Before Tina Leuschner started driving her own route as a Mac Tools distributor, she worked as a paralegal for about 10 years and successfully resisted her husband’s attempts to get her behind the wheel of a tool truck.
Her husband, a Mac Tools distributor of 27 years, had always wanted Leuschner to take up a route of her own. Leuschner, feeling that a job on the road wasn't in the cards for her, helped out instead with the ordering, inventory, and payroll side of her husband's business. After about 10 years of asking, all it took was one tumultuous Christmas to jumpstart Leuschner’s own journey into tool distribution.
With an employee quitting the week of Christmas, Leuschner told her husband they couldn’t leave their customers waiting. The route was still new, only having been on the road for about eight months. For Leuschner, she understands that when starting a new route, consistency is key. Establishing consistency with her clients has been a priority for her, she knows how difficult it can be when first starting a route and encourages distributors to go to their stops weekly as much as they can.
“I kicked myself in the butt for not doing it five years ago,” Leuschner says when discussing her first route. Despite never having driven a tool truck before, Leuschner handled herself well on that first route and fell in love with the very thing she had resisted for so long.
Overcoming challenges
In her early days as a tool distributor, Leuschner struggled with tool knowledge. Without a background in the tool industry, she relied on her research skills to pinpoint the proper tool for whatever job her clients were shopping for.
“Google is my best friend,” says Leuschner. “We kept our inventory by part number, not by the name of the tool or what it does. It’s been my biggest challenge from not coming from any kind of mechanical background.”
Not only do her customers depend on her, but Leuschner has come to learn from them every day. When they come in with a particularly unique request, she isn’t afraid to admit that she doesn’t have all of the answers.
“My customers, they’re wonderful,” she says. “They help me. They teach me every day.”
Through those exchanges, she’s discovered that there’s a tool for everything you can imagine. With that knowledge, Leuschner is now more confident when it comes to helping her customers find the right tool for the job.
Following through
When trying to set herself apart from other distributors and strengthen her ties to her customers, Leuschner has one solid piece of advice that has helped her throughout her career: follow through.
Making a promise only means so much if that promise isn’t being fulfilled. Leuschner suggests that distributors should aim to be at each stop along your route every week. If extenuating circumstances do arise, make sure you're there the next week, Leuschner advises.
“Once you fall out of habit,” Leuschner says. “They fall out of habit, too. They’re going to want somebody that’s going to be there.”
For many of the shops that Leuschner stops at, she’s something close to a candy store on wheels. To keep their interests up, she ensures that her truck is stocked with newer tools for up-and-coming industry trends such as EV and foreign vehicle repair.
A look to the future
From putting together truck rides for prospective Mac Tools distributors to offering her customers energy drinks to get them out on her truck — not that they need much enticing — Leuschner has finetuned her customer service and people skills.
"I got in the truck, and I really just never got out of it," says Leuschner.
As for her future, she plans to be a Mac Tools distributor for as long as she can or until she has enough money to retire.
