By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
Along with representing the best manufacturers, the key to being a successful distributor is open and honest communication with the customer, according to Chris Pleibel, Vice President, Infrastructure, PerfectVision.
“From answering the phone when it rings and responding to emails in a very short period of time, to giving open and accurate information about orders as quickly as possible, our customer service must be the best that we can do,” he said.
But that’s not all. There is an art to knowing what products to keep in inventory and when to stock them and where to stock them. PerfectVision keeps a relatively tight inventory-to-sales ratio, according to Pleibel, and the company must connect the dots to make sure it has the right parts at the right time.
“We are constantly evaluating the demand for products, in what markets and at what price, so that we can inventory properly in those particular distribution locations,” he said. “We listen to the feedback from the market, from the sales team, and from the customer service team, which tells us when a project is coming down the pike.”
PerfectVision traces its roots back to the manufacture, distribution and installation of the 10-foot satellite dishes that could be found in backyards in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Following the short-lived era of free satellite TV, the company began distributing and installing DirecTV’s much smaller satellite dishes, as well as managing its assets, including digital video recording, and manufacturing its cables.
Eight years ago, PerfectVision decided to expand into the wireless macro tower world and create a steel fabrication unit and began to distribute equipment for other manufacturers in the wireless space.
Today, PerfectVision is involved in manufacturing, sales, and distribution for the satellite, broadband, wireless, wireless infrastructure and telecommunications industries. “We pride ourselves in being a resource to any company that is transmitting and receiving either a voice, video or data signal or any combination of the three,” Pleibel said.
On the wireless infrastructure side, PerfectVision supports all aspects of telecom network infrastructure from design to deployment, specializing in steel components, structural modifications, passive DAS and fiber optic solutions. It has about a dozen private brands for which it manufactures 5,000 parts for antenna mounting solutions. Additionally, PerfectVision also distributes for about 200 manufacturers, from mounts, cables and antennas to connectors, fiber-optic solutions, and test and measurement.
“PerfectVision sells those products to commercial carriers, general contractors, WISP’s and all the way down the food chain to the subcontractor of the subcontractor,” Pleibel said.
FCC Commissioner Carr Visits PerfectVision. More on that here.
“I love the diversity of the supply chain in some markets allowing for localized or regionalized freedom to choose suppliers.” Pleibel said. “In some markets, the end customer buys direct, and in other markets, it is the General Contractor. And, in other markets, it’s a blend of the two. From the sales side of things, that keeps it really exciting because you’re constantly chasing the influencer or the decision maker or who’s actually the buyer. We have the opportunity to engage at every level.”
The macro cell site market continues to grow for PerfectVision, and it invested into the design and manufacture of sector frames and monopole mounts. “We’ve invested a lot, because we firmly feel that the macro side has a long future still coming,” Pleibel said.
“The forecast for small cell deployments can be challenging,” he said. “We believe small cells are going to be a vital part of deployment ecosystem, but they are not distinct in terms of growth in infrastructure. Investments are still heavy in macro and mid-band as well as small cell deployments.”
The FCC’s allocations of spectrum in the mid-band have been a positive for PerfectVision, according to Pleibel, because as carriers add antennas and add radios, it creates demand for PerfectVision’s mounts and other tower components. In particular, PerfectVision is projecting sales increases because of the loading that will come as a result of the C-band auction.
To meet the mid-band market opportunities, PerfectVision will be launching a new macro tower mount before the end of the year, which will increase the safety of the installer and increase the speed of the install.
“It is a double advantage,” Pleibel said. “The faster it installs, the quicker the tower techs can get off the tower. The mount must be able to handle the loading that is being required, present and future. We’ve designed to meet both.”
For more information about PerfectVision, visit https://www.perfect-vision.com/.
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