Distributor Wire & Cable puts a new spin on introducing its products, services and technology to the electrical distributor with the DWC Meat & Greet.

“The industry standard Lunch & Learn process has become antiquated.  The Meat & Greet we offer the wholesalers is technology based, more interactive and adds a level of entertainment to the presentation making it more memorable and enjoyable for our customers,” commented Anna Marie McGurk, outside sales at DWC.

The Meat & Greet is hosted at the electrical distributor for groups of 4 or more people.  Lunch, typically barbeque with all the trimmings, is brought in for the event at the wholesalers location.  However, breakfast and after work Meat & Greet’s are available at the wholesalers request. 

At the Meat & Greet, the Distributor Wire sales agent helps explains to the wholesaler how to increase profitability selling wire and cable, emphasizes DWC’s value added services, displays samples of the most popular products and provides plenty of DWC swag. 

One unique part of the Meat & Greet is the DWC sales agent performs a live demonstration utilizing an iPad and projector to showcase DWC’s proprietary technology pieces such as DART. 

The customer is able to submit a quote, receive their quote back from their DWC sales agent in Denver via email, provide real time feedback from inside their quote, procure an instant freight estimate and even process their order with DART Checkout™ all in under 5 minutes electronically. 

Finally, the participants are encouraged to interrupt and ask questions during the presentation in more of an open discussion style forum. 

“We have an eleven person sales team, including 3 full time outside sales agents, which gives us plenty of resources to host Meat & Greet’s in any area.  There is not a region or wholesaler we will not offer this service to that request it,” remarked Maggie Workman, Director of Outside Sales at DWC.

To make organizing a Meat & Greet even easier, DWC offers a simple online sign-up form inside DART for their members.  This allows the wholesaler to request a specific date, time, type of food or any other special requests they may require to schedule their Meat & Greet.

The Distributor Diary was added to the one-of-a-kind DART system back in February of 2011. It allowed DART members to upload photos to DART where they could be viewed throughout the year. DART members could upload any type of photo to the diary however only photos that used the DWC logo would qualify for the contest.  On December 1st, ten finalists were chosen from the ones incorporating the DWC logo and all DART members were allowed to vote for their favorites all month.

“There were some awesome photos submitted to DART in 2011.  The DWC logo was seen at Game 7 of the World Series in St Louis, the Continental Divide in Colorado, World Trade Center Memorial in New York, the beaches of the Caribbean, the cover of the Gillette News in Wyoming, Australia and even Amsterdam,” stated Tyler Waggoner who was involved with the contest from start to finish at DWC.

Jason Kullman, WESCO in Denver Colorado, was our first place finisher holding a DWC tote bag on his vacation just before Hurricane Irene struck the Bahamas with this caption, “Even the DWC Bag didn’t know what was in store before the hurricane hit!”

Distributor Wire sent Ben Swyter and Craig Ochletree of CED/Culver Hahn in Mason City, Iowa to a Cardinals vs. Cubs game wearing custom made DWC/St Louis Cardinals polo’s where they were able to take a photo earning second place in the contest.

The pet lovers voted for our third place finisher, Laurie Orzel at CED in Farmington, New Mexico.  She was able to Photoshop the DWC logo and create a very appealing image with her dog Buzz Jay.

The creativity, along with unique captions, are what separated the three winners from the rest of the other finalists.

Keegan Bast, a sales representative at DWC stated, “The Diary has been a great way for us to connect with our customers on a more personal level.  We look forward to seeing how creative our members will be next year with our logo.”

The images that were taken during this year’s Distributor Diary will continue to be available to all members to enjoy in an annual photo book inside DART.  The winning  photos of the contest are below along with some other memorable photos from 2011.

“This year we made giving back even easier by allowing our DART Members the ability to make a toy donation from inside their account.  We even paid the shipping fees on any toys that were mailed back to our facility in Aurora, CO from our customers,” remarked Kyle Emge, marketing intern at DWC who helped organize the event.

In the end, the wholesalers donated over 600 toys. DWC did a company match of their total, bringing the grand total donation to more than 1200 toys.  This set a new donation record for this event at Distributor Wire.  In addition, DWC was recognized for being the top donating business for the Toys For Tots Chapter in Adams county.

“It is hard to believe how fast this event has grown the past few years,” commented Robert McCord who is in sales for DWC.  “Getting this type of support from our customers, and knowing we are making a difference in a child’s life, really makes it worth all the time and money.”

A photo of the toy doantion can be seen below.

