Michael Carrillo is the owner of SUPPLY POINTe in Brentwood, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. SUPPLY POINTe is a unique franchise network of select trucking, freight forwarding, pallet and packaging companies.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the best piece of business advice that you have ever received?
Carrillo: Do not take financial or business advice from someone who is not where you want to be.
Pallet Enterprise: Have you recently started pursuing any new markets/product lines?
Carrillo: We are diversifying into freight. While we do provide custom crates, we have not had a lot of volume in that arena, so we are marketing more in that space.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one thing you do at your company that is different from other pallet companies?
Carrillo: I am not sure you would say we do something different. I would say we do it better than most – that is, customer service. We pride ourselves on face-to-face with our customers. That relationship is key to a long-lasting relationship. Many pallet manufacturers do not have people that go visit customers on a regular basis. However, that is something we do.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the best business decision you ever made?
Carrillo: To sell my previous company and start this new one. I bought myself a job with my previous company. Now I have financial and time freedom. That is the reason you get into a business of your own. We want to control our future.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned about customer service?
Carrillo: There is a brutal reality about customers and customer service. You could be the absolute best at customer service and provide the best product, and some customers will cut you loose over 10 cents. It is a hard truth, but it is reality.
Pallet Enterprise: What performance indicators do you track to measure how your company is doing?
Carrillo: We follow the P&L (profit and loss). We will not give our product or service away. Right now some national companies have come into the market and basically dropped their pants to get the business. They are selling pallets at prices that we cannot touch. They can do it as they have a big bank roll. So let them lose money. We will not operate like that.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the most important thing you do each day?
Carrillo: I refer to it as, ‘I shake hands and make friends.’ I go out and meet with clients and do cold calls. That is how I grow my business. Many people think when you own a business, you open the door and money falls in. No. You have to go out and build it.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the biggest challenge your company currently faces?
Carrillo: We are heavy in manufacturing. So the last four years have been brutal. Domestic manufacturing has been on the decline. We are very excited to see the new administration is bringing domestic manufacturing back. We know it will take 1-2 years to see the effect, but we are along for the long haul.
