By Derek Smith
In 2007 we decided to freshen up the Distributor of the Year award a little. The award was, and is, considered one of the highest honors in the aftermarket – highlighting the top-performing and most innovative distributors as chosen by peers and select industry professionals. So we weren’t out to completely retool it, just tweak it a little.
After all, the award was in its sixth year and like any business venture or plan reaching that age, it was due for a review to make sure it was on track.
I decided to add a little suspense to the announcement of the finalists. Beginning with the June issue, we unveiled one distributor per month through the October issue and culminating with profiles of all five in the November issue. The monthly rollout featured a new question-and-answer style format, with the same set of questions posed to each distributor, providing equal representation of each finalist in a uniform way.
The question-and-answer format also helped ensure readers learned about finalists based on the same criteria, as each distributor answered the same set of questions – including best and worst business decisions, issues affecting the aftermarket, charitable contributions, etc.
All the while, building suspense as to who the five finalists were until the last announcement in October. In November, we featured profiles of all five finalists and these profiles were sent out to the balloting committee to vote on the winner.
This all worked and did result in building suspense.
But editors aren’t distributors and, ultimately, the award is for distributors.
At the last Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week in February, a former Distributor of the Year Finalist and ultimate winner raised an interesting point, one I hadn’t considered.
By keeping our cards close to the vest, putting down one card a month and not revealing our full hand until a few months before the actual winner is announced, we were limiting some finalists’ opportunities to use this honor to promote themselves. While the distributor announced in June would have more than half a year to tout his accomplishment to employees, customers and vendors, the distributor announced in October had a much smaller window in which to do so.
It was recommended to revisit one aspect of the previous procedure and that was to announce the five finalists at once, giving each ample opportunity to bask in and enjoy the honor.
This recommendation came from Marc Karon, president of Total Truck Parts, our 2007 Distributor of the Year. And, since he was announced in the June 2007 issue and had full opportunity to use this honor to his advantage, I have to assume he had only the best interests in mind for future finalists and winners.
Of course, so do we. We’re keeping what worked – the monthly rollout of question-and-answer looks at the finalists and the November issue that features them all – but we’re opening the finalist envelopes a little earlier this year and announcing the distributors here and now.
We’re going back to laying our cards on the table early.
These distributors earned and deserve as many accolades as possible, so please join me in congratulating the 2009 Truck Parts & Service Distributor of the Year finalists:
- Lyle Bass, Power Train,Indianapolis;
- John Bzeta, Fleet Brake, Calgary, Alberta;
- Paul Raymond, Parts for Trucks, Halifax, Nova Scotia;
- Andy Robblee, Six Robblees,Seattle; and
- David Willis, CRW Parts, Inc., Baltimore.
We’re pleased to add these distributors to the proud tradition and high honor that is the Distributor of the Year award.
