How Buy-American Marketing Works for U.S. Pavement Services

“I can’t tell you that we got X number of jobs out of this but we do think we really got more business out of it. We do mention it to our customers and every one of them has said it’s a great idea.”

Musto says his sales force lets each prospect know the company has taken the time and made the effort to research everything the company uses in its business. “So if we’re competitive on price with other contractors and we’re competitive in other ways with contractors bidding a job, we think our Buy American approach puts us at a competitive advantage. It gives us a competitive edge.

Short of everyone buying only American-made goods, Musto says he’d like to at least increase people’s awareness of where the things they buy are made.

“One of the problems in our economy is that we don’t even look at what we are buying, at where it’s made. My wife and I went to buy a bedroom set and I really didn’t even think about it until we pulled into the parking lot. But we decided we weren’t going to buy one that was not made in America. Long story short we didn’t buy a bedroom set that day and we still haven’t because we can’t find one made in America that we like.

“Frankly I think our whole pavement maintenance industry should buy 100% American or as close as they can because as an industry we can really make a big difference,” he says. “I just think it’s the right thing to do – and many of my customers think so too. But the main thing is to get other people to just think about it, to make them realize there are other options.”