Featuring expert guidance on Paccar and Cummins engine technologies and training on how to best connect with customers to drive sales, this week’s Used Truck Association (UTA) training event at Peterbilt’s Denton, Texas, facility was a success.
The event kicked off Wednesday and featured sales training guidance from Tom Niesen at Sales Made Easy on DISC assessments, and buyer personality types, as well as a presentation from National Truck Protection on selling equipment protection plans, with guidance designed for used truck dealers to maximize their sales capabilities.
Wednesday’s schedule also featured the highlight of the event, a tour of Peterbilt’s Denton facility. Attendees were granted access to see how the highest residual value Class 8 trucks on the market are produced. Attendees also were able to ask questions about how the trucks are assembled to better understand how they operate, and how to intelligently sell and service the equipment in the used truck sector.
Thursday’s training shifted its morning focus to engines. Patrick Tiernan, Peterbilt director of field service, kicked off the day with a detailed presentation on Paccar’s EPA 2017, 2021 and 2024 engine families, as well as its forthcoming model year 2024 CARB-certified products.
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Tiernan focused his presentation on the hardware and software differences between the engine families, touching on newer components and innovations that are slowly penetrating the used truck space. He also detailed how used truck dealers can use new solutions to solve service issues found in older engines that already have used truck market proliferation.
Cummins’ Ken Buchheit was next. The company’s regional sales manager walked dealer attendees through Cummins’ product family (available through Paccar brands and industry wide). Buchheit showcased efficiency solutions Cummins has brought to market in recent years, as well as improvements to Cummins’ warranty and extended performance packages. Buchheit also touched on Cummins’ recently expanded natural gas product family, addressing how the solutions enable near zero emissions with little aftertreatment technology. He said the technology has viability in some markets but is not without challenges. Dealers and customers should research the technology before investing — in the new or used truck space.
“You want to get into [natural gas], there are a lot of questions to ask,” he said.
[RELATED: NACFE says natural gas has promise, but not perfect alternative solution]
The training event concluded with more guidance from Niesen. He started the afternoon by having all attendees engage in a group quiz using questions written by the attendees after Wednesday’s training. He said the exercise was illuminating because it further showcased how personality and body language impact communication. He said all sales communication should move a sale forward. Niesen said there’s many ways to move a sale toward its conclusion, but all conversations should be built around ground rules, or “up-front contracts,” which are verbal agreements between both parties about where they are in the sales process at the beginning of a meeting, and where they intend to be at the end.
“What we’re looking for is mutual agreement,” he said.
Niesen also addressed how those up-front contracts should be developed differently based on a customer’s DISC assessment. Successful salespeople toggle their approach based on a customer’s needs to ensure an up-front contract is beneficial to both parties.
For more information on future UTA in-person and virtual training events, go to the UTA website.
