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Home > Products > Advantage > Success: Best Electric and Hardware Co.

Success Story

Best Electric and Hardware Co.: Keeping the Family Business Competitive Through Innovation

When Best Electric and Hardware was founded by Leroy and Sharon Welborn in 1977, it was the culmination of nearly a quarter century’s work in the electrical field.

After Leroy graduated from Texas A&M University in 1956 with an engineering degree, he would spend the next 20 years at two Texas-based electrical companies, Square D and McGraw Edison. Leroy decided to go into business with his wife and bought a small two-man shop in Tulsa known as Best Electric Company.

30 years later, Best Electric is thriving. Still family-owned and operated, Best has carved out a niche in the affluent Brookside area of Tulsa. Best Electric has kept its clientele away from the big box retailers with a combination of top quality service and selection, including high-end Baldwin tools and Hinkle brand cutlery.

Seizing the Day for Success

Like most, the Welborns’ success comes from a combination of hard work, good business sense — and most importantly, seizing every opportunity to improve their operation.  Five years after purchasing Best Electric, the Welborns bought an adjacent building to double their original 1,500 square feet. The move also allowed them to branch out from basic retail and build a profitable pro-dealer sideline in industrial and commercial accounts. As a result, what was once a three-person operation swelled to a total of 18 employees by 1985.

As the information age was dawning, the Welborns were quick to realize the potential for growth through computers. Best Electric and Hardware bought their first computer system in 1989. But soon after the purchase, the Welborns realized that their new system had serious limitations. Undeterred, the Welborns carefully planned another investment in technology, determined not to make the same mistakes the second time around.  And after exhaustive research of several systems, they switched over to Advantage in January 1994.

And they weren’t disappointed.  “Advantage is great,” Leroy says today.

According to Leroy, the main reason for their decision Advantage’s combination of versatile features and low price.  "It's a lot cheaper,” he says. “You can get a lot more with less money than the others we looked at."

But the system’s greatest benefit, he says, is the inventory management. “[Advantage inventory] helps us do everything. Those features alone let the system pay for itself.”

Innovation, A Family Philosophy

First and foremost, Best Electric is a family business. Leroy serves as president of the company, and Sharon runs the payroll and receivable, working almost as many hours as Leroy himself. “Without her, there wouldn’t even be a Best Hardware,” he says.

Best Electric’s owners are always looking for ways to improve their business with the technology resources they have.  Throughout the 1990s, Leroy and Sharon attend every session of the Advantage Academy classes in Big Sandy, Texas. “Every time, we learned more about what the program can do for our business.”

And as the current owners make progress with their business, the future owner is making progress of his own: the Welborns’ son, Greg, has followed in his father’s footsteps at Texas A&M and received an engineering degree several years ago. He and his father have arranged a five-year plan for Greg to buy the family business.

And though they’re of different generations, all members of Welborn family share the same business philosophy: give high quality service to every customer, and never hesitate to tackle a new opportunity. It is this policy that has made Best Electric and Hardware so successful over three decades in business. And with the support of technology provider that has been in business just as long as they have, the Welborns feel confident that this philosophy will see the family business through the next thirty years.

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