Coleman Lucas, Wasserstrom

Coleman LucasWhether in his capacity as an account manager at Wasserstrom in Cincinnati or in his after-work role as an assistant secondary and special teams coach for Anderson High School’s football team, Coleman Lucas places a great deal of value on collaboration leading to success.

Lucas has been with Wasserstrom for more than 26 years. After a nine-year stint, he left for another opportunity. Lucas then returned to Wasserstrom 18 months later and has spent the last 17 years with the Columbus, Ohio-based company. As for coaching at Anderson, Lucas has been there for a decade.

In his time at Wasserstrom, Lucas’ client base has included healthcare operations, chains and independent operators.

Q: How have healthcare foodservice operators’ needs for equipment and supply items evolved and changed over the years?

A: When being trained in sales with our company, the biggest thing I did was ask end users “What do you need?” That applied to the equipment they were requesting bids on as well as their budgets. It all started by just asking those questions and customers getting to know me and feeling comfortable with me. Once they understood what I could do, they pretty much came to me first.

Q: What is your approach in guiding customers when it’s time to replace a piece of equipment?

A: Our industry has so many different products and you can throw anything at them, but it might not be what they want. The first thing is to listen to exactly what a customer wants. Once I get that information, then I start presenting options to them and that increases the level of trust they have with me.

Q: In terms of smallwares, there are many options available. What’s your approach to finding the right solutions? 

A: One of the biggest things I like to do — and I’ll take a very simple example — is to take a frying pan, order it for myself and use it. I want to make sure that it works the way it should. If I like it, then I go ahead and push that item out into my marketplace and say that this item actually works the way it should. Once I do that, then I can start creating items and options for the customer on specific ideas that they have.

Q: How does your reputation for being a team player contribute to your ability to serve customers?

A: I’ve always been around a team atmosphere. My dad was a football coach for 50 years and I coach high school football, too. The team atmosphere, to me, is very important. My approach is to help anybody who needs help and to offer a lending hand because I might need that at some point, too. I want to make sure that I work well with people and people work well with me.

Q: What advice would you give someone who is just starting out in the industry?

A: You need to have a lot of patience and to really focus on what you want to become as a salesperson and how you want to be perceived in front of the customer. Be the person who takes their time and makes sure everything is correct and they’ll trust you and come to you first.

DSR 3-2-1

Coleman Lucas, Wasserstrom, sits down with Jason Wange, Foodservice Powerplant Network, to talk about being named an FE&S DSR of the Month. 

Find more episodes of DSR 3-2-1 here.

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies Presents DSR 3-2-1 is sponsored by Salvajor.