Mark Finder, B. Finder Associates, Inc.

Mark Finder’s origins as a rep in the fastener business are probably similar to those of many other reps in other industries. His father opened the B. Finder Associates, Inc., agency after sitting on the manufacturer’s side of the desk for more than two decades. Once his father opened the agency, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, Finder, as so many other “sons of the owner,” gravitated to the business.

B. Finder Associates, Inc., founded in 1969, has thrived and prospered owing mainly to well-established relationships with principals and customers. According to Finder, “My father started in the fastener business in 1946, right after World War II. I remember that it was during Christmas break of my sophomore year in college when he let me know that he was leaving his job to open his own rep agency. My response was ‘That’s fine, as long as you can still pay for my tuition and books!’”

After years on the manufacturer’s side of the desk, Bernie Finder (Mark’s father) founded B. Finder Associates in 1972.

Finder recalls that following graduation from college in 1972, armed with a degree in business administration, “I came home to a job and then took a second job. I was sitting around my father’s house in the middle of May in 1973 when I said to myself, ‘Maybe I should try this rep thing for the summer. It probably won’t last more than a few months and I can’t do any harm.’ He agreed, and I started at a salary of $1,000 a month. I figured that my father knew everyone in the business, and he knew what he was doing. If I got into this and I had him to back me up, then it was something I knew I could learn.”

Learn the business he did, and now a half century later, Finder is sitting at the controls of the agency. Today, B. Finder Associates, Inc., is a three-person agency and together with its headquarters office it also operates a warehouse. Maurizio Furlan joined the agency in 1996, and Cecilia Parker became the office manager in 2001. We have more than 80 years of sales experience. The warehouse is used for two of our three product lines. One of those lines is from Italy and the other is located on the East coast.”

Mark Finder (left), seen here with associate Maurizio Furlan, joined the agency in 1973.

Planning a Transition

Just as so many other reps who took over the business from a parent, Finder had to negotiate a transition from his father’s leadership. “Back in the early days of the agency, there really weren’t all that many decisions about who you were going to sell products to; you could sell to both sides of the street — distributor and customers. We ultimately made a decision to sell exclusively to distributors. Prior to any change in the business, we had many discussions about a transition, but unfortunately before we could do anything, my father became ill and passed away. He had opened the agency in 1969, so when he passed away in 1999, the business was well established.

Cecilia Parker joined the agency more than 20 years ago as office manager.

Finding a Principal

Finder voices a certain level of comfort when he’s asked what his approach is when it comes to finding and attracting new principals. “That’s an interesting question given that we only have three lines. Our philosophy is to not spread ourselves too thin.

“One of the companies we work with is Italian, and we’ve had them for more than 20 years. The second company we rep is one for whom we repped a major competitor. They called us, indicated they knew about us, and the end result is that we’ve been with them for 15 years.

“The last company we signed with is kind of a unique story. In general, we’ll find a principal, or they will find us, via word of mouth. In the last five years, we really have not received any bona fide approaches from prospective principals. About a year ago, however, I was sitting in the office just looking things over. I’ve made it a habit to keep business cards. I looked at the card that was on top of the pile. It was from a company that is a competitor to a company we used to represent. I sent an email to the person on the card. Of course, 99 times out of 100 when you do that, you’ll never get a response. Long story short, just a half hour later, I got an email back. Ultimately, we signed on with them and it’s been an excellent fit for us and them. That was a case of us being very lucky.”

Finder noted, “Our thinking with any prospective principal entails answering the question whether it would be a good fit for us and them? Will it result in a good marriage? If the answer is ‘no,’ then we’ll turn them down.”

Then there’s the question about whether to take on a “pioneering line.” When asked about his agency’s willingness to take on such lines, Finder quickly answers, “We’ve had plenty of opportunities with them, but they’re really not in our best interest. Our time is too valuable to take on a line for which there is no existing business.”

Just as any other rep, Finder is still emerging from the effects of Covid. “We are very fortunate to be here in the Chicago area. We’re a well-established company with great relationships. Along with many small- to medium-sized fastener distributors we are very fortunate to have long-standing relationships with several major national distributors in our territory that we’ve been working with for more than 30 years. Although a good deal of our business is still conducted via phone, email and Zoom, we’re looking forward to the time when we’re going to be able to be face-to-face with them.”

Speaking of email and Zoom, Finder counts them as a couple of the major changes that have affected how he conducts business today vs. in the past. “When I started 50 years ago, no one even knew what a PC was. And today, if I didn’t have a laptop, there’s no way I could conduct business.”

If that hasn’t been enough change, he continued, “We recently added an entirely new computer system for our Italian principal in our warehouse. The system keeps track of thousands of products that they have in our system. Our principal gave our office manager the autonomy to select the new system and put it in, and our principal covered the cost. Our agency is paid a commission for warehousing this company’s products.”

If the aforementioned represent changes that Finder has had to negotiate and get comfortable with, one thing that hasn’t changed over the years is the agency’s membership in MANA. “My father (Bernie Finder) joined MANA in 1973, which was the year I joined the company. One thing that has been very beneficial for us over the years has been the access to information that MANA provides.”

In closing Finder comments that in his opinion choosing to be a rep on that day in 1973 was a wise decision.” Sure, we’ve had our ups and downs, just as anyone else. But the positives have far outweighed the negatives. It’s been a good ride for us.”

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