[00:00:05] Speaker A: Hello everybody. Welcome back to Distribution Unpacked. My name is Charles and with me today is Vani from Safeco. Vani, thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Thank you for having me.
[00:00:13] Speaker A: Absolutely. So before we get started, why don’t you take a quick moment to introduce yourself and the Safeco brand.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Yeah. I’m Vonnie Provenzino and I lead our national accounts team at Safeco. And at Safeco, we really, we provide furniture, storage and organizational solutions for the classroom, for the office and industrial spaces, just to name a few.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: That’s awesome. So when you’re looking at a couple different marketing trends that we are here at spr, you’re talking about sustainability, education, cold and flu. Those are some of our big ones.
What shifts are most impacting Safeco and where are you guys choosing to focus?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: I think definitely anything related to education. And you think of STEM and just the education. We have a line called Industrial benching, it’s called TechWorks and it’s really for the classroom, completely customizable. So it can be as simpler or as complex. So it’s great for higher ed or even community colleges and things like that. So really leaning into that lab space and even maker spaces as well. Wow.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: A lot of different unique custom solutions for the education space that a lot of our customers selling into K through 12 may not have realized the full potential of it.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly.
[00:01:27] Speaker A: So I guess when we look at the vertical markets, your state and local education is big one. Some other big players that we have at SB are health care, government, your enterprise business.
So where are the demands meaningly different for you guys and how is your team adapting to meet them and especially in that state local education market that you’ve described.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: Yeah. So definitely education continues to be a focus, but there’s some other products that we have that fit into some of the other verticals as well. We do a lot of storage solutions, high density storage and those fit can fit into education.
We have had schools buy them for equipment storage or musical storage. So it’s been traditional paper storage. But they can be completely customizable with school colors or, you know, any other brand colors that someone wants.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: Have you seen a lot of changes recently in your product development for these kind of unique storage solutions? Is there anything that’s come out recently that’s a different trend in the space?
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I would say the trend is more the customization. You know, these are products that have been in the market, but it’s repurposing. You know, if were not doing a lot of traditional paper Storage, you know, they were more in the medical record space.
That is not really the trend now. So we have adapted and sought out new areas that the products could be a fit and then added the customization element as an application.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: A lot of stuff that needs storage. Right. In any of these vertical markets, you know. Exactly. And Safeco has that adaptability to say, hey, with the musical instrument medical record,
[00:02:56] Speaker B: whatever it is, we’ve even sold it into government, you know, government agencies for evidence storage and different things like that. So there really, there’s a lot of different areas that’s true.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Like your local police department.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Exactly like that.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: That’s great. That’s awesome. So when you look at all of those applications that Safeco can apply to in these key verticals and markets that we’re in and our customers are in, from what you’re seeing today, what’s the go to market approach that would be most effective for our customers, the dealer, the distributor, to work with you and your product in the best way possible to grow their business.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: So I think really it’s understanding what their true need and you know, how simple or complex it is. We’ve got great tools that really help gather that information so we can create a space plan and really make sure we’re providing the products that fit for the space and are the best use for the customer. So we’ve got a space planning team, you know, we’ll create the layout and make sure the customer understands exactly how it’s going to look at their space to ensure it works.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Got it. So if our dealers are not utilizing your space planning team today, they got
[00:04:00] Speaker B: to something that we have available. Absolutely.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Especially those in looking in their local government, government and in education as well. It seems like a fantastic opportunity and
[00:04:08] Speaker B: we want, we’re really here to be the experts. So we want the SPR team to go and help find the opportunities and then we will bring in the experts, you know, our category leaders and the other people from home office that can help support that.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: And to me that’s such a useful resource to have. Especially when a lot of our customers feel like they’re just competing on price of a specific item of like, oh, I just have to have the cheapest storage solution. It’s like you have to have a comprehensive solution for your local market. And what better way to offer that solution than to have a team that is an expert in the product to help.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: And another really important thing is those products are manufactured in our Milford, Iowa plant.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Okay, great.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: So from a US perspective, you know, so any of Those government agencies. That’s another really great, you know, great
[00:04:56] Speaker A: angle to support a lot of purchase options there. So to have that availability as well is huge, especially in our government space.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: That’s awesome. So here at SP Richards, we’ve rolled out a new tagline, simplifying complexity that we talk about all the time here. And what complexity are you most focused on simplifying right now at Safeco and how are you approaching it?
[00:05:17] Speaker B: I think, you know, one of the complexities is even just how, how you look at the space and the things that fit into the space. So Safeco not only plays in storage and furniture solutions, but we provide a lot of ancillary solutions. So I think, you know, the one thing that Safeco can bring to the table is a number of solutions that could complete, you know, complement and complete an entire building or room, depending on what the need is all simplified with one manufacturer and simple, you know, easy delivery, focus that way. Right.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Even if they’re maybe working on a contract with a different assortment, being able to round out that offering would be a huge win in terms of simplifying the complexity of putting together an entire, you know, purchase order for a whole outfit of a building, whether it’s a school or a correct or a police
[00:06:05] Speaker B: station or something like that, training tables and you know, case goods, trash receptacles, organizations. So there’s any number of products that really will fill the space.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: Right. That’ll be very helpful for bidding and
[00:06:17] Speaker B: contract purchases, stuff like that.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: So as we close out our conversation today, is there anything else you would like our community to know about Safeco or about about you or anything?
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I think, you know, really we want to empower people to do their best work and we feel that we can, you know, provide cost effective SOL solutions.
We have great customization options and I think, you know, when you look at some of those elements, the ability to customize, whether it’s colors or how it’s used, we think that really can be an advantage and tailored to what the customer needs are in addition to being made in the USA. And you know, we’re a private company, family owned, 60 years in the business and are very proud of that, that what we’ve built over the years, we
[00:07:03] Speaker A: can respect that here at SPR as well. Well, Vani, thank you so much for your time today. That’s a wrap on the conversation and we look forward to continue working with you.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you so much.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: Thank you.
