Source: US Census Bureau
T
Populat
BIG VISION, big
business in Texas
Professional Distributor I September 2018 I VehicleServicePros.com 9
By Sara Scullin, Editor
Where in the world is this
professional distributor?
Dallas is one of the fastest-growing cities in
the United States. From 2010 to 2016, Dallas
recorded the highest net domestic migration
in the country, in excess of 300,000. Located in
North Texas, Dallas is the main core of the largest
metropolitan area in the South and the largest
inland metropolitan area in the United States that
lacks any navigable link to the sea.
Geoff
Beveridge
Dallas, Tex.
Population: 1.3 Million
Beveridge’s
Top 5 Tools
1. GEARWRENCH Ratcheting
Wrenches
2. Milwaukee 18V 1/2” Drive
Impact Gun
3. Milwaukee Cordless 3/8”
and 1/4” ratchets
4. SAS Safety Corp.
Mack Boots
5. GEARWRENCH 84-pc Master
SAE Metric Hex and Torx Bit
Socket Set
Unwavering optimism and a commitment
to excellence are helping independent
distributor Geoff Beveridge develop his
routes and reach key customers.
It takes courage and faith to up and move your family – and your business
– about 1,500 miles across the country and start from scratch.
But that’s just what this independent tool dealer did.
“My wife wanted me to move to
Texas for God and country,” recalls
Geoff Beveridge, owner of Beveridge
Tools, Inc. “I told her, ‘God is here, too.’”
(Here meaning California.)
To which she replied, “Yeah, but he’s
bigger in Texas.”
“She might be right, because
he’s blessed us many times over,”
Beveridge adds.
All the right moves
Beveridge was turning wrenches as
a diesel mechanic in a Long Beach,
California, oil field when he got the
notion to try out tool sales.
“My wife told me I should go and
be a mobile tool dealer,” Beveridge says.
“She said, ‘You always talk about it,’ …
I didn’t even realize I’d been telling her
that. Keep in mind I had a brand new
baby, house and car payments. But since
she believed in me I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do
it.’ They said I’d be eating rice and beans
the first year. Well, I only ate rice and
beans when I was at a nice restaurant
and they came on the side.”
Beveridge soon found this was
where he was meant to be. The California
transplant took a job as a mobile
tool dealer with two traditional franchises.
He was successful from day one.
After a time, he went independent and
formed Beveridge Tools, Inc. Now he’s
set up shops in the South Dallas area
of Texas, and to say he feels at home is
an understatement. This top tool man
has not only settled in, but is looking
to spread out.
Taming wide open spaces
A sales route in Texas requires the fuel
and road time one might imagine
it would.
“I have a few counties,” Beveridge
says. “And in Texas a county is huge.”
The independent distributor drives
a 50-mile radius in South Dallas, and
his route consists of mostly automotive
and heavy trucking business, which is
big business in the state. On Mondays
his Freightliner hits Johnson County.
Tuesday and Wednesday you’ll find him
in Dallas County. Thursday is Johnson
and Tarrant counties, and on Friday Beveridge
services Ellis and Dallas counties.
Beveridge has one employee and
two trucks on the road. He was training
a second driver at the time of this
interview, and he’s in the process of
DISTRIBUTOR PROFILE
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