Over the next few weeks, TPS will share in-depth conversations with this year's seven nominees, detailing how they found their way to the truck dealer business, how they've navigated the industry, their efforts to lead their businesses and more. These conversations will lead up to the announcement of the 2024 ATD Truck Dealer of the Year Award, which will be announced Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, at the ATD Show in Las Vegas by Procede Software CEO Larry Kettler and TPS Editor Lucas Deal.
These questionnaires begin with Paul Burk, executive vice president of Doggett Freightliner, headquartered in San Antonio.
Paul Burk, Doggett Freightliner; 2024 ATD Truck Dealer of the Year Nominee
How did you get into the truck dealer industry?
After graduating from Missouri State University in May of 1993, I immediately started looking for a job. It was a very tough job market and after some searching and help from Missouri State’s career center I was hired by Enterprise Rent a Car. Enterprise was a great start for me. They had fantastic training and taught me how to sell damage waivers and how to provide great customer service. At this time, Enterprise would pick customers up at their home or business and bring them back to the rental office and put them in their rental car.
One day I picked up a lady that worked at KCR International and brought her back to the rental office. As I was finishing up the rental and she was about to leave she told me that KCR was looking for a marketing representative and she thought I would be a great person for that position and gave me the person’s name and number to contact. The next day I reached out to that person and he explained to me what the position was and invited me in for an interview. I interviewed and was really excited about the opportunity because it was 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday came with a company car, cell phone, office and a better income than Enterprise.
[RELATED: See who else is up for the 2024 ATD Truck Dealer of the Year Award]
I followed up weekly but did not hear anything back regarding the position. I was afraid I may have followed up too much but when I got the job they told me they picked me because I followed up more than anyone else and felt that was important to this position.
How have you risen in the industry and your company to reach where you are today?
When I first came into the trucking industry I knew nothing about it. My first job in the trucking industry was with KCR International at their Springfield Mo., location as a marketing representative. I remember making one of my first customer cold calls and having a customer tell me his carburetor had gone out on his big semi-truck. When I got back to the dealership I immediately went to the service manager Arland Wilkerson and told him. Arland started laughing and said “Paul that customer is just messing with you, diesel trucks don’t have carburetors.”
Arland mentored me from the day I started and showed me how to be successful and build relationships. Arland also referred me to my next job with Central Detroit Diesel. This was definitely a step up from my position at KCR.
At Central Detroit Diesel in Springfield Mo., I was an on-highway sales representative supporting the first electronic diesel engine, the Detroit Series 60. I would call on and support all the local truck dealerships and spent a lot of time at Prime Inc. updating software and programming engines. In this position I started making many lifelong relationships.
When I look back, it is amazing how almost everyone I met in the trucking industry embraced me and treated me like family. While at a training class in Detroit, I was approached about moving to Richmond, Va., to be the On-Highway Sales Territory Manager for Western Branch Detroit Diesel. The income was double what I was making but Virginia was a long way away from Springfield Mo., and I didn’t know anyone that lived there. I confided in a corporate Detroit Diesel representative and he gave me great advice I will never forget. He told me the higher your income, the next company that wants you will have to pay more to get you. I was young and single so I packed up and moved. I loved Richmond and made many more lifelong friends. Western Branch was a great company and Herb Haneman the owner was a phenomenal person to work for.
I never thought I would leave Richmond, but after a little over two years I got a call from Glenn Larson, the owner of Peterbilt of Springfield. I got to know Glenn while working in Springfield Mo., at Central Detroit Diesel and looking back when I told Glenn I was moving to Virginia, he said, “I didn’t know you were looking to change jobs,” and I remember telling him I wasn’t I just got approached with an offer that was too good to turn down.
When Glenn called he asked me if I was ready to move home. I responded ‘I really like Virginia but what do you have in mind?” Glenn told me he would like for me to come sell Peterbilts for him and then grow into his sales manager. I couldn’t say no to Glenn and moved back to Springfield. I credit this move as one of the best decisions of my career because Glenn took me under his wing and mentored me for the next seven years. I think the world of Glenn and he is definitely the best salesman I have ever met. Glenn taught me how to sell and how important relationships are. Glenn also taught me that when I made a mistake to raise my hand and acknowledge it, that way we can fix it and learn from it. I teach that to my team to this day. Since I left Glenn, he has grown his company into the second largest Peterbilt group in the nation.
