Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/91805
Editorial | Denise L. Rondini Of Pumpkins And Success Selling Truck Parts By Denise L. Rondini, Executive Editor drondini@randallreilly.com talking about ways for small businesses to grow and made an analogy to a pumpkin farmer who grows enormous pumpkins. It is an interesting premise that has I was on a webinar the other day listening to Mike Michalow- icz, author of a book called Th e Pumpkin Plan. Michalowicz was the Year fi nalists a couple of themes emerged: make sure you are executing well on business basics and don't un- derestimate the power of your facilities. I think Point Spring & Driveshaſt 's In chatting with the Distributor of business owners concentrate on their top customers. He calls them the stron- gest sprouts. I have talked about this idea in the past in the context of fi ring unprofi t- able customers. Michalowicz takes a more positive spin, suggesting that you evaluate your customers based on how much business they bring you and what he calls the cringe factor, how dif- fi cult they are to work with. Th en he suggestions you try to fi nd more customers who are like your best customers and that you make sure to give proper attention to them. During the webinar I could not Bill Ryan summed up the importance of business fundamentals to overall business success best: "If you are not doing the basics correctly, you don't have a foundation to build on. If you try to build on a weak foundation, you just don't go anywhere. Th at means things like managing inventories, managing cash fl ow and " facilities as part of their brand. "A store that is pleasant to do business in is part of who we are, blee and Midwest Wheel's Mike Cal- lison and John Minor did so to expand parts showrooms. "Th e showroom allows you to show off everything you have and [let's] us display items customers might not know we stock," Robblee says. I think the thing that ties all these ideas together is that even as business picks up, you can't take your eyes off the fundamentals nor can you aff ord If you want to grow the biggest pumpkin, you need to make sure the environment is right. help but think about the businesses that have been nominated for the 2012 Truck Parts & Service Distributor of the Year: Inland Truck Parts Co., Midwest Wheel Companies, Parts for Trucks, Point Spring & Driveshaſt and Six Rob- blees' Inc. I do not know if the owners of these collecting receivables must get proper and constant attention so they can then be the strong base on which to build your business. And by excelling in business fundamentals you end up putting your business in a stronger position to weather any economy slowdowns. During my interviews, I was sur- businesses subscribe to Michalowicz's theory, but aſt er interviewing them, I do know that all of them are passion- ately committed to their businesses and are taking actions and making changes to make their businesses even better. 2 prised at the number of fi nalists who either had fi nished building new or remodeling existing facilities or were in the process of doing so. Two diff erent reasons were cited for doing so. Some of the distributors like Inland's Dave Scheer and Parts for Trucks' Andy and Paul Raymond say they did so because they view their TRUCK PARTS & SERVICE | November 2012 pumpkin, you need to make sure the environment is right. Th at includes having your accounting house in order, operating fi rst rate facilities, having highly trained employees and utilizing state-of-the-art technology. Do all that and your pumpkins will bring home the blue ribbon. not to bring some new and diff erent ideas to your business. If you want to grow the biggest Others like Six Robblee's Andy Rob- " Andy says. Denise L. Rondini, Executive Editor