At CLS, many of our team members have been with us for decades. And we know it’s because of them that our customers stick with us for just as long.
This month, Route Sales Professional Derek Anderson is celebrating 34 years with CLS. He started before we even had a branch in Cadillac and was a major force in the new building project currently happening there.
This is where I belong, said Anderson.
I started in July in 1985. We were still using horse and buggies when I started, Anderson joked.
Many of the customers on Anderson’s route are ones he’s had for as long as he’s been with CLS.
I learned way back then that if you take care of a customer you have them for a long time, said Anderson.
And he believes supporting his local community is very important.
I want to buy my stuff from my community to support that so not only am I serving my customers, I am one of their customers, said Anderson. It does make a difference and we try to make sure that people know that we are local, we are part of the community.”
His customers rave about his service.
“Derek is fabulous. Love him. He’ll bend over backwards and make sure I get what I need, even if it’s at a day’s notice he makes sure I get what I need, said Kimberly Bauer, Director of Food and Beverage, Evergreen Resort in Cadillac.
My goal is to bring my customers up, maybe they’re having a bad day, said Anderson.
He’s one of the more fun vendors I have. I like to have conversations with him and kid around even though he’s going 100 miles an hour because he’s got to get to the next route because he has a full schedule all week long, said Chad Boolman, owner, Merrill’s Service Center in Cadillac.
Anderson knows it’s those conversations just as much as the service he provides that keep his customers loyal.
For me it’s always been to make it personal. That way you build that relationship with the customer that way you don’t have to worry about the competition.”
To learn more about a partnership with CLS click here.
