At Charlton Group providing a sales team is only the beginning of how they are supporting businesses today. Charlton offers a comprehensive service scope that can be tailored to a variety of needs, including technical sales and marketing, global sourcing, account/program management, supply- chain management, along with support in engineering, design, development, and strategy.
Rob Tiede, who has been with the company since 2004, said “Our highly skilled team understands the needs of business. We work in both automotive and non-automotive industries, and our mission is to serve our clients and customers everywhere and in every way possible to enhance value.” So what does this mean exactly? For starters, Charlton’s full-service breadth extends to warehousing and distribution, through multiple facilities in southeast Michigan. Sales Director Rich May said “We can literally handle everything, that’s what sets us apart.”
In recent years, the organization has also branched into various investment opportunities. Realizing that many companies wanting to scale not only need expertise, but they also need the capital to take them to the next level. The company president, CT Charlton, who took over the role from his father in 2020, said “We’re willing to invest in businesses that we care about and people who we believe in. We’re opportunistic, we don’t have metrics like a larger VC or private-equity firm would. A lot of times, our sales staff, being as skilled as they are, develop these companies a lot faster than they’re poised to do themselves. And so they look for outside capital. And a lot of times, we are that outside capital.” In such investment partnerships Charlton Group brings more than cash to the table. CT said. “We bring a lot of value there. Even if it’s just a passive role, we have some sort of advisory position or we’re assisting in other ways also.” On the sales side, Technical Sales Manager, Tom Beshke, said an important function of Charlton is what he calls “dot connecting,” which he often facilitates between clients (such as manufacturers) and their customers (such as automotive OEMs). “That’s what drives me,” Beshke said. “It’s being able to offer something to a customer that they didn’t know existed, or didn’t know could be solved a certain way. And that’s what a lot of my clients do. They are providing very unique solutions to the marketplace that are solving problems every day. So it’s always nice when all those dots get connected in the right fashion.” Sales Engineer Keegan Reed said he sees Charlton’s role as a solution provider in general. “I’m here to really solve problems,” Reed said. “We’re more than just a sales organization. We provide support and solutions. And we’re here to help businesses grow and also to connect people, so that businesses are closer and they can work together better.”
Charlton’s role as a business developer comes with a number of benefits. Giuseppe de Robertis, a sales manager in the Torino, Italy office, said, "We can shorten the time from potential supplier introduction to approved supplier, which is usually a long, and sometimes painful, process for manufactures." Director of Sales, Tim Tighe, said “Charlton’s clients come from industries beyond just hardware, but software, engineering, and services sectors as well. The Charlton Group is growing.” Tighe added, “If there is any need for help with a product or service we do not represent, we will find a supplier that can help and bring them onboard.”
The organization has grown considerably since its beginning as a manufacturer’s representative, when it simply served as an outsource salesforce for helping suppliers grow. Over the years Charlton Group has morphed into a one-stop shop for supplier growth, and partnerships take on a variety of forms. CT Charlton said “We have some partnerships that are just sales-focused. We have some partnerships that are all of the above. We own them, or we’ve invested in them. We handle their logistics. We handle their warehousing and distribution. We provide engineering support, and we are their salesforce.”