Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/782919
28 Sales & Marketing TransAxle is a specialty distributor, but for the product categories they serve, Ferry says there's virtually nothing they can't do. Each training session helps reiterate that. "We are still in a relationship-type business. We want our customers to be able to trust who they are dealing with," he says. "We get a tremendous amount of requests for training," adds Dole. "We have training vans that move from region to region to provide training directly to customers at 'Fleet Night' type events." Any event that brings customers into your facility is worth considering, adds Klein. Inland Truck Parts has been hold- ing training events across the Great Plains for years. Klein says the focused events are a great way to build customer loyalty. But they aren't the only option for growing sales. He says facility open houses — scheduled around customer availability — also have proven to be great showcases for Inland's inventory and services. "Seems like there's always a customer who has never come to our facility that will come [to an open house], and invariably they'll say, 'I didn't realize you did this,' 'I didn't know you have that,'" Klein says. "You can tell them over and over, but sometimes they have to come in and see it." These events can be enhanced by traditional marketing. Klein says Inland Truck Parts will send print and emailed invitations to customers before events, and Dole says tying events into sales blitzes can deliver customers to a facility prepared to buy. At Westrans, Williams says he tries to partner with suppliers when building any marketing document. He says this helps Westrans promote new products and technology that customers may need to service for the fi rst time. "Technology changes quite dramati- cally," he says. Marketing to new or undiscovered customers isn't quite as easy, but it's not impossible. Klein says Inland Truck Parts will occasionally purchase billboard ad- vertising in new markets as a way to alert customers to their services. Hansen says this is an area where sup- plier-provided leads can be invaluable. If Minimizer provides a distributor a lead on a customer who clearly wants a fender or fl oor mat that enables the distributor to make an easy sale. But if that customer needs those products, at some point they'll need everything else, too. They also might need more fenders and toolboxes, says Hansen. A customer buying one product doesn't necessarily own just one truck. "Once we've sent [the customer] to the distributor, I think it's up to the dis- tributor to collect and use that customer data and start calling on them," Han- sen says. "I think if that customer buys a fender and leaves and a distributor doesn't do anything with that, then that's a real problem. For both of us." Then there's the wildcard: word of mouth. When a customer walks out a distributor's front door, there's no telling who they will tell about their experience. With quality customer service and a fo- cus on solving problems, distributors can give themselves a fair chance at a good reputation. "It sounds overly simplistic but if you can build your reputation — if you have customers who are satisfi ed with you — that's one of the best ways for someone to give you that chance," Klein says. "Anyone can say 'we're the best,' but when a customer says it about you, that goes a lot further." T R U C K P A R T S & S E R V I C E | F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 7 Inland Truck Parts focuses its marketing efforts on driving potential new customers directly into a store, where its team can educate the customer about its wealth of services. Open house events also allow a customer to see the full wealth of products featured in a distributor's warehouse.