No Boundaries

ADVERTORIAL
Helping jan/san distributor members and vendors
succeed in today’s competitive marketplace remains
a major objective for Pro-Link, a national
full-service janitorial supply, marketing and procurement organization
founded in 1984.
“Pro-Link is fully invested in the concept that independent
distributors, from all over the country, can meet and share
ideas to help them provide superior services to their customers,”
Pro-Link President & CEO Brian L. Slack said.
“I believe in the increasing need for these companies to support
a brand that is national in scope, yet is controlled by
them individually in their marketplace.
“Pro-Link can, and should, provide programs and
processes that — when done in a highly professional manner
— can be utilized by members without the heavy cost of individual
development.”
Pro-Link has more than 95 members and over 120 distribution
points located throughout the United States. It provides
distributors with a nationally recognized brand of
quality products and services that help deliver consistently
cleaner facilities at lower total costs, Slack added.
“Our strategy is to work on product and Pro-Link brand
procurement, evaluate and implement supply chain solutions
and integrate strategic accounts. It’s the kind of work that
individual distributors have difficulty completing on their
own, but through Pro-Link, this type of service is made easier
by all of us working together,” Slack said.
Pro-Link’s strategic accounts strategy involves ways to
take regional and national business and integrate membership
to support these types of accounts.
“There is a difference between private branding and private
labeling,” said Slack. “Originally, Pro-Link founders
wanted to private label with top suppliers in each category.
We still do that, while also developing all of the necessary
marketing and support pieces internally to support a brand.”
Pro-Link representatives help members succeed in various
market vertical categories. This includes work with
Building Service Contractors (BSC); green/sustainability
and bio-based products and programs; General Services Administration
(GSA) contracts; and long-term care (LTC) facilities.
Working within these different business vertical markets,
officials at Pro-Link help members gain a competitive advantage
against the flurry of new competitors that have entered
the jan/san marketplace since 2008, according to Slack.
To gain further insight into today’s business practices,
Pro-Link representatives have gleaned important information
from over 1,200 end-user survey responses related to
the jan/san industry. Slack said this has helped Pro-Link improve
its supply chain involvement.
“For example, we now have three regional distribution
centers, located in Chambersburg, PA; Atlanta, GA; and
Reno, NV,” Slack explained. “This helps our members buy
in smaller quantities, receive orders overnight, lower their
overall inventory costs, improve inventory turns, and increase
customer efficiencies. This cash efficiency allows our
members to reinvest capital within their businesses.
Pro-Link: More Than A Member Group
“Because our Pro-Link members are able to buy
in smaller quantities and receive their orders on
a more regular basis, their turns should go up
while inventory costs go down.”
— Pro-Link President & CEO Brian L. Slack
34 — Maintenance Sales News — January/February 2016
“These regional distribution centers allow us to better
serve all of our members. Nearly 80 percent of our members
receive overnight service. If they place an online order by
10 a.m., they will receive that order the next morning.”
According to Slack, an average jan/san distributor, per the
ISSA, turns its inventory five and one-half times per year.
Pro-Link members do even better; one national survey of
wholesale distribution showed they increased turns in 2014
while the 16 other wholesale distribution channels they were
benchmarked against did not.
“Because our Pro-Link members are able to buy in
smaller quantities and receive their orders on a more regular
basis, their turns should go up while inventory costs
go down. This is important, as inventory is typically the
largest single investment for distributors. If they can
lower their inventory costs, our distributor members will
have additional money available
to reinvest in their companies,”
Slack said. “Our strategy is to
make members highly efficient in
supply chain management. This
helps them compete against new
market competitors.
“We look for new members in
markets where we don’t currently
have members. Pro-Link Director of Business Development
Michael Kauffman is very active in searching for new
companies to join our organization. We also evaluate current
vendors and look for complementary suppliers.”
