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people order a_nd receive stumps has changed. In the office supply industry, many regional office supply dealers have disappeared, sup- planted by the Office Max and Office Depot's of the world. Now there are fewer large players who sell to the traditional regional customers. As explained by Cody, "The regional marketplace is being absorbed by the big companies. As a result, we decided to expand nationally. Our challenge was that we had never focused our marking products on a national basis. We needed to find new ways to distribute our product, yet remain competitive with the national com- panies. ' Wendell's found a solution. It met with other regional marking product manufac- turers throughout the country who faced the same problem. The group established a coordinated marketing approach to com- pete effectively on a national level. The strategy: Provide customers the same ben- efits as those offered by the national manu- facturers, plus the superior service of a regional supplier. When response time has to be measured in hours rather than days, the shipping times across the US becomes a significant factor. To minimize the total order lead time from procurement to delivery, Wendell's and its regional manufacturers throughout the US can coordinate orders with each other to maintain the delivery the customer expects. By utilizing the combined capacity of ten manufacturing plants, Wendell's can de- liver large quantity orders with the same speed and efficiency as they handle an individual stamp. The overall advantages of this program are clear. It allows the group to provide very )ersonal and fast service to its customers on a national level. Another advantage lies in how the group effectively handles the small, but multiple custom orders from the na- tional accounts. A significant portion of everyone's costs could be tied up in process- mg numerous, small purchase orders and invoicing. By working together with the group on its national accounts, Wendell's can eliminate a lot of labor and paperwork. "It reduces the number of purchase or- ders that have to be cut, and invoices that (continued on page 63) By Scott Allen and Ruth [.~,c'~ a~t ] Lane of Allen eLane Mar- keting, Inc., located in Excelsior providing stra- tegic marketing and cre- ative communications which lead to sales SUCCESS. Bob Cardinal 1996 I Top producer J Calhoun Companies 4930 West 77th Street, Suite #100 Edina, MN 55435 (612) 831-3300, Ext. 227 Web: http://www, eardinalmsp.com E-mail: cardinal @ usinternet.com MINNESOTA ENTREPRENEURS. CLUB is proud to present Kay Fredericks of TREND Enterprieses Learn out teacher turned entre- preneur b-ilt her company from a basement operation to a leader in the educational with over $20 million in sales and 165 employees Sponsored by: h}:'i.~' Professional , Association Boydeil :'~ Cedified Public Surdel 'Accountants & & Management Latter Consultant nnes0t usiness OPPORTUNITIS Tuesday, June 3, 1997 5:30 - 7:00p.m. University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis Campus Open To Every Entrepreneur $2 Member $10 Non-Member Cai1 (612) 897-5072 Entrepreneurs Club is a non-profit organization dedicated to provide inspiration, .~ducation, resources, and networking opportunities for current and aspiring entxepreneurs. Many of Minnesota's most recognized entxepreneurs, such as Curt Carlson, Harvey Mackay, and Irwin Jacobs have shared their time to assist and inspire our members. Annual membership is only I50.00. I I I I I I I I I I I I I Minnesota Business & Opportunities / MAY 1997 37