Benito Bustamante: "It's All About the Customer"
Benito Bustamante, Warehouse Manager pictured on the right. Lalo Tovar, Warehouse Supervisor, on the bottom leftWhile going to school at Loyola studying to become a dentist, Benito Bustamante worked part time for a pharmaceutical distributor that Ben Arkes used to buy from. After building up a relationship, Ben offered Benito a summer job position with Hinda.
Thirty years later, Benito is still employed by Hinda. When he first started as a summer employee, did he think he’d still be here thirty years later? “Not for a heartbeat,” says Bustamante.
“Thirty years later I look back and ask ‘Did I make the right decision?’ I know I did. It’s gone by fast!”
Benito’s first responsibilities as a Hinda employee involved testing Weather Alert equipment used by farmers and seed companies they did business with. Over time, Hinda’s business picked up substantially with products from calculators to other electronics booming in popularity. The more popular and in demand the electronic products became, the more work Benito had to do. Eventually, the growth of Hinda required the need of a warehouse manager, so current Hinda CEO Michael Arkes offered Benito the job as the Warehouse Manager.
According to Benito, the growth of Hinda “has been incredible.” Some things haven’t changed though, which are things that have kept him around all these years.
“The number one thing I love around here is the focus on the customer. There’s no hidden agenda. It’s all about the customer.”
Benito talks about how his job description when he began working at Hinda was to exceed customer expectations from a delivery standpoint. He says that every year since he began working for Hinda, Hinda’s looked for ways to make it better. “We are always looking to improve the customer experience at every front.” Many of these new improvements have come by way of new technologies, moving from taking orders by phone, to faxes, to today’s internet.
Benito talks about how Hinda has helped enhance the tools he uses to help grow the company and bring more value to the customers. “Hinda’s goal is to become the undisputed leader in the incentive industry by embracing new technology.”
The philosophy that Hinda was founded upon, exceeding customers’ expectations, has been the pinnacle of Hinda’s focus all these years. A philosophy that Benito Bustamante believes in.