[00:00:05] Speaker A: Jennifer, welcome to Distribution Unpacked.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: So excited. So this is our brand new podcast, looking at things a little bit differently, having conversations, you know, with manufacturers, with our supplier partners for our distribution partners and kind of just looking at the market a little bit different. And that’s what these conversations are all about. So what’s new and exciting at Sea Lion?
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Ooh. What’s new and exciting? We got lots new. First of all, thank you for having me on the podcast. I’m excited. I consume a lot of media this way, so this is very fitting.
What’s new at Sea Lion? Well, we just celebrated our 76th year in business.
Clion’s a fourth generation family owned business and I just recently took over as head of the company.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: Congratulations.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Yes, very exciting. So it’s my sister and I leading the company into the next generation, which is, which is really exciting. So beyond that, we are looking at new categories, new industries in which we can serve. Having a really established brand in the market is wonderful, but there’s more out there. So that’s our next quest.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: That’s super exciting. So what are some of the new industries you guys are looking to lean into?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Education is huge for us, so it is right now our fastest growing channel, but we know that we can do more in it. So whether right now we have a lot of core items that a student or a teacher would need to go back to class.
But we know there’s some niche products out there that we’d like to take advantage of. So we’re coming out with some new desktop accessory items, some new dry erase products as well.
So we’re excited for that. And what’s next?
[00:01:28] Speaker A: That’s super exciting.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: You know, one of the things we talk about a lot at SP is our vertical market strategy and it’s a big focus for us moving into the new year and frankly and beyond. So obviously from education we just talked about, so K12 or higher ed health care, acute non acute, that med surge space.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: Whether that’s Fed gov or you know, local municipals or state and local. But where do you guys feel? Obviously education is booming, but where do you guys see some success currently and where would you like to go?
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Sure. So I think for us our biggest success is education and we’re all in on that. And it has been challenging as of late with some of the funding, the government funding drying up, but we’re looking for new opportunities. So we are all in on education, other channels that we’re really focusing on heavily would be more the MRO space, industrial packaging supply. We’ve got a lot of niche products that fit that market really well. Our shop ticket holders, some of our label holders, poly zip bags. They’re great items that really, really serve those customers.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: So walk me through this. So I’m a, you know, SP customer, I’m a distributor, I’m a dealer. Where how could I best position the Cline products and solutions to win?
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Sure, certainly in the educational space, in the MRO space as well.
But I think what really sets Sealion apart from some of our competition is that we do have this trusted brand. We really focus on quality.
Having been in business for, like I said, 75 plus years is a real milestone. And we try to remove complexity from the ordering process.
For us, it’s really important. Fill rate is key. So something that we take very seriously at our company is our fill rate. So our goal is to be at 99% or higher. And so last year we were at 99.8% fill rate, which is incredible. You do not hear about that in our industry.
So our goal is really to have our customers like SP Richards ordering one time, they get one shipment, one invoice, simplifying it completely.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: We love that. And our supply chain team would be so excited that in a marketing discussion, we’re talking about fill rate.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: I love it though, right?
[00:03:26] Speaker A: I mean, that’s really where it’s at. How can customers best win with your products? I mean, we talked about obviously the MRO space, the education space, but in your opinion, what’s one way that our customers, our joint distribution and dealer customers, can position your solutions in their portfolio to pick up a new customer or grow with a current customer.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Yep. I think there’s a couple different ways in which they can approach the Clion brand. First of all, whenever they’re buying our products through sp, they are getting that quality product and they’re getting products on time. And I think that’s really key to hit home on. Beyond that, we’re working very closely with the marketing team here at SP to be able to offer the full suite of marketing collateral, videos, product videos, literature sheets, sell sheets, et cetera, to really help them sell the product as well.
Actually, last year we were fortunate enough to participate in one of the sales enablement calls, which is wonderful. We were able to really help the sales folks understand how they could sell Sea lion by looking at the full breadth of our offering and then specifically looking at those market verticals. So we said, here are the key categories that really resonate well with the home user or the packaging or hospitality. And so I think by leveraging not only the suite of products that we offer, but then the collateral to support that. It’s a one stop shop.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes sense. You talked about simplifying complexity a little bit in different ways. You know, that’s a big focus for us as we move into the new year spl be shredding out, showcasing our new. Our kind of. Not a new, I don’t say we’re rebranding, but a new messaging platform and how we kind of tell our story. And you know, for years it was tradition, trust, and then it was more than wholesale, the whole package. And now it’s really a focus on how do we simplify complexity and how do we simplify that not only for our customers, our joint dealer distribution partners, but really how do we simplify the supply chain, how do we simplify things for our customers with their end users? So as you think through that, what’s some of the ways. And you kind of talked about it a little bit, what are some of those ways that we can partner better or we can provide your products and solutions in a more simple way to our customers, onward to their end users?
[00:05:26] Speaker B: Well, I think one is from the supplier community. Partnering very closely with your purchasing team is really helpful to make sure those forecasts are accurate and you’ve got a great team there. So we’re having weekly conversations to make sure that you guys have the products in stock when your dealer customers need it. That’s key. And with our high fill rate, it’s easy to do that on our line.
And then I think we’re also working with the marketing team to make sure that all of that great collateral and those digital assets are available, readily available for the sales team or the operations team to use as needed to really help the customers package the entire Sea lion brand very simply.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: So. So, Jennifer, you’re running the show now, fourth generation.
That’s so exciting.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: It is.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: How does it feel?
[00:06:10] Speaker B: It feels great.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Yeah. It feels scary. Right?
I am certainly that person that doesn’t claim to know it. All right. I’m a sponge. I like to listen. I’d like to hear what works for other people and then see how I can bring it back and adapt it for Seal line. So it’s an exciting time. It’s a challenging time. No doubt challenging time to take over. But I, I’m excited. I think you’ve got to be passionate. You’ve got to, you know, have the right mindset. The growth mindset and I think we’re. We’ve got a great team in place. So I’m excited for what’s to come.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: So holiday conversations must be a blast now.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Yes.
Give me a fun fact. Tell me something I would not know about sea lion or kind of a historic moment or something you guys have done or something like that.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Yeah. So we were first to market with the hello my name is badge back in 1959.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: So that’s a very exciting, fun fact. It’s iconic. It’s used throughout the world and made
[00:06:58] Speaker A: fun of throughout and made fun of as well.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: There’s songs written about it. So it’s very neat.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: That’s so exciting.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: So that’s one that really stands out that we’re proud of.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: That’s so cool.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: Jennifer, thank you. And again, congratulations.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: So glad to have you.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: It is exciting. Yeah. And thank you for the opportunity.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Anytime.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Great. Thanks.
