TESSCO distributes wireless equipment from 380 different manufacturers, and offers a variety of support, training and leasing services.

by Jeff Goldman [October 3, 2007]

TESSCO Technologies Incorporated started out as a manufacturer's rep, working with companies like Uniden and others—but soon found itself forced to look for new opportunities. "The company was so successful in helping Uniden break into the United States and compete against the likes of EF Johnson and Motorola in the two-way space that they moved beyond needing a manufacturer's rep and basically said, 'Great job, TESSCO, thank you very much: you're fired,'" recalls Scott McClure, product business unit manager for TESSCO's wireless networking division.

And so, McClure says, the company then shifted its focus to wireless equipment distribution, working with a wide variety of brands. He says TESSCO now works with 380 different wireless equipment manufacturers. "We look at the landscape and select manufacturers that are a good value for our customers … they've told us in surveys in the past that when they see something on our website or in our catalog, they don't have to worry: it's validated," he says.

TESSCO Global Logistics Center 11126 McCormick Road Hunt Valley, MD 21031-1494 Sales: (800) 508-5444 mailto: cs@tessco.com

McClure says the company's strengths in the marketplace are straightforward. "We're the largest," he says. "We've been around for a long time, and we have a great depth and breadth of knowledge within the industry, because this is where we've grown up. We're not a networking distributor that's carrying wireless products, nor are we a distributor that's just decided to jump on what's considered to be a hot industry. We have people that have 30 years plus of experience, have climbed towers, have put this stuff up, and they're there to help build the customer's solution for them and walk them through it."

Meeting customers' needs
The company has three major lines of business: wireless infrastructure, mobile devices, and test and maintenance solutions.

McClure says TESSCO serves clients of all sizes. "We sell to Sprint and AT&T, and we sell to your small town corner shop," he says. "We sell to some companies that might only buy from us twice a year, but when they have a need, they know that they can find it here—and they come to us."

McClure says that while many of TESSCO's customers know exactly what they want and simply place their orders either by phone or over the web, others are looking for more guidance in product selection. "Customers call up and say, 'I have this application and I'm trying to do this—please help me and steer me in the right direction,'" he says. "And that's probably half of the requests we get: they don't know exactly what they want, and they're looking for us to make a suggestion and to build or configure a complete package for them."

And for WISPs, McClure says, "We can take a customer's site survey and help them select the right products to build a network the right way."

The company also offers a wide range of training programs, both in public classes and as private offerings for individual clients. "If an ISP wanted to be trained on a certain technology, we have a staff of over 20 trainers that can teach courses in everything from building a tower and deploying it to proper grounding techniques," McClure says.

Shipping, credit and leasing
TESSCO's shipping policy, McClure says, is differentiated by the fact that the date of delivery is always guaranteed. "We don't just ship the product and then it's the customer's problem—we track it and guarantee it through to the final destination," he says.

That kind of guarantee, McClure says, can make planning much easier for the company's clients. "For a wireless internet service provider, we could build a complete base station for them, take all the parts that they need, ship it to the site the day that their crew was set to arrive, and they wouldn't have to handle the product at all," he says.

TESSCO also offers a variety of credit and leasing options that McClure says are particularly attractive for WISPs. "If they have an infrastructure build-out, for example, they pay in three payments, for a small interest charge, but it allows them to get their network up and running and start recouping some revenue from it before they have to swallow that entire infrastructure bill," he says.

McClure says it's TESSCO's experience in the industry, though, that really helps the company meet its WISP clients' needs. "We've been doing this a long time, and we know what's going to help make them successful," he says. "And we can recommend a range of products that meets their budget."

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