When Rick Cohen told his father Benco Dental needed budgets, Larry Cohen had an answer ready. "I'm the budget."
Larry signed off on everything. He grew Benco from about $200,000 a year in sales to $100 million, building a sales route that eventually took six reps to cover. His sons took the business from there to roughly $1 billion.
In episode 16 of In the Mind of a Distributor, Larry sits down with his grandson, Proton CEO Benj Cohen. Benco's chief customer advocate and second-generation owner talks about giving up accounts he'd served for years and handing the business to sons who wanted to run it differently.
The short version
- Some accounts can go longer between visits, giving reps time to reach more customers.
- Larry handed off most of his territory but kept visiting dentists himself.
- Put the money back in. Larry worked all the time and reinvested his earnings into the business.
Does every account need the same visit schedule?
Larry visited dentists once a month when competing reps in his market went every two weeks. That let him call on twice as many practices.
He ran his territory on a four-week route, with each day assigned to an area. As Benco grew, he carved off pieces of that route for new hires. He recalls hiring about six salespeople to cover the work he'd been doing alone.
The useful question is whether your reps' schedules reflect what accounts need.
How do you hand off accounts without losing touch with customers?
Larry kept his Pottsville territory for years after he'd given the rest away. He wanted to hear what dentists needed and what they were actually using.
He could do that because his longtime colleague Tony ran purchasing and made sure orders went out the door. Larry managed the sales team and decided what Benco would sell.
Keeping a few accounts gave Larry a reason to spend time with customers even as his responsibilities grew. For an owner whose calendar has filled with internal meetings, regular customer visits can serve the same purpose.
Why didn't the lower price win the account?
One dentist bought Larry's featured products but kept buying repeat items from a competitor. Waiting at the front desk, Larry spotted the competitor's invoice. He pointed out that his own price was lower, even after the other supplier's discount.
He walked out sure he'd won the business. But he never got past the waiting room again.
Larry realized something important: never make the customer feel like they don't know what they're doing.
What would it take to reopen after a disaster?
In 1972, a flood destroyed Benco's office and inventory. Larry nearly quit. He believed he could earn more selling for another company, and most of what he'd made was sitting on shelves that were now underwater.
Then his employees gathered around and asked what they should do.
"We're going back in business," Larry told them.
How to deploy money after a big sale?
Larry worked hard, and he could have earned more selling for another company. Instead, he put the money back into Benco.
"If I made $30,000, I only took home 12 or 15,000," he says. The rest went into inventory. "Everything in inventory, all the time."
When he came home with news of a big equipment sale, his wife, Sally, would ask where the money was. His answer: "We need it on the shelves."
Before you take money out of the business, ask how it could be reinvested in the business.
What should you settle before you agree to sell?
Larry once talked with a buyer who offered to make him a vice president in charge of everything east of the Mississippi. During a meeting, the buyer turned to his finance colleague and announced that one of Benco's branches would close.
Larry expected to be part of that decision. The deal ended there.
About two months later, Larry closed the branch himself.
Watch the full conversation
Larry also talks about how he learned to ask for the order and the college friend's advice that led him to hire more salespeople.
.png)
%20(11).png)
