WHAT THE BEST DISTRIBUTORS DO

Mark Kramer, Laird Plastics, Inc.

NAW EXECUTIVE SUMMIT

JANUARY 29, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC

LAIRD PLASTICS

50 Locations – 42 US, 8 Canada Approximately 500 Employees Distribute Plastic sheet, rod, tube, shapes $275M total sales PROFIT CHALLENGE:

How to consistently sell value and maximize gross margins within a geographically extended North American business handling mostly “commodity” type materials?

VALUE SELLING CONCERNS SALES REPS LACKED INFORMATION SALES REPS LACK OF CONFIDENCE HISTORICAL HABITS EXISTING SOFTWARE LIMITATIONS CONSISTENT LOCAL LEADERSHIP THE TRADITION OF “COST PLUS” LACK REAL TIME PRICING FLEXIBILITY

ONE CHANGE WE MADE…

“REAL TIME MARKET PRICING DATA” “By Product/By Geography” Price Tracking:

Use Actual Invoice Prices Look to Past 90 days, by specific zip codes Offer 3-Tier Presentation w/ customer history

Low, Median & High Market Price for that Product Contract or “Set” Price Override Enhanced “special instruction” and service notes Eliminate “product cost” as first reference

BENEFITS

Confidence from instant, relevant information on every call

Instant current customer price comparison Guard against validating new market low Instant gauge for all new quotations Focuses rep on our value provided, not the

cost of our material One key factor in multi-point increase in

Gross Margins over last few years