You get used to it pretty quick.
I now know which parts to order from what distributor to get the best price
And which distributor to go to for fastest delivery .
It might not sound like much , but $ 2 extra mark up on every oil filter is around $ 600 / year and that is the equivalent to doing 4 full services.
With Stens in particular I add a couple of trade packs to fill out an order if need be so a 20 pack of Briggs air filters and a dozen pack or two of oil filters will bring up the $ 150 minimum really quick and get a better unit price on the parts to boot.
It is good when you go through an invoice with a customer and point out you fitted a USA made Champion filter for less than a Wix from Npatha or a Chinese one from
Wallys or HF
Then there are blades.
At least 2 sets of the AYP blades for 42" 44" 50" & 60" decks are handy to have on hand.
Easy to sell a set of blades when you have them in stock, a lot harder when it is "you need new blades they will be here in a day or two"
Ditto for MTD blades, Toro blades & even JD blades.
Currently I have at least 1 full set of blade for 60 different decks and for most of them the belts & idlers as well .
So when some one comes to the gate and asks for parts the answer is usually YES, so that person will keep coming back and tell his neighbours & friends that you have the parts in stock that the dealer didn't .
If you haven't got it then you can't sell it, simple sales rule.
It is a bit easier down here because the mower mafia runs 100% to 200% mark up on parts so I can order 2 , add 150% mark up and end up with a profit & a part for stock.
When I took over the business there were two shadow boards for idler pulleys, probably around 30 all up .
By ordering 2 pulleys every time I needed one there is now 140 idlers in the drawer so when the mower come in for a new belt I can say
"this idler is on it's last legs & if it goes it will take the new belt with it, want me to do the pulley while I am doing the belt "
So wham bam thank you mam, belt, blade set & 2 idler pulleys in place of just a single belt & I still add a single $ 20 fitting fee, which you tell them has saved them $ 40 if they let the pulleys go till they broke & same for the blades.
Customer leaves feeling happy & like he has saved money when he has actually spent 3 times what he was originally going to.
Also by doing a once a week or fourtnight order to replace stock then it is easy to meet free delivery minimums .
I do not fit genuine anything if I can avoid it because Briggs demanded that I keep a $ 30,000 inventory in order to qualify for a trade account & Kohler wanted $ 25,000.
When I need genuine Briggs parts I order them through JD dealer and I get the Kohler parts through him as well so I get 20% off retail and than also means 20% of GST ( sales tax ) as well.
When the $ ( aus) goes over 70¢ ( USA ) then I send the order to Jack Small Engines.
I have an order for them of around $ 300 at the moment, again replacing stock items .
Mr Haark who I bought the business from, would send an order in for almost every job so he would do a diagnosis ,place an order then on to the next job so he might place more than a dozen orders in a single week.
He would also add a $ 20 delivery fee to every job that was needed to be done urgently .
I am only putting in one or two orders a month to each supplier because most of what I need I have in stock .
