Answering Your Questions – Product Managers

If you are a Product Manager employed by a Distributor then your plate is full!

You may be responsible for hundreds of brands and thousands of products across multiple product categories. Hook & loop fasteners is just one of those categories.

There is no way you can be an expert in all these categories, let alone all the products.

And when viewing your competitors’ product offering, there’s no way to know what they’re about to add or what is or isn’t selling.

When it comes to hook & loop fasteners (including tape, straps, and cable management) we’re offering to help.

We help by:

Evaluating your current offering – including product families, sizes, colors, and packaging.
Comparing the results to your competitors.
Providing you with a GAP analysis.
Walking you through the analysis to offer our perspective on what products sell, those being replaced, and the market perspective that only Speedtech can offer.

Why Speedtech?

We helped pioneer the hook and loop Cord & Cable Management category. Specifically, the use of hook and loop fasteners.

Since 1995, we’ve been serving larger OEMs and working with the largest industrial distributors. Put simply, our job is to put those distributors in a position to succeed.

Distribution Success | Hook & Loop Fasteners | Defined:

Offering the correct products including colors, sizes, and put-ups.
Potentially carrying a second brand (alternative) like SPEEDWRAP^®.
Being in a position to convert NIC requests from customers. (Hugely important with hook & loop fasteners because of size and color variations).
Inventory support and fast supplier support. United States Fabrication. Product Certifications, etc.
Technical support (for online and catalog + your sales representatives).
Ability to target your largest national accounts and to demonstrate the unique value stack for SPEEDWRAP^®hook & loop fasteners.

To get started with your free competitive audit, please complete the form below.

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Sincerely,

Steve Pope
VP Sales Speedtech International, Inc.

Steve Pope BIO

Steve is a co-owner of Speedtech. In 1994, Steve started his career at a plastic fastener manufacturer, with his last position being the Strategic Distribution Manager. This role was created to provide their Distributors with ‘catalogs’ or a large online presence with a qualified point person.

Steve explains, “We felt it was important to have one person focused on our national distributors with catalogs – companies such as McMaster Carr Supply and Newark Electronics. And because this was prior to the influence of the internet, as a supplier we had to plan three years ahead of the distributor’s next catalog printing. This really raised the ‘stakes’ on what products distributors were adding to their offering. The product managers I served relied 100% on my recommendations. It was understood that if you steered them wrong, you wouldn’t be a supplier for long.”

In 1999, Steve partnered with Chris Karnowski (Speedtech’s Founder) and brought his ‘distribution perspective’ to Speedtech.

Today, the internet allows distributors the ability to make fast additions or changes to their product offering. But Speedtech still operates by this ‘once burned twice shy’ philosophy: that a recommendation must be backed up with expertise and your reputation.

Pope concludes, “Whether we are working with Fastenal or a smaller distributor of SPEEDWRAP^® Brand Productswe take the same approach – knowing there are several stakeholders in place and complete success includes all of them. First, the product manager’s reputation is at stake when adding or replacing a vendor and product offering. Second, the sales representatives need the correct products and support. And lastly, the decision makers at the OEM must receive the correct product, price, and support! Success includes everyone.”