Editor's Column
Editorial | Denise L. Rondini
A Brand New Year
By Denise L. Rondini
drondini@randallreilly.com
or the most part the truck
parts after market did okay
in 2011.
It is nice to see people upbeat for a change. Two years of some
growth have a way of doing that. It
seems like the stars have aligned to
make things a bit easier for distributors and repair garages.
A steady recovery in the general
economy, an aging truck fleet, the
increased cost of new equipment and
even some recent legislation have
combined in a way that means distributors are selling more parts and
repair garages are fixing more trucks.
We all are very pleased about that.
But now is not the time to coast.
I think it is time to move out of
survival mode. Don’t get me wrong,
you still need to maintain a steady
course and keep doing the blocking
and tackling that got you through the
downturn, but you also need to start
looking at ways to grow your business.
There is no silver bullet, as Dave
McCleave, director of aftermarket/
technical service for Hendrickson
International, recently told me.
There is no one thing that will
guarantee that your business will
grow. However, there are areas you
can explore to see if they fit with
your company’s value proposition.
A simple place to start is with
your inventory. Are you carrying not
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only the parts your customers need
but enough of them?
Some of you pared back your
inventory during the downturn and
were reluctant last year to bring the
levels back up.
I am not telling you to go wild
with adding inventory, but remember he who has the part on the shelf
when the customer needs it, wins
that customer. Not only for that sale,
but potentially for future purchases
as well.
that distributors need to add service
of some sort to their portfolio.
Whether that is true or not
remains to be seen, but one thing is
certain it could not hurt distributors
to align themselves with independent repair garages, as some of you
are already doing through your
marketing groups.
Business as usual may get you
through 2012, but the bigger question is will it keep you in the game
long term?
Now is not the time to coast.
You might even want to consider
adding product lines you did not
carry before so you can tie your current customers even more closely to
your business.
If you have put off an investment
in technology, I strongly urge you to
rethink that strategy. Trucks are not
going to get less complex and the
first wave of vehicles with emissions-compliant engines are coming
out of warranty.
If you want a chance at the parts
and service business that comes
along with them, you need to make
sure you have the tools, equipment
and a trained staff in place.
Several of the folks I spoke with
for the cover story were adamant
T R U C K PA RT S & S E R V I C E | J a n u a r y 2 0 1 2
I am guessing it won’t because the
one thing I know about the truck
parts aftermarket is that doing what
you’ve always done is a sure way to
become extinct.
It’s a new year, so take a look at
some new opportunities. I am positive you won’t regret it.
Denise L. Rondini, Executive Editor