Name: Tri State Truck Sales (Tenn., Ark. & Miss.)
About: Tri-State was selected as the Mack National Distributor of the Year for two out of the last three years (2010 and 2012). In order to sell more trucks, Tri-State is currently running two high-rise sleeper demos with potential customers all over their AOR. These sales have been running for less than one month and already have led to some new sales for the company.
Environmental or “going green” efforts: Tri-State Truck Sales is currently using their waste oil to heat the buildings in the winter at all seven of their locations. Their new facility in Jackson, Miss. was built around efficiency in heat and air, water and sewage usage. Tri-State uses a shredder company and recycles all at all locations.
Community involvement: In lieu of exchanging holiday gifts, each Tri-State location takes up a collection for a local charity of their choosing and the company matches the donation. This adds up to about $10,000 a year. They are also a major supporter of La Rose Elementary in Memphis, Tenn., providing a variety of aid ranging from providing Christmas gifts to purchasing a washer and dryer. Tri-State has been a long-time supporter of the Boy Scouts of America and continues that support today.
Staff education and training/customer education: Tri-State’s parts and service sales have been on the rise for the last two years. Last year, all-time records for monthly sales in parts and service departments in multiple months were broken. They go above and beyond the training required by the manufacturer for parts and service every year. Tri-State also brings in vendors to give their parts and service employees a chance to learn and ask questions about offered products. Cookouts for a vendor showcase are a great way to create these spaces for Tri-State employees to learn. These events are often well-attended by customers as well. Tri-State service departments frequently combine with sales employees to conduct driver trainings and shop tech training for new and current customers.
Tri-State salesmen go to every training required for the Bulldog Club, a program that incentivizes Mack dealer sales professionals to be Mack product experts. They also conduct some extra in-house sales training several times a year when they bring all salesmen to headquarters and review sales techniques and successes.
Customer relations info: Tri-State is always working to improve their relationships with their standing customers and to cultivate new customers. Over the last few years, Tri-State has been conducting a few customer cookouts each year at customer locations. This has been a successful way for Tri-State to build relationships with customers.