While at Peterbilt it did not take me long under Glenn’s supervision to become the top salesman and move into the dales manager position. While at Peterbilt I built more lifelong relationships and graduated from the ATD Dealer Academy in March of 2000. Don Christenson owner of Christenson Transportation and Darrel Wilson owner of Wilson Logistics are two customers from Springfield that have played a major role in my personal growth. I have watched, learned and been mentored by both. I also met my wife Racheal while working for Peterbilt in October 2000.
After seven years at Peterbilt, I was approached to be general manager of Wick’s Truck Trailers in Springfield Mo Gayle Wickersham is the owner and was another phenomenal person to work for. Gayle is just a fantastic person and joy to be around. I took this job because it was my next step in my career to move from sales manager to general manager. I learned a lot in my short time at Wicks about the trailer industry.
After a short time at Wick’s I got a call from Charlie Bowen, the owner of ATC Freightliner.
Charlie had heard about me from Don Christenson (Christenson Transportation). Charlie wanted me to be his general manager at his Fort Worth location. The Fort Worth store had been an issue for Charlie for several years and struggled to sell any new equipment. Charlie invited my wife and I to his house and quickly impressed us. Charlie is another special person I think very highly of; Charlie helped me get to where I am today.
In March of 2003 I moved to Fort Worth, Texas. Charlie was great at sales but he was better at parts and service. Charlie knew fixed ops and had an amazing team around him. Charlie invested in 20 Groups, which I actively participated in for several years. I also think highly of 20 Groups and believe they are an invaluable tool for training your managers. I completely changed the management and sales team at Fort Worth Freightliner and over 11 years grew to be one of ATC’s top performing locations.
While with ATC Freightliner I was embraced and mentored by many amazing people. One person in particular is Pat Johnson, who ran used trucks for the entire group. Pat mentored me a lot while I was at ATC Freightliner.
At this point in my life I had seven years of the best sales training from Glenn Larson and 11 years of the best fixed operation training from Charlie Bowen. These are two of the best and working for their organizations set me up for success running the Doggett Freightliner Group.
In mid-2013, I received a call from another good friend and mentor I got to know while working for ATC Freightliner. Gerald Chunn, former owner of the Lonestar Freightliner Group and former Freightliner dealer council chairman. Gerald advised me he was working with a company that was in the process of buying some dealerships and wanted to introduce me because he felt I was the right person to run the truck division. This company was Doggett Enterprises in Houston Texas owned by Leslie Doggett.
[RELATED: Doggett Freightliner wins 2019 Successful Dealer Award]
Leslie owns one of the largest John Deere Construction and Forestry Dealer Groups in the United States along with Toyota Lift, Link Belt and multiple car dealerships. Leslie needed someone to run the Freightliner dealerships he was purchasing. When I met Leslie and found out which dealerships he was purchasing, I knew immediately I could make a huge impact for him. I loved Fort Worth and hated to leave but I had grown comfortable and had built a team that had been performing at top levels for years. I was ready for a new challenge and moved to San Antonio to run the Doggett Freightliner Group.
This new challenge proved to be a challenge. I didn’t realize how much more I was going to learn the next 10 years building Doggett Freightliner to what it is today. The stores we acquired did not have any solid management or policies and procedures and needed major changes. San Antonio and Laredo were the first two Freightliner stores followed by Pharr Texas in December of 2013, El Paso Texas in 2014 and three Arkansas locations in 2018.
In 2019 we acquired Truck Enterprises, the Western Star Dealer in El Paso (now Vernon Gene’s) and the Great Dane trailer franchise for south Texas. In 2021 we acquired the Western Star and Autocar franchises from Grande Truck Center along with Wofford Truck Parts with locations in El Paso and Pecos, Texas, and Carlsbad, N.M. Most recently in December 2021 we acquired three Freightliner locations in Austin Texas.
In 10 years running the Doggett Freightliner group we have been able to increased our annual revenue from approximately $50 million to right at a $1 billion. Each location purchased had been neglected for years and needed a major overhaul to meet my standards along with Freightliners. Leslie has been another huge influence on me along with Brian McLemore our CEO.
What I love about Leslie is how empowering he is. Leslie told me when I first started for him “run it like you own it.” Leslie and Brian have empowered me and supported me to make decisions I needed to make to improve the company and our customer service. Whenever I need support Leslie and Brian are there to provide it. Another thing I love about Leslie is he really values his relationship with the manufacturers we represent, Leslie embodies what true partnership really means. Leslie also truly values all his employees from the top to the bottom.
