequence of events that brought you to your current position.
Faubert: Keeper Corporation was acquired by Hampton Products International in January of 2006. I was employed at Hampton Products International for close to 10 years, starting in February of 1997. Hampton is a manufacturer/distributor of hardware products such as padlocks, door locks, builder’s hardware, and lighting. I started as a merchandiser when Hampton was much smaller than it is today. In 1997 the merchandiser was responsible for attending all trade shows, which was about 32 then, and also for locally making sure displays, or planograms, were set up correctly. Basically I absorbed as much information about the retail and manufacturing environments as I possibly could so that in the future I could have direct account responsibility and become a sales manager for Hampton.
While with Hampton I became a National Account Manager, responsible for accounts like Target, True Value Company, Kmart, Sears, and regional distributors. Then a Sales Merchandising Manager, with direct sales responsibility for Orchard Supply Hardware, Fred Meyer Stores, Pep Boys, and Target, while at the same time being the Category Manager for Padlocks, which is the category that Hampton started with in 1973 and has been their core category since. During those years I lived in several parts of the country, including southern California, Chicago, IL, and Boston, MA. Since Boston, MA is my hometown, I have always had a passion for the region and a desire to raise my family in that area. When Hampton acquired Keeper Corporation, which is based in southeast Connecticut, I was immediately interested in pursuing something within that organization. I wasn’t ready to leave the Hampton family, so I was relieved to learn that Keeper was looking for someone to direct their product development and corporate marketing strategy now that they are part of a larger corporate family.
After the acquisition, I was able to spend quite a bit of time with the president and vice president of sales for Keeper and the transition was smooth. Because we had already worked together, we were able to forego a formal interview process prior to me accepting the position.
Insourced: You’ve worked closely with some of the largest retailers in the world. What’s it like to be in meetings with executives from Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Sears (NasdaqGS: SHLD), etc.? How do you prepare for those kinds of meetings?
Faubert: It is interesting you mentioned Lowe’s, which I will talk about later, but I want to start with the largest retail corporation in the world, Wal-Mart.
Contrary to what you may have heard, working with Wal-Mart has been a wonderful experience. You often hear talk from companies that went out of business and blame Wal-Mart’s stringent low-cost demands as the reason. Understand that it is more likely that the supplier was logistically “fat†and not running a lean organization. I often check what the executive compensation package was for companies like that if they were a public organization and am not surprised at their difficulties. If Wal-Mart wasn’t going to change them, someone else would have.
The reality is Wal-Mart is a refreshing change. Volume incentive rebates are not uncommon in my industry. If a corporation agreed to a 1% volume rebate to a retailer if they bought $1 million worth of product that would equal $10,000. There are companies that do hundreds of millions of dollars in business with Wal-Mart. Imagine if the buyer was offered 1% on top of the volume rebate?
Okay, I am rambling. To your original question, there are many things that have to happen in preparation for a meeting with a large retailer. The first thing that comes to my mind is that if you don’t know more than the buyer you are going to meet with about your product, don’t bother going to the meeting.
The key to a meeting with a large retailer is understanding who their customer is and what is important to them. Are customers going to the store specifically for your product? Is there a corporate mandate that says they must be doing more direct importing to save costs? There are several more areas of focus but these are the issues I normally encounter.
In preparation for a meeting with a large retailer I have to know what my competition is doing as far as retail prices, merchandising concepts, packaging, etc. I also need to think about the solution that the customer is looking for. There must be something going on or I wouldn’t be there. Of course, if it is a current customer I need to think about the possibility that something may be going wrong with my current program. Most of the time, a meeting with a current customer is initiated by me and is a review of the program and possibly an opportunity for me to introduce them to something new.
In my opinion, the only successful supplier is the one who becomes a category manager/advisor for the retailer. They need to do the work for the buyer and make the buyer look good for their boss. If you are not a successful supplier, in my industry, the consumers will let you know about it and it will get you in trouble.
Lowe’s is another type of large customer since they are considered a home center and not a mass merchant like Wal-Mart. Hence, they are prepared for differently. The offering needs to be different than a mass merchant – the packaging is sometimes different and the logistics are usually different – especially if there is a special order need to meet the needs of the specific customer.
Then there is the co-op like Ace or True Value. The one thing that you must know about the co-op is that they choose what is in their specific store. Think of it this way: If Wal-Mart selects 30 items from you and creates an assortment of those items, they will be in the same format in a certain number of stores, usually at least 500. True Value or Ace work differently. If the buyer there chooses 30 items and creates an assortment, it does not mean it goes into any stores. The individual store owner hand picks what there store looks like and may take 3 of your 30 items, or 20, or none. At their bi-annual trade shows, it is up to you to try and sell each individual store.
Insourced: What’s it like to travel extensively as part of your job? Good, bad, ugly…
Faubert: All three. Good, bad, ugly and everything in between.
Good: In the first couple of years traveling can be a lot of fun. You get to see new cities, new people, and have new experiences. More importantly, you get to learn a lot about your customers and the industry. There is no better way to learn about your customers than meeting them face to face. There is also no better way to learn about your customer concerns that going to a co-op trade show and listening to the store owners from all over the country and listening to their customer problems and needs.
Bad: After a few years it becomes a little more painful. It is still important to be in front of your customers, it’s just that you have gotten so used to travel that little things tend to drive you crazy. The hotel lost your reservation, you get a middle seat on a flight, and Moose and Rocco have the aisle and window.
Personally, it is very difficult to maintain a solid relationship with a girlfriend and have a stable social life.
Ugly: After 7 years of averaging 2 weeks out of every month being on the road (most of your industry trade shows are over weekends and you don’t get make up days), you’re married with a pregnant wife, and your used to and demand to be pampered when you travel since you are platinum level on every frequent traveler program, then traveling sucks. All you want to do is be in your own bed, with your own fridge, and not be stuck at O’Hare for a 6 hour delay due to mechanical problems with airline employees who are so bitter about their bankrupt airlines that they want to take out their frustration on you. It ages you rapidly during a time in your life when you want to slow down and watch your child grow up.
Insourced: What is your favorite city(s) or part(s) of the country (other than Boston)?
Faubert: I have to preface by saying I was single at the time, but Chicago, IL is definitely my favorite city of all the cities I have visited and/or lived in. And I have been to many, many cities. I don’t think I would say that if I had lived there married. I’m not sure about that, but I am sure it is the best city to be in if you are young and single.
Boca Grande is a great place on the Gulf Coast of Florida where my family vacations. I enjoy it there because there is very little communication with the outside world. It is a great place to golf and unwind.
Insourced: What was your major? Do you apply any of your formal education in your current position?
Faubert: My major was Business and Finance with a concentration in Sales and Marketing. Honestly, there was only one class that taught me things that I currently apply to my job. I won’t mention the class in case my former professors read this. I want them all to think that it was their class. That is the way they should think. It wasn’t them, it was me. I had trouble in class since I am a very visual, hands-on person. If the classes were taught in a store or at a bank or whatever, I would have learned a lot more.
Insourced: What personal attributes are necessary for someone in your position? (i.e. – outgoing personality, ability to manage/work well with people, organizational skills, etc.)
Faubert: All of those are extremely important. I think that the ability to listen needs to be called out as well. The truth is that in order to be successful in my position, I will have to do all of those well. It starts with listening to what the customers are saying. It then goes to communicating within the departments what needs to be done to meet the needs of the customer. Communication is key because all of the departments must be dealt with independently. To sell the direction you have to have an outgoing personality and then you have to be able to follow up and complete each aspect of the project to get it accomplished successfully.
Insourced: Thanks for your time, Mike, and good luck in your new position.
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