The age of the trucking industry, like that of many others, is tied to the baby-boomer generation. People in key positions throughout the industry are getting ready to retire and will take decades of knowledge with them. Many of these people are your customers – fleet managers and maintenance directors. John Bzeta, owner of Fleet Brake in Calgary, Alberta, says most of the customers he visits aren’t talking about the future of their companies, but about their future retirement homes. “They’re in the sunset mode,” he says.
Often, there isn’t an experienced replacement for a retired fleet manager or maintenance director. And that’s causing a shake-up in the industry that can lead to opportunities for parts and service providers who play their cards right. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 13 percent more truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists will be needed in 2016 than there were in 2006. An exodus of baby boomers will occur at the same time; the first baby boomer became eligible for Social Security benefits Jan. 1, and 10,000 more per day will become eligible during the next two decades, according to the Social Security Administration.
If you operate a service shop, you know how difficult it is to find and retain qualified technicians. The task is even tougher for fleets. Because maintenance generally doesn’t top fleets’ priority lists – attracting drivers and moving freight are bigger concerns – they’re likely to rely more on distributors or dealerships to provide expertise when their maintenance guru retires.
To earn more business as a result of this trend, there are three things parts and service providers can do, says Bzeta, who has had success with all three. You can offer to train new fleet managers and other maintenance personnel, and to provide additional services to relieve pressure on a staff with limited experience. If you perform repairs and maintenance, you can offer to take over a fleet’s parts and service department. Or you can recommend the fleet outsource its parts and service work to one of your repair-shop customers, who will in turn purchase parts from you. To explain these options, you’ll need to sit down with someone you might not normally talk to – the fleet owner or transportation manager.
As fleets lose knowledgeable maintenance personnel, go out of your way to assist them. Doing so will require your organization to work harder, but it can result in a lot of growth over the next 10 years.
