Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/123976
Editorial | Lucas Deal We want to hear from you By Lucas Deal, Editor lucasdeal@randallreilly.com I f you're a regular reader of Truck Parts & Service, you should know about our Distributor of the Year award. Created in 2002, the award recognizes the best of the independent aftermarket — a distributor who exemplifies excellent customer service, product knowledge and willingness to improve and evolve their business with industry changes. A variety of wonderful distributors have been nominated and won the award over the years. Led by Mike Callison and John Minor, Midwest Wheel became the award's first two-time winner when it was named 2012 Distributor of the Year in January, beating out two other former winners and two multi-year nominees. The nomination process has always been key to the program. Since its inception, Distributor of the Year nominees have exclusively been selected by an elite group of North American heavy-duty aftermarket professionals. Every spring these individuals have been asked to nominate multiple distributors they felt exemplified the spirit and essence of a distributor of the year, with the top five candidates being honored as the year's nominees. This year, Truck Parts & Service would like to extend an invitation to join that group to you. We have decided to open our nomination process to our readers, and would like to encourage you to nominate any distributor in the United States or 2 T R U C K PA R T S & S E R V I C E | TPS0513PG002_Editors Column.indd 2 Canada you believe worthy of this prestigious award. You can nominate any distributor you feel is deserving. Who you select doesn't matter as much as why. We want to hear about the best of the best. Let us know who you think deserves a shot at the independent aftermarket's highest honor. Our nomination group has done an excellent job selecting candidates for Distributor of the Year and we trust you to do the same. So let us know who's out there. Let us know who you think deserves a shot at the independent aftermarket's highest honor. We want to hear from you. Our goal here is simple. By opening up the nomination process, we want every distributor in North America to have an equal shot at being honored as a nominee in 2013. We hope to see nominations for distributors who haven't been chosen before and shine a light on their businesses. We hope to see nominations for distributors who have managed to grow and expand during years of economic uncertainty and learn what makes them tick. We hope to see nominations for distributors who excel in customer service, or inventory control, or new workforce innovation. We want to hear about everyone. So let us know. To nominate a distributor, go to www.truckpartsandservice.com and select the nomination link at the top of the homepage. Truck Parts & Service will accept nominations through Friday, June 21, 2013. Once the nomination process is complete, we will release the five finalists online in July. Each reader can nominate up to three distributors, so don't worry about having to choose between your favorites. If they deserve recognition, then they deserve a nomination. And don't worry about past success when you make your nomination. If you think a previous nominee or winner is still the best distributor in the business, nominate them again. (As last year's winner, Midwest Wheel is not eligible for this year's award, but all other 2012 nominees and past winners are. Midwest Wheel will be eligible for the award again in 2014.) This year's Distributor of the Year winner will be chosen by a select panel of industry veterans and the Truck Parts & Service editorial staff. Each finalist also will be profiled in Truck Parts & Service in the fall leading up to the award presentation in January. It is our sincere hope that opening the nomination process for the Distributor of the Year award will provide well-deserved recognition for distributors nationwide. We look forward to your nominations, and encourage everyone to participate. We look forward to hearing from all of you. ■ May 2013 4/23/13 11:28 AM