25TH YEAR MEMBER & SUPPLIER FEATURES Being a Capricorn Preferred Supplier provides ease of mind The first day in any new job is usually full of nerves and apprehension. But for Bernie Gouldstone, the minute he learnt Chase was a Capricorn Preferred Supplier, it became a far more relaxing affair. Chase is New Zealand’s largest exhaust distributor and has been a Capricorn Preferred Supplier since the cooperative began operating in New Zealand in 1997. “I knew instantly that we would have access to a lot of potential customers and it would be easy for those customers to deal with us, because of Capricorn and how it is set up,” Bernie said. Bernie would know. He had previously worked for Capricorn as a Territory Manager for several years.
Bernie has been with Chase for six years and has been involved with Capricorn in some form for almost a decade. He has seen the cooperative from both sides. At Chase, he’s seen firsthand how Capricorn data helps Chase meet customers’ needs. “We can see if customers’ purchases have gone up or if they’ve gone down and our Territory Managers can use that data and try to find out why,” Bernie said. “Have the exhausts fallen out of favour or are the workshops quiet or there is a need for something more specialist?” Chase has 12 employees and four branches across New Zealand and, in addition to supplying the country’s widest exhaust range, it also supplies a broad range of emission purification products, including catalytic converters, diesel purifiers and DPF cleaning fluid. The company also supplies performance products such as extractors and headers. It caters for New Zealand’s heavy transport sector with a wide range of exhaust products including truck stacks. Chase has been operating for 30 years across the nation, and like many Capricorn Members and Preferred Suppliers , Bernie highly values the cooperative’s low-key trade events when he can sit down for a beer and sandwich with a workshop owner and see how they’re going. The events are also an opportunity to meet new or old Members who might not be aware that Chase has been a long-term cooperative Preferred Supplier . “It’s one of those things that is truly a win-win situation,” Bernie said.
“If you came from the outside and didn’t know what Capricorn was, then it may take you a while to twig onto the value of that, whereas I knew straightaway the value of the cooperative,” he said. Reflecting on his days as a Capricorn Territory Manager, Bernie said he never had to jam his foot in any doors. “It was not a really hard sell,” he said. “What you were doing was explaining what Capricorn could do for them. Ultimately, it was selling a concept.”
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“We know that if you are a Capricorn Member, then you’re a viable business or Capricorn wouldn’t sign you up, and Members know that we’re a reliable and long-term supplier because Capricorn wouldn’t have signed us up if we weren’t.”
