This customer is king
Heckmann says that he spends up to 50 percent of his time in front of customers and relies heavily on their advice on everything from potential acquisitions to price points,
product consolidation and new product development.
For example, he says he was calling on Target, which leans heavily toward the women’s sporting goods market, when the customer suggested that pink baseball gloves might potentially be a hot-selling item to young girls. While the Rawlings representative at the meeting was not initially keen on the idea, Heckmann says that the customer has a finger on the
pulse of what the buyers want, and so the pink baseball glove was born.
“Discussions with customers provide the checks and balances for me,” says Heckmann. “I won’t do anything unless the customer tells me that they want it.”
His customer-driven attitude also plays a key role in fashioning his philosophy and attitude toward assimilating new acquisitions. Counter to some thinking on cost reduction as part of post-acquisition strategies, Heckmann refuses to consolidate functions and reduce headcount in administrative areas that might have an impact on service or
the customer experience.
“I build the business around what the customers want,” says Heckmann. “We only have 22 people in our headquarters because no one at headquarters should be making decisions that affect customers. We don’t consolidate accounting after an acquisition because that’s not customer-friendly. We run at a higher expense, but we also have the highest margins in the industry, and we are the industry leader in seven categories. The easier you make it for customers to sell stuff, the better it will go.”