Trevor Elliott on the Formation of Mission Technical Solutions and Panduit Partnership

August 18, 2020

By CEW Editorial Team

Mission Technical Solutions is a recently established sales agency founded by industry veteran Trevor Elliott. Panduit announced it would move to an agent representation model across North America earlier this year and named MTS as its Canadian representative, outside of the Atlantic provinces.

In this role, Elliott brings a long history in both supply and electrical distribution in Canada and he and his team are experienced in the Panduit electrical product line. Joining Elliott are Jean Pierre La France, Dennis Wight, Keith McRobbie, Kevin Wilkinson and Paul Stoynich. 

Considering the appointment of Mission Technical Solutions comes as Panduit moves towards an agent rep sales structure, CEW began its interview with Elliott by asking about the decision…

Panduit is a leader in the network and industrial electrical space, what was the motivation behind them moving to an agent sales structure overall and in Canada?

“The motivation behind transitioning the electrical sales team to a rep firm is cost of sale based. Panduit is doubling their efforts in securing a strategic sales force to end-user specification and EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) partnerships. Panduit believes the channel partnerships across North America can be best served by rep agency relationships.”

When did you decide on the concept of Mission Technical Services and how did that evolve?

“When I was asked to help develop multiple new relationships of rep agencies across Canada and work to assist or secure sales positions for the Canadian Panduit team, I quickly realized a couple of things.

One, this was going to be a large task to secure collaboration in multiple rep agents’ line cards. Secondly, this was not in my DNA. I get out of bed every day to coach and lead my team to wins, overcome challenges, and fight for success. We have built a great team and have wonderful relationships across Canada. We have over 100 years of technical and talented support, and taking on our own company allowed us to continue on as a team.”

What’s the Mission and focus?

“The Mission today is to ensure that our new and current customers continue to receive the best support and experience continued growth within the industry. The focus will be to grow our line card and complement the Panduit solution. We wish to stay focused on our channel partners and the business model that has created our mutual success.”

Your background in the Industry from Graybar through to Panduit has spanned 15 years – what do you see moving forward for you and MTS?

“This is yet another chapter where pivoting is of the utmost importance. When handed what some might say is a dire choice of leaving your career “job”, you pivot and make a career “opportunity”. I expect we will add new lines to complement Panduit’s solution and add more sales support in order to continue to grow our business and relationships. The best is yet to come!”

Will you be responsible for sales and marketing of the Panduit line in Canada?

“Yes, that is correct…. along with the agreements our channel partners make directly with Panduit and Panduit’s channel account management team.”

Will you be responsible for technical support?

“We are responsible for technical support along with two direct Panduit Canadian resources that are at our fingertips for deeper dives.”

What’s the scenario with a new product launch?

“We will launch through digital media, webinar team meets and hopefully one day, face to face training and interaction!”

Contact info for the MTS team: