MIRAMAR, Fla. – Listening to and learning from one’s customers is always smart business, and Auto 7 Inc. has been doing this successfully for the past year since forming its Auto 7 Distributor Council. 
According to Auto 7 President Steven Kruss, the new distributor council kicked off in 2012 with a meeting of a small group of stocking distributors at Auto 7’s corporate office in Miramar, Fla.
"Auto 7’s senior vice president Jim Murphey founded the Distributor Council because we wanted to hear directly from our stocking distributors on ways we can enhance our products and programs,” said Kruss. “It makes for a much stronger partnership.”
Auto 7 has an established network of stocking distributors across North America, five of whom were invited to serve two-year terms as members of the Distributor Council. The council meets three times a year: once at Auto 7’s corporate office followed by a meeting in Las Vegas during Industry Week, and then a mid-year conference call.
During these meetings, Auto 7’s management team shares all aspects of the company’s business model and challenges council members to provide candid input on what needs to be changed or modified to strengthen Auto 7’s value proposition. Also discussed is what Auto 7 can do to increase stocking distributors’ sales and margins.
Members of the Auto 7 Distributor Council for 2012-2013 are:
Mike Mohler, vice president of National Pronto Association, Grapevine, Texas;
Jim Olson, vice president of Full Service Automotive, San Antonio, Texas;
Tim Renehan, president of Stone Wheel, Chicago;
Raun Smith, president of Ken Smith Automotive, Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Bob Yeoman, president of Automotive Distributor Warehouse, Columbus, Ohio.
Auto 7, based in Miramar, FL, is part of an international company that has been in business for 60 years. It supplies a wide array of Korean-made, OEM quality automotive parts for Hyundai and KIA that are ISO-14000, ISO/TS-16949, or QS-9000 certified, and many of which are not typically available in the traditional aftermarket supply chain.
