Bruce Greer says that’s something he learned almost immediately.
Greer was a veteran of the dealer market when his company, E.M. Tharp, purchased the independent distributor operation Kroeger Equipment and Supply in 2004.
As the company’s general manager, Greer’s first task after the acquisition was to attend the 2004 Council
of Fleet Specialists (CFS) annual meeting and start learning about independent aftermarket distribution.
He still remembers the event like it was yesterday.
“I remember thinking afterward, ‘This was the greatest thing I’ve been to in my life,’” he says. “I’d been on the dealer side for years and I had never seen a group of dealers as willing to talk about their businesses as the aftermarket guys were. It was incredible.”
Greer says everyone he met at that first meeting was friendly, helpful and most importantly, informative. He says he learned as much from his contemporaries at that meeting than he would have in months or a year with a group of dealers.