What do you like most about being a truck dealer?
The lifelong relationships I have made with customers, dealers, vendors, manufacturers and employees. I have been fortunate to have been mentored by many in the truck industry from when I first started, and to this day I try to stay in contact with as many as I can. I have worked in the truck industry in the Midwest, East Coast and south Texas and have thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the different people and cultures in our industry.
Being in south Texas, I have been very involved in the Hispanic trucking community and developed some great friendships. In our industry I think of our customers as a partner or friend. We need each other to be successful and this can lead to a great relationship.
Describe your leadership style. How do you pilot your business?
Empowering and Mentoring. I empower my managers and employees to do their jobs without micro managing them. I believe you have to let your managers lead and run their area of the operation as if they own it. Same goes for frontline employees. By not micro managing them, but by mentoring them, you create more self-confidence, personal growth and job satisfaction. I have been told by employees they don’t feel like a number; they feel like they are part of the company. I believe this is very important and vital to creating a winning culture at all our locations.
I pilot the business by creating a winning culture at all locations and this comes down to identifying the right leader. Being able to identify internally or attract high quality managers to lead the company is the key to success. Without the right leader you will never create the right culture. I learned early in my career employees don’t leave the company, they leave their manager.
What do you believe is the most important skill for a truck dealer?
Listening to your customers is the most important skill. Customers are why we are in business. Every time I visit customers, especially in new markets I ask them what we are doing wrong, what are our competitors doing we are not and what could we do to better serve you. I have never had a customer not answer those questions.
Another very important skill along with listening to your customers is being able to manage the conflicting needs and relationships of the customer and your OEM partner. Most customers consider the dealer the OEM so you never want to negatively portray your OEM to your customers.
How have you cultivated that skill?
By listening to our customer’s needs and focusing on becoming a total solutions group to our customers. We look at all options to accommodate our customer’s needs from training, mobile technicians, custom parts stocking/shipping, technicians domiciled at customer shops, breakdown service and more. Anything that makes sense to help us improve our customer’s operation we will do it.
I value our relationship with our customers and OEM. By having a strong relationship with the OEM it enables us to be an even better dealer for our customers.
How do you differentiate your business from your competitors?
By creating a customer focused culture at all our locations that provides the best customer service and support in the industry.
What is the most difficult part of your job?
Hiring, finding quality people to fill our employment needs.
How does ATD help you run your business?
Metrics and benchmark guides provided by ATD enable us to look at our operations with fresh eyes and accurately analyze areas where we have room for improvement and growth. We compare our results to ATD guidelines on a monthly basis, using it as radar to see where we are headed and what areas may need attention. ATD also helps us see how we are performing in relation to our OEM equivalent dealers around the country as well as show us how we rank versus our competing OEMs.
We also use ATD resources for educational purposes. It’s one thing to see that your parts department should be at a certain margin on gross profit; it’s another to learn what you could be doing in order to make that happen. Doggett has utilized ATD’s classes and online seminars as a way to continuously improve how we operate. Additionally, we have hired ATD graduates in key positions, and sent two general managers through the academy within the past year. We are also active in ATD 20 Groups. All of those actions are driven by the need to be the best in the business, and ATD provides the training and exposure to industry leaders that helps us grow and progress.
Finally, as we look toward the future of both trucking and dealership operations, ATD provides an effective avenue for Doggett to become more active in helping lobby and shape how government can support our growing industry in a positive way. It is important for us to be able to lend our voice to the other groups taking action. We appreciate ATD giving us the opportunity to do so.
Why do you believe you were nominated for the ATD Truck Dealer of the Year Award?
Because I am the leader of the Doggett Truck Group and managed the operations as it has grown from two locations to 18 locations with combined annual sales of approximately $1 billion.
I recruited and built the entire leadership team that has overseen this growth. This growth has been a full overhaul of the operating procedures and processes at all locations. This includes management changes in all areas of the business. Every acquired location was a non-performing location and poorly served the national dealer network. Many locations were blacklisted by major fleets. These locations have now been transformed into top-performing stores providing the best customer experience in the industry. We are now considered one of Daimler’s strongest performing dealer groups in the nation.
