One of A Kind

Manufacturers' representative network uses contacts and experience to help clients expand business in California.

When TONY BRUNO says his company is unique, it is not just another sales pitch. While there are plenty of executives that tout their firms as being different, the founder and president of Adhesive Brokers can really make that claim stick because his company is literally the only one of its kind in the adhesives and sealants industry.

In fact, Adhesive Brokers does not even make or sell adhesives, sealants, glue or tape. Nor does it supply raw materials. According to the company, it is the only representative network serving the industrial adhesives industry. The company acts as a liaison between the manufacturer and the customer. " We are the only company of our kind in this business," said Tony Bruno.

Adhesives Brokers claims there are no "middleman up-charges" because the customers buy directly from the manufacturer, which allows manufacturers' costs to be substantially lower than those of competitive adhesive makers operating direct employee sales forces. "All the responsibility of training a sales force is with us," Bruno said. "You can think of Adhesive Brokers as a real estate broker.

Located in Tustin, Calif., one of the company's biggest claims is it helps adhesive companies with little or no business on the West Coast sell their products there.

"What we have done is try and stay exclusively in the adhesive business," Bruno explained. "We are an outsource sales force, and this is the era of outsourcing."

Bruno, who began in the adhesives business as a sales representative with National Starch in 1967, started Adhesive Brokers in 1989. The way is conducts business is like this: Adhesive Brokers seeks out manufacturers looking to increase business in the West. The company will then open a local warehouse on the West Coast to house inventory. Adhesive Brokers will act as the client's sales force in that area.

"We are not just coming from one company's products, we have access to a dozen companies' products," Bruno said. "Our greatest strength is the knowledge we have of the business."

Since the salespeople work on straight commission, no money is charged to the client until a sale is made. The company claims that it can offer its customers technical support by each adhesive manufacturer and their product specialists. The company also provides individually designed in-plant programs to assure customers high-quality adhesive performance. "We are the ultimate 'put up or shut up' company," Bruno said. "We have taken companies that have no presence on the West Coast and help them sell their products."

Observers seem to agree with that assessment. Robert Smith, director, new business development for The ChemQuest Group, a Cincinnati-based management consulting firm specializing in adhesives and sealants, said that Bruno and his company have done an effective job in selling their clients' products.

"Tony really relies on relationship selling," Smith said. "His guys wine and dine customers. They have a personal relationship with their customers. He is also very well-known on the West Coast. They have a very interesting and effective business model."

While services performed by Adhesive Brokers are similar to what a distributor offers, Bruno said there are distinct differences. "We give the manufacturer access to the customer, a distributor does not do that," he pointed out. "We remove all that 'cloak and dagger' stuff. The customer feels they are not paying an extra expense."

Among the adhesives the company has experience selling are structural (such as acrylics, epoxies and urethanes), specialty (super glues and thread lockers), water- and protein-based adhesives and sealants. The company's client list includes, among others, Bostik Findley (involved in construction, automotive, transportation, packaging and aerospace adhesives), L.D. Davis (industrial), Industrial Adhesives (automotive, packaging, films), Hartland Adhesives (industrial), Western Adhesives (packaging, converting, automotive) and Southern Chemical (industrial).

"One of the unique things we have been able to do is put together national buying agreements for our customers," Bruno said. "for example, if a customer wants to replace an adhesive system, we can find them the right system to replace it."

Adhesive Brokers' approach to market received a thumbs-up from customers contacted by Adhesive Age for comment. "We have been working with them for 10 years. We've had a good working relationship and a very good working program," said Ted Newman, president of Western Adhesives. "They are expanding their scope in Southern California and around the country, and that helps sell our products.

Newman was quick to point out that he is a fan of using an outside source to sell his products in different parts of the country. "Using them increases your business scope, and you get economies in selling and marketing. They sell our products under our name with minimal expense to us."

Smith agrees that the Adhesive Brokers/Western partnership has been successful. "Tony's guys have done a good job selling the Western line," Smith said. "Western is big enough to give Adhesive Brokers a lot of business, but small enough so that they need help getting established on the West Coast. They have been very synergistic."

Bigger companies offered a similar response. "It has been a great experience working with them so far," said Tripp Davis, president of L.D. Davis. "They are our ears and eyes out on the West Coast."

Adhesive Brokers, which has been working with L.D.Davis for about five years, started out as a source of obtaining raw materials for the formulator. But this role gradually expanded where it now serves as the company's sales representative in the West.

"They have a terrific bunch of people wand we couldn't be happier wit the relationship," Davis said. "For us to put a salesperson in Southern California is not feasible because very little of our business is out there. "However, there is still some business in California that we want to pursue.

Despite operating in a challenging economic environment, Bruno claims that Adhesive Brokers' sales are up 14.6 percent for the year. He explains this growth in several ways. First of all, according to Bruno, the company works on growing the business it already has. For example, if Adhesive Brokers is selling a company's packaging adhesives, but not its automotive products, the salesperson from Adhesive Brokers will work on a way to obtain the automotive business as well. Therefore, in addition to trying to add new clients, Adhesive Brokers also tries to go for new business with existing accounts.

According to Bruno, each of his 10 salespeople have 20 target accounts that they are working at any given time. A target account is a company that has significant size and is in a product area in which Adhesive Brokers is active. Bruno said his company adds 25 to 50 accounts a year.

"Our purpose in life is to sell products to our customers," Bruno said. "We are directly compensated by selling the products. The salesperson who works for us is one who wants to do this." Bruno said his salespeople get a commission of 50 percent of the revenue they generate. Considering the success this business model has brought Adhesive Brokers, the obvious question is why are they the only ones doing business this way.

"I can not imagine why this industry has not gone the way of other industries and use outside sales forces," Bruno said. "I guess because traditionally adhesive companies have gone with on-staff salespeople or a distributor. We are the alternative."

Still, he admits the current business climate is not an easy nut for him to crack. While Bruno declined to release sales figures, he did say that the company has grown nearly every year since its existence, and is coping with the troubled economy by simply adjusting itself to the needs of its customers.

"We are trying to fill in the blanks in our business," Bruno said. "We are taking the model that has been successful in Southern California and expanding it elsewhere."