Dave Lacey, outside sales for Crum Electric in Casper, WY, wanted to do something nice this holiday season with his reward points in his DART account.  Initially, he thought he could get something for each person at his location however he quickly realized his total points wouldn’t amount to much when he considered all the employees at Crum’s Casper branch.  He then learned about how DWC’s DART, The Distributor Access & Resource Terminal, has a charity option to give back your points to almost any type of non-profit organization.

“I passed around my idea to others, and surprisingly others agreed to donate their points.  The idea of cashing in our points in a true team fashion seem to inspire people,” Dave stated.  “It was not long before we had a group of people ready to give back to help others in need.” (see photo below of participants)  

Dave, and the other employees, agreed they should select a local charity since they are a local distributor.  They eventually decided to donate the money to The United Way of Natrona County whose slogan is “Give Where You Live.”  This local United Way focuses on helping people throughout Natrona County through after school programs, healthcare for children, abuse prevention, crisis counseling, senior services and various other philanthropic missions. 

“Dave reached out to me in early October with his donation idea,” commented Chris Camp who is in inside sales at DWC.  “DART has help to raise thousands of dollars for charity since its inception 2 years ago.  It was a no-brainer to offer our support to Dave.”

Dave, and his fellow co-workers, were able to return 125,000 Reward Points for a $1250 donation.  To show their support, both Distributor Wire & Crum Electric decided to do a company match of their donation.  In the end, The United Way of Natrona County received a check for $3750.

“It goes to show you how much you can make a difference if people just work together,” remarked Dave.

In the mining family, DWC is offering cut to length orders for 4/c Type W, 3/c Type GG-C and 4/c Type G from sizes 8 AWG to 500 MCM. 

“These industrial products were a significant investment for our company however they are consistent movers into many of the coal, diamond, gold, copper and salt mining areas we cover in the Rocky Mountain Region and now in the Pacific Northwest,” stated Chris Fasano, inside sales agent at DWC.  “The fact we can cut and ship these products same day allows us to continue servicing our wholesale partners at the highest level.”

In addition, DWC is now stocking Belden Classics such as Belden 8760, Belden 8770, Belden 9463, Belden 8771, Belden 8723 and many others.  For the customers who prefer a more cost effective option over Belden, DWC inventories Belden Equals.  These are manufactured to the exact same specifications but can save the customer as much as 50% over the Belden counterpart. 

“By simply listening to our customers, our demand driven inventory continues to grow both in depth and breadth monthly allowing us to become a more complete supplier for specialty wire and cable nationwide,” remarked Kyle McBride, inside sales at DWC.

Distributor Wire is back on a mission to collect as many toys as they can between October 1st-December 15th for the Toys For Tots Organization.

“This is my first year to help with this event but it makes me proud to be a part of it.  There are always needy children in the holiday season and we want to make as big of a difference as possible in their lives,” remarked Anna Marie McGurk, who is in outside sales for DWC.

Distributor Wire is making giving back even easier this year by adding a simple donation form in DART for their customers.  In addition, they have offered free shipping to any customer willing to mail in toys to their Aurora, CO location which is once again a registered collection site for Toys For Tots. 

A unique feature to this charitable event is a custom Toy Ticker added to the Distributor Wire home page which scrolls displaying each customers name, their toy donation plus a total toy count for the drive.  DWC has once again pledged to match each toy donation made this year.

“Our company has been very fortunate to be able to thrive in this down economy.  We feel a responsibility to share some of that good fortune with our community through events like this,” commented Sam White, inside sales for DWC.  “Our goal is to donate over a 1000 toys this year with the support of our valued customers.”

On September 6, 2011, Distributor Wire, a master wire and cable distributor exclusively supporting wholesale distribution, officially opened its new Seattle Cable Distribution Center (CDC). 

This new stocking location will be the home to many types of specialty wire and cable supporting the electrical wholesalers in the Pacific Northwest region.  Additionally, DWC will be able to value add their products with the latest in cutting, striping and dyeing equipment. 

“The CDC model we have created is unique to our industry in that it will only be manned by DWC logistical personnel,” remarked Sheila Gentile at DWC. “While we will have outside sales agents in this region calling on our wholesalers, all phone calls will be handled by our headquarters in Denver.”

Chris Camp, Senior Inside Sales at DWC, and Maggie Workman, Regional Outside Sales Manager, will be handling the bulk of wholesaler accounts in this new region from Colorado.

“There has been a big need for another specialty wire and cable company to enter this market and support the efforts of the electrical distributor.  I am confident we can fill that void by providing the wholesalers with the same great products, services and pricing we have built our reputation on in the Rocky Mountain Region,” commented Maggie.  

