Professional Distributor - 42

Unconventional success

North Carolina-based independent distributor Chris Stone
proves success can come from outside the industry.

A
BY DAVID BRIERLEY,
EDITOR

920-563-1622
David@VehicleServicePros.com

To see a video of
Stone's truck being
wrapped in its latest
GEARWRENCH Street
Team livery, visit:
VehicleServicePros.
com/21138676

n automotive technician putting down
their wrench to become a mobile tool
distributor is a relatively common story in
this industry - one that we have told in the pages
of PD many times. But not all tool dealers come
from a background in wrenching.
Chris Stone got his start in the mobile tool business after working for 15 years in telecommunications. When he started out under a flag, he admittedly didn't know much about automotive tools
and equipment.
"Coming from the telecom industry, realistically
I didn't know what this stuff was and I didn't know
how to use it," Stone says. "But I made it work."
He caught on quickly, and after only a few years
as a mobile distributor, Stone proved just how well
he was making it work by earning a spot as a top
distributor with his flag.
After six years with the flag, Stone decided to
make a change and became an independent dealer
selling with the GEARWRENCH Street Team.
Now eight years into running his own tool truck,
Stone is helping others get their start. His brotherin-law, Mike Yarter, has his own route that he runs
on Saturdays. Yarter currently works in IT for a
fortune-100 company during the week, but plans
to make the switch to selling tools full-time in the
near future.
Since neither Stone nor Yarter had prior experience with automotive tools, they relied instead on
building relationships with their customers by being
dependable and honest.
"If they [customers] have a broken warranty part,
regardless of where they purchased it, I honor it,
because it's lifetime," Yarter says. "I listen to them,
I always greet them when they come to the truck,
and I'm always honest with them. If I can't do something, I'll tell them I can't."
The two mobile tool dealers are also sure to
stock what their customers want and need, trying
to anticipate demand.
"First and foremost, we tool up; our trucks
are full whenever we roll into a shop," Stone says.
"That's a big factor because if a guy comes on the
truck and you don't have any inventory, it's kind of

42 Professional Distributor I June 2020 I VehicleServicePros.com

Mike Yarter and Chris Stone both have backgrounds
outside of automotive repair.

hard to sell anything like that, and you can't really
sell [from] pictures. I told Mike in the beginning,
you cannot have too much inventory."
When it comes to the competition, Stone and
Yarter don't engage in pettiness and tend to keep
to themselves.
"We mind our own business," Stone says. "I don't
care what any other tool dealer is doing, I don't care
what any other tool dealer is saying. I don't stir the
pot with that."
The two also work hard to keep their trucks
clean and tidy. Since a tool truck is a mobile distributor's storefront, it's important to make it a place
customers want to visit time and time again.
"Our trucks are always clean, our trucks are
always swept out on the inside," Stone says. "And,
as strange as it sounds, I have a lot of guys get on
the truck and say, 'Man, this is the best smelling
tool truck I've ever been in.'"
Both coming from very different industries,
Stone and Yarter enjoy working in mobile tool
sales and plan to continue until their respective
retirements. For now, they're content doing what
they love.
"We want to go out, we want to work, we want
to get paid, and we want to come home," Stone says.
"We want to play whenever it's time to play. But
when it's time to work, it's time to work."

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Professional Distributor

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