Martin's path into the paint distributor business was not a direct one. In 1971, while going to college, he said he went to work for the supplier that sold parts to his father and brother's service stations, Sturtevant Auto Parts, which had 35 to 40 locations.  He said he began as a store manager and worked his way up in the company as he worked his way through college, with the paint departments that were part of 17 locations becoming his pet projects.

Martin said he purchased the company in 1981 and ran it through 1987.  The sale, to another parts company, floundered, he said, and he lost what was still owed to him. 

 
He said his relationship with PPG remained strong, though, so he opened a jobber store in Simi Valley in 1989 and another in Van Nuys in 1990 with a number of his former Sturtevant employees.

"There wasn't enough to support all of us, so I went to work for the Auto Parts Club in San Diego, running their merchandising and marketing," Martin said.  Over the next few years, the Auto Parts Club would grow to about $200 million in annual sales, he said.

In 1995, when he left Auto Parts Club, Martin Auto Color Service had grown to three stores selling about $1.5 million annually, he said.  "I went to visit with some friends at PPG, and they suggested that I get back into the company and finish what I had started," he said.

"With the support of PPG and the advent of the Platinum Distributor Program, Martin Auto Color Service became one of first Platinum Distributors," Martin said.  "Through growth and acquisition, we have since expanded to 12 locations and expect to sell more than $22 million in product this year."

Martin said that to keep from placing all of his eggs in one basket, the company pursued a strategy of "distinctly diverse markets."  Six of the company's stores serve the greater Los Angeles market, he said, including the Inland Empire, San Fernando Valley, Palmdale and Lancaster, and southern Ventura County; three stores serve the San Francisco Bay area; and three serve the area between Sacramento and the Oregon border.  The company now has 65 employees, including 10 outside salesmen and four tech reps, he said.

While Martin is unequivocal that PPG's products are the best available in the market, he said the quality of the company's employees are the single biggest reason for its success.  "I'm a great believer in people," he said, "and the expansions we have done have been because we had a chance to gain great people."

To make sure that asset is preserved, Martin said the majority of the company's human resource programs are aimed at taking care of employees in the long term, including paid health insurance, long-term care benefits, a retirement plan, and stock ownership for key employees.  He said a large percentage of the company is employee owned.

"The people who work for me are my heirs, and that gives them an extra level of motivation," Martin said.

"We focus on customer service," he said.  "We concentrate on what they really want, not just what they think they want.  We sit down and talk with our customers to make sure we know what they are trying to achieve.

"We've been very effective with our good, better, and best lines at being able to offer a product that best meets their needs," Martin said.  "We have great value-added services, but I don't think it can just be about value-added.  It comes down to whose paint works the best and is the most cost-effective."

For shops that are considering changing suppliers, Martin suggested that they first focus on whose products offer the most dependable color and best color tools.  Next, he said, they should consider the level of technical support they will receive from both their distributor and the manufacturer.

The focus on a single product line -- PPG -- allows Martin's employees to avoid being order takers and really be experts on which product will work best for a customer's situation, Martin said.  "I don't understand how it isn't obvious to people that if someone sells four lines, they have to try to keep up with four lines.

"It shouldn't ever be a case of 'I'll sell you whatever you want,' it should be, 'I'll sell you what you need,'" Martin said.  "It really comes down to knowledge of the line and the tools that are available."

Waterborne is definitely the hot topic today in the Los Angeles market, Martin said, and he is excited about the prospects. 

"When this whole thing started, I was a little nervous," he said.  "I realized that if we didn't have a great product we could be in trouble, but having worked with the different products I now have no concerns.  I believe PPG has the best waterborne products on the market."

Martin said he believes that PPG's Envirobase and Nexa Autocolor's Aquabase Plus cover better, are more adaptable to varying conditions, and provide simple mixing with fewer micro-pours than competing products.  "I think that the system they brought forward has the best color match of anything that we've had yet," he said.

The changeover process is also proving to be much easier than he had anticipated, Martin said, usually taking less than a week.  "The biggest problem we're having with waterborne is the fear that has been built up towards it," he said.  "This is a far easier changeover than others that the industry has gone through in the past."

Martin said that in addition to waterborne product questions, the company's reps are also helping shops determine their equipment needs, whether booth upgrades, handheld or rack drying systems, gun washers, or new spray guns.  One definite rule that shops need to follow "is that water is water and solvent is solvent, and never should the two meet, so it requires dedicated equipment," he said.

"The other story in the market is consolidation," Martin said.  "If they're not trying to buy you, then they're trying to put you out of business.  Shops today need to learn to simultaneously take care of the insurer and the car owner who is walking through the door."

Martin said that because the business is becoming so competitive, it is important that the shop have a supplier helping to look out for its bottom line.  "One great area of concern is that if shops put as much effort into chasing the profit leaks after they buy the material as they do chasing the discount before, they'd gain a lot more," he said.  "I think many shops worry more about their discount as a percentage than they do about getting adequate gross profit on the product.  The majority of shops do not understand the losses that are incurred by their lack of procedures in the shop."