Future Electronics recently announced the re-launch of its FAI program, a division that targets new or underserved customers with a team of newly trained salespeople. Originally launched in 1993, the division ran for about 15 years before being folded back into the main organization. Company leaders announced the launch at last week’s Electronics Distribution Show (EDS) in Las Vegas, pointing to Future’s ongoing recruiting efforts for the program.
FAI is already up and running and will have 100 salespeople on the street in North America by the end of the year, backed up by 100 sales and customer service reps on the inside of the organization, company leaders say. Future plans to roll out the program worldwide, as well.
FAI seeks sales reps with two to five years’ experience, not necessarily in electronics, and trains them in a month-long Future “boot camp” before placing them in the field. Future is banking on the program’s past success to propel growth over the next five years.
“Within five years of launching the program in 1993 it exceeded $500 million. So it’s a model that worked out very well,” explains Lindsley Ruth, Future Electronics’ executive vice president, office of the president. “Many of our top customers today came from the FAI model—and many of our sales leaders did, too. We see the same need we saw 20 years ago. We see a market that’s not being serviced properly. Our goal this time is to exceed $1 billion dollars in five years.”
Future Electronics ranked third on Global Purchasing’s 2013 Top 50 Electronics Distributors report, with approximately $7.4 billion in sales.
