Dave Dempsey has been the owner of Mega Western Sales in Southern California for 30 years. Dave has built the company into the highest producing manufacturers rep firm in the United States. Mega Western is highly respected throughout the Plumbing and Heating industry with good reason. This is a great interview….I really enjoyed Dave’s answers.
Jack: What has Mega Western Sales done over the last 40 years to continue to be the largest Manufacture’s Rep firm in the country?
Dave: We work hard and consistently so. We have had our share of luck in lines we have received but you know what Brach Rickey said about luck. We also operate in the largest market (s) in the country, California, Arizona, and Nevada. Or what once was the largest market. We are also diversified——our lines are not just residential but also commercial and RR. And we buy sell.
Jack: What are your biggest product lines? What kind of sales do you boast?
Dave: 2009 numbers would be 50% or more below 2006 but here they are. Delta Faucet. 24 Million. Rheem. 31 million. Brasscraft. 15 million. Bobrick. 10 million. Those are the biggest ones.
Jack: How have politics, eco-friendly (green) building materials, and ever-changing building codes in California affected your business?
Dave: You want my opinion of those codes or just how they have affected our business? Ever decreasing water flows in shower heads and aerators are pretty much a nuisance. Water saving toilets don’t work very well but they are more expensive so we like them. Emission requirements and insulation code changes in water heaters have been a big plus for us——like the toilets above—— more expensive means bigger commissions for us. A water heater a few years ago was $100 but now it is 3 or 4 x that much. Other than that just get the government out of our way. Anybody who knows anything about water in California knows that 90% is used in agriculture———-so your shower head flow pretty much does not matter.
Jack: How has Mega Western Sales been able to survive economic downturns?
Dave: First of all we barely survived. Borrow money was the first reaction———a big mistake. Next came the real savings——whack heads and salaries. After that it was cut hours worked for those still here and then make rate cuts on top of the hourly cuts—–most of our outside sales people went down 50% in pay. All of our expenses (save a little like rent and insurance and stuff like that) almost all of our expenses are LABOR. So we finally faced the music and cut.
Jack: Mega Western is known for attracting and keeping the top sales people and customer service reps in the industry since 1970……What’s your secret to keeping happy, long term, motivated employees?
Dave: It is all about MONEY. We pay well, especially when we are making money—- later ½ of the 1980’s and the 1996 to 2006 run——–when the money rolls in here we give it back to the people——–so even when it is depressed like now, the people here remember and they stay to see it come back again. And it will and we will pay them. We also are free spenders with the company stock———we learned from the original owner in the early 1970’s that ownership is a good motivator and we have always shared that.
Jack: What’s your secret to continually motivating your sales force?
Dave: Like I said it is always about the MONEY. Sure they want to be appreciated and feel wanted and all that but if they can’t make their house payment——— nothing you say will mean anything. We also try not to nag too much———in the sales business you can NEVER sell enough to please the people we sell for. That is just a fact. We all know this. My people rarely hear it from me——–I don’t like to nag.
Jack: What are the toughest challenges you face in over-seeing so many employees?
Dave: The inside people who are right here in the building and on hourly or some on salary——a little money goes a long way. We pay them well and try to offer a pleasant work environment——things like vacation and benefits like health insurance——this is a must for these people——-and they also want a pleasant supervisor who over-sees them which I think they have. The big challenges are the people out on the road. Keeping them focused on their job———–making calls not sending e mails or sitting in meetings or filling out reports. Making more calls today then they did when they were 25 years old=====that is the hardest challenge I face.
Jack: What’s your favorite success story?
Dave: I never thought about one story——–I guess it would be helping lines grow market share (most of them appreciate this and tell us—some treat us like family) but also helping employees be successful and happy, some rich financially and some rich in other ways, and also having a job personally where I like to come and can enjoy myself.
Jack: Do you have any regrets?
Dave: Yes I regret not reacting to this downturn quick enough——-we were millions in the hole before we took the necessary steps for survival——–it did not need to be that way——-the other recessions were simple and easy to overcome but like Roy Hobbs I never saw this coming. We also paid a $450,000 class action labor law suit because we were not aware of chicken shit (can I say that) California mileage reimbursement law enacted 20 years ago and I regret not hiring a HR firm to advise us when we got BIG. When we were small even if we made a mistake it would not be catastrophic but when we grew to over 130 employees, we should have retained some professional advice and gave me some peace of mind and saved some dough in the long run.
Jack: Where do you see Mega Western Sales is 10 or 20 years?
Dave: Hopefully still on top. My old boss used to say that this business is like college football——–the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We have a good firm base of business. In this business, success just brings more success and if you have had success there is no reason you should crash———unless you stop working, in which case you will be gone in 12 months. We have been diligent about bringing along young people who we think can run the business, we have purposely put them in front of the manufacturers so when all our baby boomers (we have quite a few of them) fade like they are doing now our AAA players can make the move to the big leagues.
Jack: What advice do you have for a budding entrepreneur?
Dave: Well I don’t want to over simplify it but it is really all about hard work. Sure you have to get some luck and you have to be a personable fellow and you can’t be greedy and you have to share with your employees———but it won’t happen without hard work————I work 14 hours a day and have never been sick or missed a day of work (other than vacation) in almost 40 years——-my people know this and they know this is what I expect from them———-they don’t all work like I do but then I don’t need them to——-but Dave Dempsey needs to. When I interviewed for this job the two partners said “do you think you can do this job?” I told them I did not know because I had never tried to sell anything so I did not know if I would be good at it. The one partner said it is just about hard work and I said——— well then I will be the best and I certainly can do this job because I am the hardest worker I know. And that is exactly what happened. Who knew?
1 comment