Blogs
Darwin-proofing your business
If you want to see what an archaic business model that relies primarily on one market segment can do to your business, pick up a newspaper.
For years, newspapers have built their business on solid 30-plus percent margins by leveraging an audience they couldn’t guarantee against advertisers in search of a captive audience.
For years, it ...
We want to hear from you
If you’re a regular reader of Truck Parts & Service, you should know about our Distributor of the Year award.
Created in 2002, the Distributor of the Year 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 ...
First quarter train wreck not necessarily an anomaly
So we got through a universally stinky first three months of 2013. Don’t wipe your brow and relax with the idea that now ‘everything will return to normal’. News flash! This is normal.
There are plenty of coming disruptions that can already be seen, like 2013 tax law revisions ...
Making use of old parts and down time
Inventory management can be tricky.
Unless you sell beer and potato chips on Super Bowl Weekend, you never really know how many – or what kind – of anything you’re going to need at any given time.
Shelved inventory complicates cash flow.
Not enough inventory complicates customer service.
I’ve always tended to ...
Volume Speaks Volumes, Especially When Economies Slow Down
Here are three key ways dealership OES programs, national ‘chains’ (FleetPride or NAPA in a local market) or Internet parts sales sites are impacting independent distributors’ financial results:
Margins are squashed: Even when the independent distributor wins bids against ‘national’ competitors, it still feels the larger entity’s influence. Locals ...
Tipping Point
This month marks 45 years since Bud Reese and Jim Moss got together to form the Council of Fleet Specialists (now CVSN).
That event was a watershed moment because it was the first formal acknowledgment of the unique business problems and opportunities shared by independents in the heavy-duty field. ...
Spring clinics provide learning opportunities
The seasons are changing. The aftermarket event seasons, that is.
As winter rolls into spring, convention season also is coming to an end, being replaced by a busy spring slate of training and educational sessions for aftermarket businesses.
Here is just a short list of available educational seminars and clinics ...
Weighing your options
Options are great, right?
Coke or Pepsi? Blue Cheese or Ranch? Baked potato or fries?
Those are the good kinds of options.
Options are for the benefit of the consumer.
If you’re the provider, options are the noose around your checkbook.
In the parts and aftermarket business, options vary by brand affiliation and ...
Help yourself by helping your customers
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) program was less than a month old when I began working at Truck Parts & Service. From my first week on the job, it was clear the subject was going to matter.
The program forever changed the way ...
Downtime: The constant headache
Downtime. If we were to rank bad words to fleet managers, it’s an easy top five representative. Depending on the fleet, it could be the top dog. It’s one of those words, and situations, no one wants to deal with.
But it happens, a lot.
One of the best things ...
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