SPECIAL FEATURE
Professional Distributor I October 2018 I VehicleServicePros.com 15
to manufacturers, some seeing as much as a 25 percent tariff on
their tools imported from China. In turn, that tariff can drive
up the price of the product for the company, the distributor
and ultimately the customer.
Flynn is doing his best to keep up with the changes by
stocking up on products he knows will be hit by tariffs, and
informing his customers of the reasoning for price increases.
“You sorta-kinda got to be more in-tune with what’s going
on in the world because of what’s happening in China and Russia,"
Flynn says. “That is affecting my little face of the planet
here and my business.”
Paying attention and looking out for his customers is kind
of Flynn’s ‘thing.’ (Also his signature cowboy hat, but that’s
a given.)
“The first thing that people need to understand about me
— and my customers will tell this to any new people — I watch
their finances as much as I watch mine,” Flynn says. “And I’ll
caution a guy about getting in over his head. I teach people all
about finances. Nobody in America does that; I do it. I’ve had
about 30 people that I’ve taught … to get their credit score from
the 500’s to the 800’s.”
And other than helping his customers with financial advice,
he gets joy out of helping them find the next best product.
“I’m one of these people, if something excites me, I’ll sell
the hell out of it,” Flynn says. “Enthusiasm’s contagious. I see
a new product or a new promotion, I’ll go out there and I’ll
get it on the truck. I’ll talk about it and I just sell it like crazy.”
Bob Flynn was first featured in Professional Distributor's
September 2014 cover story, "Contagious enthusiasm."
Bob Flynn’s tool
truck is made up mostly
of GEARWRENCH and
Milwaukee Tool products.
“With both Milwaukee and
GEARWRENCH getting into
more and more things ... I
still have the same breadth
of products, it’s just that
the manufacturers aren’t
quite as diverse on the
truck as they used to be,"
Flynn says.
Bob Flynn’s truck motto
is: “'I'm a lower price than
the other guys and I'm better
lookin’. So they should buy
it from me' … It seems to
work,” he says.
/VehicleServicePros.com