Loyalty lives on in business

Electrical business displays rare loyalty after being a customer for 40 years.

LOYALTY: Past owner of Keith Atkinson Electrical Trevor ‘Keith’ Atkinson shakes hands with new L & H manager David Guest.

LOYALTY isn’t always that common these days but for 40 years Keith Atkinson has been loyal to his local electrical wholesaler, Lawrence and Hanson.

Past owner and manager of Keith Atkinson Electrical, Trevor “Keith” Atkinson started buying his stock from L & H Nambour after starting his business in 1978 and said their service got him to come back time after time.

“There is no doubt that Lawrence and Hanson have looked after us well with deliveries and pricing over the years, many times going out of their way to get gear for us and to us when it has been urgent,” Mr Atkinson said.

Mr Atkinson meet the past L & H manager Peter Dickman when he worked as a “young fella” at the store and said while a manager he would always go out of his way to help.

“I think he went beyond he’d come out at night-time for us or on weekends if we needed to get some gear in a hurry so good service and friendship, kept me coming back.”

The pair who have now retired have passed their roles onto David Guest and Keith’s son Seth Atkinson but said the long-lasting relationship has been crucial to their business’s success.

“There is some sociality that occurs when you come into a shop you don’t want to just grab what you need your also there to have a little bit of a chat, so service is everything,” Mr Atkinson said.

Mr Dickman said businesses “would collapse” without long lasting relationships as customers “don’t go where you’re not wanted”.

But Mr Atkinson said the relationship is “rare”.

“It’s pretty unusual to have an association with someone for so long, I knew him when we both had a lot of hair,” he said.

Current L & H manager David Guest said having loyal customers like Keith Atkinson Electrical has been extremely beneficial and he hopes to carry it into the future with new owner and manager Seth Atkinson.

“They (Keith Atkinson Electrical) are very important, I’ve got to make sure my business is profitable … so having customers like them is very good,” he said.

“We want to make sure we move that forward and go into the next 10-year phase.”