City Electric Supply (CES) https://www.cityelectricsupply.com/aboutus is thrilled to announce the opening of its second branch in Gilbert, the thirteenth location in the Phoenix area. And who is running it? Someone with experience on both sides of the counter, Branch Manager Steven Bauer.
“I can ask electricians what they’re doing or how they’re using a part, and I can tell them what they need,” said Bauer. “Usually, electricians get into a certain field, and they stick to it. I’ve worked as a salesperson in Wyoming and helped coal miners who work in high voltage and drag cables, but they’ve never wired a house before. With my background, there are a lot of electricians I can help.”
And with 250,000 residents, the opportunities are endless in the thriving city of Gilbert.
“Gilbert just keeps expanding,” he said. “They’re building a lot of homes and developing a lot of commercial buildings, even right across the street from us. When your supplier is just right there, you can’t help but work with them.”
As the new branch’s goals, Bauer hopes to open as many accounts as possible.
“We’re slowly building our customer base and targeting new customers who haven’t set up accounts with CES yet,” he said. “Right now, it’s mostly residential, but there are a lot of commercial opportunities near us, so we’ll be chasing those also.”
City Electric Supply has an extensive network throughout the Phoenix area, and this new location provides existing customers another place to go.
“Some of the big box stores here only have one location, but at CES, wherever you’re working, we’ll probably have a store close by,” said Bauer.
Before moving to Arizona to join CES, Bauer worked for another electrical distributor in Wyoming.
“At the other company, it was just one store in one spot. If you ever needed parts, you had to run to the city,” he said. “At City Electric Supply, wherever your job takes you, we probably have a branch that can help you out or deliver to you, multiple times a day if needed.”
Bauer’s branch has the advantage of a large network, but they also have something else going for them — Bauer’s own electrician expertise.
“You’d work for several years as an electrician, but then the job would end and you’d have to find something else,” said Bauer. “That’s when I started working for distributors.”
Bauer hasn’t looked back since. Not only is Bauer excited to help new customers in the area, but he also can’t wait to train the next generation of CES employees with his knowledge and background in the industry.
“Today’s counter people will be tomorrow’s managers,” Bauer said. “As a Branch Manager, I can teach employees not just slang for certain parts, but also where the parts go and how they’re used. The more experienced they are, the more help they’ll be for our customers.”
And of course, he’s excited for some healthy competition with the nearby CES branches.
“It lights the fires,” he said. “Knowing you have someone that close; you’re going to put in extra work to win over customers, and we’re ready for it.”
And that extra work includes building strong and meaningful relationships with customers.
“City Electric Supply is one of the few distributors still trying to build relationships with customers,” he said. “We build relationships to help them build their business. You’re not here just to sell them something. You know their families, you treat them with respect, and when you have a friendship with them, they trust you. It’s one of the most important things you can do as a supplier.”
About City Electric Supply (CES) is a family-owned electrical wholesale distributor headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company was founded in 1951 by Tom Mackie in the United Kingdom and expanded to the United States in 1983. Today, CES employs more than 3,000 people in over 500 branches across the U.S.
CES is dedicated to providing personalized service and support for customers in the residential, commercial and industrial marketplace. While CES is a large company, it prides itself in keeping its founding principle of empowering people to make local business decisions by providing customers tailored services for all their electric supply needs.
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