PLC Logger's Voice - Summer 2019

Maine, at a modern, attractive office located in Oakland.
There, a team of a dozen sales, marketing, and information
technology specialists coordinate the massive job of
getting the quality products Wallingford’s manufactures or
is the distributor for - like Clark Tracks, GB Bars, and
Nordchain - to a network of more than 3,000 dealers,
distributors and OEMs(original equipment manufacturers)
across North America and Europe while constantly seeking
new dealers and opportunities.
The current office is a far cry from the days when
Jay was effectively the entire sales staff for Wallingford’s,
working out of a home office. He later moved to a house
on Oak Street in Oakland as sales staff grew, then to the
current Kennedy Memorial Drive location in the early
2000s.
While Wallingford’s maintains a presence in the
field and will do whatever is necessary to serve its dealers
and customers, one key to success and expansion has been
the move to inside sales Jay said.
That decision is one he made after traveling across
the country to meet with a dealer in Ohio. He flew to
Pittsburgh, rented a car, drove out to the meeting, and sat
down and began talking with the dealer, but every time the
phone rang the dealer stopped and picked it up. He realized
then the phone was a far more effective way to reach
dealers than the expensive and time consuming practice of
face to face meetings, Jay said.
Since then, the progression of communications and
marketing online has been dramatic, and today
Wallingford’s sales team still travels to see dealers and talk
to customers, but not on a daily or weekly basis.
The move to inside sales also allowed the company
to expand beyond the Northeast, Ohio, and Pennsylvania
across the rest of the U.S., Canada, and eventually Europe.
The company added distribution facilities in the
Netherlands in 2009, Edmonton, Alberta in 2012, and
Montreal, Quebec in 2016.
Today Wallingford’s continues to build on its
success by staying on top of industry needs. When the
company identifies a need, it searches the globe for a
product to meet it and if successful becomes the wholesaler
for that product. If no product exists, Wallingford’s
Wallingford’s Continued Page 28
The Logger’s Voice ▪ Summer 2019 27