The Agency Sales cover featuring the Murray Percival Company.

A little over three years ago, Agency Sales magazine profiled long‑time MANA member Murray Percival Company, Auburn Hills, Michigan. At that time we noted that the agency had logged more than 57 years serving the electronics assembly market. This year, as the agency marks its 60th anniversary, we felt the time was right to make a return visit and ask the agency principals to share some of their thoughts on what they felt the future might hold for them.

With that six decades of history to draw from Murray Percival Jr., president and CEO, notes that as he and the agency staff look to the future, “We plan on getting back to our roots by making sure we have a salesperson — backed by an inside sales support member — that lives in each territory in order to provide the best responsiveness possible for our customers. On top of that, we aim to be the one resource for decision makers and influencers at PCB manufacturers in the Midwest who seek a reliable offering, strong supply chain, with responsiveness and consistency in service, and are willing to accept help.”

He continues, “We understand that the market is evolving and so is technology. People today conduct a great deal of research on the Internet, as a result we need to provide new and unique ways to support and communicate with our customers. We are no longer simply gatekeepers to the information out there. Millennials are becoming the majority in the professional world, which means we need to keep up with the times, technology, and communication styles in order to continue to improve our customers’ business as well as ours.

A Hybrid Operation

“The fact that Murray Sr. created this hybrid concept of not only being a rep, but also a distributor, allows us to distribute the workload internally to create a solid sales machine that offers anything one would need to build a successful process in the electronics assembly industry. We have been very consistent throughout the years, so we want to continue to take that sales machine to connect, establish trust and create value for our customers.”

Asked for additional details regarding what the future might hold for reps — and for the Murray Percival Company specifically — Murray Percival III replied, “I believe in the next five years we’ll be doing a lot more video conferencing, handling much more business via email and mobile text messages. We are entering a time where a significant amount of the workforce is just as comfortable communicating with their thumbs as they are with their voice. It’s going to be important that we are able to adapt to the customers’ preference and be comfortable with whatever medium they choose to communicate in.”

Voicing agreement is Mark Percival Jr., who says, “I also believe that the internet and tools used to market and communicate are changing faster and faster every day. As a result, in response to that I believe the practice of intense and consistent education will be a big part of making sure we set up our brand and communication channels as a one-stop shop so that our customers are as up to date on their education of the industry technologies and processes as possible without having to spend their valuable time searching for them. With that being said, I think in 10 years I see us being the front runner of our industry, providing our customers with tools and processes they have never heard of or experienced before, tools that make their lives easier and safer when it comes to electronics assembly and repair. Our goal remains to generate that ‘ah ha!’ look from our customers when we present our solutions to them and make sure they know we are a trusted advisor and provider of all-encompassing solutions.”

Reaching Goals

Percival team members admit that reaching the aforementioned goal won’t be achieved without facing considerable challenges in the future. According to Matt Percival, “Just seven years ago Google reported that the average focus time for someone on the web was around eight seconds. Today it’s closer to three seconds, which means there is an ever-increasing lack of attention span. We also know that when people finally do raise their hand on the Internet, they are 67 percent of the way there with their decision. That means we need to balance being ahead and being a part of that 67 percent of educating the customer. Acknowledging these barriers are also opportunities for us, having the data and building the relationships with our customers to know them better provides us with a step up. It’s really all about our niche, which is identifying the real problem, solving it and continuing to support it.

“Moving forward, our plan is to focus on our partners more than ever before because that’s more important today than it’s ever been. What we mean by that is we need to be able to offer the entire solution package for our customers. To achieve that goal, our selection of people to partner with is very important because we not only want to offer the best technology but the best support and overall solution which is rooted in our vendors and principals. We feel we have a great vetting process and always pick the ‘A’ players to partner with because it makes the offering of the total package to our customers that much easier because we can 100 percent trust in what we are selling.”

Founded 60 years ago by Murray Percival Sr., the Murray A. Percival Company remains a leading supplier to the Midwest’s electronics industry.

As for any plans the agency might have to celebrate this year, Mark Percival Sr. maintains, “It being our 60th year, we plan to continue to have fun and celebrate the many accomplishments with our vendors and customers who have supported us in the past because it has really been a team effort since 1960. We also want to celebrate with our employees because this is a family business and they are our family. Murray Sr. always made sure one of the main goals of this business was to take care of his family and the families of our employees that drive this company forward.

“We’re not only proud of what Murray Sr. started and the hybrid business model he developed in this industry, but we are also very proud of what the second generation has accomplished for this company. Murray Sr’s. three children, Murray Jr., Mark Sr. and Pam, have provided the strongest base possible for us as a third generation to build on due to their organization and drive to better both our employees and customers’ lives. Murray Jr. and Mark Sr. have an unbelievable amount of industry knowledge from being down in the trenches earlier in their careers and spending considerable time on the shop floors, which they have used to mentor us as a third generation, and we believe we have the weapons necessary to take this company to the next level. Those skills have translated to Murray III being our integrator and the glue to the company, Mark Jr. oversees the marketing, communications and e-commerce site, and Matt is now a veteran outside salesman.

“Our core values of being rooted in loyalty, being driven to believe and connecting through hard work have been the vehicle getting us to this point. Overall it has been really fun. Being positive and having fun are very important to us, especially when it’s a family business, because that’s what keeps communication flowing and increases our traction moving forward.”

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