The Seattle CDC is equipped with the latest wireless technology available today making it the first of its kind in the electrical industry.   

This includes IRIS, DWC’s proprietary Inventory Receiving & Identification System which virtually guarantees quick and accurate order fulfillment.  In addition, this new location utilizes a 16 channel high resolution infrared security camera system that can be accessed in real time through the Internet from a PC, tablet or mobile phone.  Finally, to help with communication between the Seattle CDC and their headquarters in Denver, DWC logistical employees will holster push to talk radios plus have Skype access at all PC stations.

“We realize the technology available today makes our CDC model possible,” commented Jon Keyworth who will be the new logistical manager in Seattle.  “However, it is our people that must deliver our brand at the same high level that our wholesalers have experienced throughout the Rocky Mountain Region for this location to be a true success.”

“We interviewed over a dozen different software companies to potentially outsource the most advanced bar coding and inventory management systems available today,” remarked Sheila Gentile, head of operations at DWC.  “Ultimately, we decided to build it ourselves based on our specific needs and to increase the overall value of our technology.”

Iris allows for real-time receiving, order processing and tracking of inventory by utilizing the very latest in software and hardware technology including making each cable distribution center a fully wireless facility.  In addition, logistical personnel will holster a Motorola MC9090 Pocket PC plus a Zebra QL Direct Thermal Mobile Printer.  This allows for instant receiving and order fulfillment from anywhere inside their centers. 

“We have ambitious growth plans,” were the comments of Tyler Waggoner, head of the IT division at DWC.  “Iris ensures our technology is scalable enough to precisely manage our growing multi-million dollar inventory as well as future distribution centers.”

Iris is a key component in DWC’s newest Cable Distribution Center (CDC) in Kent, WA set to open on September 1, 2011. 

“This new technology has streamlined the order entry to shipping point process allowing for our remote distribution centers to function at the same high level of our corporate headquarters in Denver,” commented Eddie Ervin, head of logistics at DWC.   “In the end, this is the future of our logistical centers and the customer will be the big winner.”

Distributor Wire entered the mobile arena launching DART Mobile™ in July of 2011.  The first of its kind in the electrical wholesale industry.  This new mobile division of DWC will provide their wholesale partners on-the-go access to DART, The Distributor Access & Resource Terminal.

“We have had quite a few of our customers, mainly managers and outside sales agents, request a mobile app for DART to help them be more efficient when they were away from their computer,” remarked Tyler Waggoner, who heads up DART Mobile™ at DWC.  “Creating DART Mobile™ was an easy decision when we realized it would help our wholesale partners save valuable time and procure more business.”

The DART Mobile™ initial launch offers its members a feature rich native mobile app for Android devices.  In addition,  for customers who own a Blackberry, iPhone or other non-Android supported device, or would simply rather not install any applications on their phone, DWC provides a web mobile version of DART found from any web browser at http://dart.distributorwire.com/mobile.   

Both the native app and online web app give the DWC customer the ability to request/receive 1 hour guaranteed quotes, obtain real time copper pricing, review past orders, obtain tracking info and even use an instant freight estimator right from their phones.  

“By offering a true native mobile app, and a mobile web app version, we are able to provide DART to basically all of our customers at anytime. Based on feedback, we plan to upgrade the app periodically with new features for our mobile customers,” commented Tyler.

To download the DART Android app to your mobile device, you can visit the Android Market at https://market.android.com/ and search “DWC DART” or follow this link:  DART Mobile App

Below are a few screenshots from the DART Android App created by DWC.

This year Distributor Wire was invited to be an official sponsor of the CED Clay Shoot.

“This is our third year to volunteer at the Clay Shoot and our first as an official sponsor, commented Bryce Huett, President at DWC. “CED has always supported us on a very high level in this area.  It was an easy decision to help them make this event great for their customers.”

CED spares no cost to make the Clay Shoot memorable each year for their valued customers.

They provide great giveaways to all participants such as hats, flashlights, branded knives and big prizes including gift cards to various retailers such as Bass Pro Shop and The Sportsman’s Warehouse. In addition, many sporting event tickets were raffled to Colorado Rockies games at Coors Field and other exciting venues. Finally, CED caters the event with delicious barbecue and cold beer for all the shooters and volunteers to enjoy at the end of the day.

This year’s top shooter was Doug Benoit from Frontier Mechanical with a score of 97 out of 100 clays.

“Our sponsors are critical to making this event a success each year.  We had over 175 shooters, and 35 volunteers, to make this a fun Saturday for all involved,” remarked Kris Kautz from CED.

A few photos from this year’s Clay Shoot are below.