Pro-Link Programs Add Value
Pro-Link’s plans for 2016 include the continual evolution
of key programs
designed to increase
distributor member business,
while also delivering
best-in-class core services
and securing additional national
accounts. Such programs include:
■ ISSA CITS Training: Pro-Link has recently developed
ISSA CITS (Cleaning Industry Training Standard) Verified
training courses.
“Our members are able to sign up their clients for the necessary
online training to become CITS-certified workers.
The CITS program is designed for the most basic end-user.
We are offering this opportunity at the field level. Pro-Link
is the only national organization offering a completed CITS
Masters program verified by ISSA to its members,” Slack
said;
■ Baseline Selling: Pro-Link has developed a jan/sanspecific
Baseline Selling program manual with industry examples,
worksheets and checklists based on the book
Baseline Selling, by Dave Kurlan.
“We hired Dave Kurlan to make his book more specific
toward sanitary supply distributor sales reps,” Slack said.
“Now included are two-day workshops that help educate participants
on how they can become better sales managers.”
“Our Baseline Selling program also focuses on management
and employee recruitment issues. It’s become very robust.”
Pro-Link officials have also offered a one-day workshop
for members, in association with an investment banker specializing
in mergers and acquisitions, discussing the proper
mechanics involved when purchasing another company;
■ Long-Term Care (LTC) And Other Initiatives: A
comprehensive program for the cleaning of LTC facilities is
available from Pro-Link. The program helps LTC facilities
clean and consistently provide a safe and healthy environment
for residents. It also addresses key areas of concern
such as infection prevention, cross-contamination issues,
and CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) ratings,
while still finding ways to reduce housekeeping costs.
Meanwhile, Pro-Link’s comprehensive green cleaning
program takes a big-picture approach to the use of environmentally
preferable products and systems. Pro-Link has continually
expanded its green-certified and bio-based product
offerings.
In another area of expertise, the Pro-Link BSC program
gives distributor members the tools, ideas and training to
help their BSC customers when it comes to bidding, ordering,
budget tracking, building audits and cleaning procedure
training presentations (in English and Spanish). A quarterly
“BSC Advisor” focusing on current BSC business issues is
also available. To complement these tools, BSCs can receive
customizable add-on service material to help extend their
scope of work with existing customers.
Also, Pro-Link members can sell directly to federal facilities
in their local markets under Pro-Link’s GSA contracts.
Selling under the Pro-Link contracts eliminates GSA fees
for Pro-Link members. This program matches government
quote solicitations with a local Pro-Link member;
■ Field Sales Managers & Online Training Center
(OTC) Support: In 2016 Pro-Link will continue its commitment
and delivery of core services. This includes the industry’s
most favorable ratio of field sales managers to
distributor members — providing a high level of support,
training and field coverage.
“Pro-Link field sales managers work with distributor
“Pro-Link is the only national organization
offering a completed CITS Masters program
verified by ISSA to its members.”
owners on strategy and with distributor sales reps on execution.
They cover a lot of ground,” Slack said.
Complementing its sales team training efforts is Pro-
Link’s OTC, serving as a comprehensive training resource
for distributor members.
“The OTC for member DSRs is product- and applicationspecific.
It provides training for those employed by our distributor
members. These people receive certification for each
course they pass,” Slack said.
He added that members are able to visit this system 24/7
to see which of their employees completed the different online
courses now being offered; and,
■ Annual Conference & Other Functions: Pro-Link
provides several events for members and vendors throughout
the year. The Pro-Link Annual Meeting is scheduled for May
1-5, 2016, at Amelia Island, FL. This event will include
keynote speaker Dirk Beveridge, who will present “Innovate:
How Successful Distributors Lead Change in Disruptive
Times.” Also on the schedule are “best practices”
roundtable discussions, vendor meetings, and open discussions
and interaction sessions between members.
Pro-Link also provides annual regional meetings with
members as well as a meeting and reception each year during
the ISSA/INTERCLEAN tradeshow.
Contact: Pro-Link, Inc.,
500 Chapman St., Canton, MA 02021.
Phone: 800-745-4657. Website: www.prolinkhq.com.