Customer Service Is Key for West Side Company

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – If you don’t know where S T Sales Inc. is, you could easily drive by and miss it.

The no-frills, beige cinder block building at 1195 Salt Springs Road reflects the business practices and old-school values of the painting, abrasive blasting and pressure washing equipment sales and service company’s owners.

“I take care of everybody,” said Mike Moon, who owns the business with his sister, Theresa Moon. “I like to help people. I think that should be your main thing in life, to help people.”

To that end, customer service is everything. If a contractor’s equipment breaks down, S T either has the part to fix it or will order it. Mike can repair almost anything and can usually walk a customer through how to fix it themselves.       

“The more people you help, the more people want to help you,” Theresa pointed out. “And we try to treat everybody like we want to be treated.”

That’s how they were raised.

S T Sales sells and services painting, abrasive blasting and pressure washing equipment.

“And we repair everything we sell,” Mike said. “We also are a warranty center for a lot of the hand tool manufacturers…”

That includes Ryobi, DeWalt, RIDGID, Stanley, Porter-Cable and Black and Decker. They fix just about everything, Mike Moon explained.

How It Started

Their father and uncle started the venture in 1984 as a car repair shop. Their uncle had worked at Youngstown Spray in the 1970s and 1980s but left that job and came to work full time at the repair business.

“He was more like a silent partner with my dad and a lot of the customers from there came over here,” Mike said. “They wanted their spray guns fixed and sandblasters fixed. So during the day, I was working on cars, and at night, I was fixing spray guns and sand blasters and stuff like that.”

Both of the Moons were in high school at the time. Theresa started part time and began working there full time in 2000. She learned by doing.

It didn’t take long to realize they were making more money fixing that equipment than cars and in 1987, they switched the business to spray and industrial equipment sales and service.

They’ve weathered a lot of storms. In the earlier days, many of their customers were house painters. When the housing bubble burst, those businesses shut down. The reduction of manufacturing businesses in the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys also cut into their customer base. One year, three companies with which S T did business declared bankruptcy, owing the small business money.

The Moons’ entrepreneurial spirit comes from their late father. He didn’t want his children to have to work for anyone else.

“His thing was he had to punch a time clock his whole life and he didn’t want us to have to do that,” Theresa Moon said. “That’s a double-edged sword because it’s great to be your own boss.”

But it’s also challenging, she added

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” Mike noted.

Diversification

They learned to adjust and to diversify their business. Besides the Salt Springs Road building, S T Sales thrives online. 

“We learned this from the steel mills because we’re the last generation whose fathers and uncles worked in the steel mills,” Theresa Moon said. “You don’t put all your eggs in one basket. It’s not just painting equipment. It’s not just abrasive blasting equipment. It’s not just pressure washing equipment. It’s all those things together.”

It also meant growing the ways they reach customers.

“You don’t just sell on eBay,” she said.  “You’ve got a brick and mortar store. You sell on eBay. You sell on Shopify. You’re on Tiktok, on Amazon.” 

Mike ventured into eBay in the late 1990s after learning about a friend’s success with the platform. It was a way to sell equipment and parts sitting on the shelf that had been ordered for other customers and never picked up. It became a successful part of the business, reaching people in other countries and across the United States. 

Mike Moon built a website and expanded the business to other online platforms. It paid off. About 75% of sales are online. 

But several Valley companies including Dearing Compressor, Baird Brothers, CNC Machining and Warren Fabricating as well as townships and municipalities buy equipment and/or have it repaired at S T.

They also see walk-in customers, usually individuals bringing in tools for repair. 

That diversification also includes products Mike has refined and manufactured that he sells on Amazon. One, called a Quad-Rod, is a long-range nozzle that shoots up to 50 feet, eliminating the need for its user to climb on a ladder. He 3D prints them.

Another product, called a Moon Missile, is a long-range pressure washer shooter tip. 

The Siblings

S T Sales used to employ additional workers but as the economy and the business shifted, the company reconfigured to just the siblings. He handles sales and repairs. She does administrative work, purchasing, shipping and receiving. Only 11 months separate the brother and sister and their personalities balance each other out. With the exception of legal and accounting work, they do everything in house.

“I’m not going to pay someone for something I can do myself,” Mike offers.

That stems from their upbringing too. Their parents’ families had little money as they were growing up so as adults, they didn’t like to spend it. If something like a washing machine broke, their dad, Scott, and Mike would take it apart, figure out the problem and fix it.

“I’ve always been good at repairing things since I was a child,” Mike Moon said. “That’s like my God-given talent. I can fix stuff.”

More About the Business

It’s gotten to a point where if a customer calls with a malfunctioning tool or broken piece of equipment, Mike can walk them through how to fix it over the phone. He’s self taught. His junior and senior years of high school, he attended Choffin Career and Technical Center, studying industrial electronics.

“And one of the parts of industrial electronics is diagnosis of stuff, and that gave me the basics to learn how to diagnose,” Mike Moon said. “And you could, as a general rule of thumb, you could use that across everything. There’s a general step to diagnose problems.”

The warranty work started with a phone call. A representative from one of the major tool companies, learned about Mike’s service skills, contacted him and asked if he’d be interested in being the authorized repair center. They inked an agreement and that company refers customers with problems to Mike.

“That’s another thing — there aren’t that very many people that do that,” Theresa added. “We’re getting things shipped to us from New York, New Jersey. Lawnmowers — people put lawn mowers in boxes. It’s nothing for the UPS guy to back up with four or five boxes in the back of the truck.”

Customers’ Google reviews show satisfaction with the company’s skills and service.

“All of them are five star and I think more than half of them mention me by name,” Mike Moon said.

The reviews reference the company’s quality customer service, competitive prices, quick responses and Mike’s personal touch. 

“That means a lot,” Theresa said. “That’s a good legacy.”

Pictured at top: Siblings Mike and Theresa Moon own S T Sales, a painting, abrasive blasting and pressure washing equipment sales and service company on Salt Springs Road.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.