The five finalists for this year’s Truck Parts & Service Distributor of the Year award again highlight the best of independent aftermarket businesses. These five companies thrive in an ever-competitive and constantly changing economic landscape.
Distributor of the Year finalists are selected from nominations from their peers, suppliers and input from Truck Parts & Service’s editorial staff.
Since the June issue, Truck Parts & Service has revealed one finalist each month through question-and-answer style articles, which are available online at www.truckpartsandservice.com. In this issue, we profile all five distributorships as we take a closer look at how they have grown through the years, the practices and processes that help ensure their future success and how they innovative the aftermarket on a daily basis.
Please join us in congratulating this year’s finalists:
- Mike Betts, Betts Truck Parts and Service, San Leandro, Calif.
- Frank Camerota, Steven Camerota and Salvatore Camerota, Camerota Truck Parts, Enfield, Conn.
- Jerry L. Weis, Christopher J. Sweet, Ott’s Friction Supply, Portland, Ore.
- Dennis Webster, Potter Webster Company, Portland, Ore.
- Charles and Paula Weston, Westpac Heavy Duty Truck Parts, Phoenix.
The winner of the 2008 Truck Parts Distributor of the Year will be announced during the 2009 Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week in Orlando, Fla.
In conjunction with the Distributor of the Year program, Randall-Reilly Publishing, the parent company of Truck Parts & Service, has created the Randall-Reilly Educational Project. Twenty percent of all net display advertising revenue in this issue will be contributed to Northwood University as funding for its Heavy Duty Parts and Service Management Program, a two- or four-year ongoing degree-granting program, that helps cultivate the aftermarket leaders of tomorrow.
Betts Moves Beyond Relationships, Forges Partnerships
Working with customers, suppliers and employees who have similar core values has led to the impressive growth of Betts Truck Parts and Service.
By Denise L. Rondini, Contributing Editor
Everyone in the truck parts aftermarket talks about the importance of relationships. But Mike Betts, president of Betts Truck Parts and Service, is more interested in partnerships.
The distinction is more than just semantics. It is the difference, for instance, between dating and marriage. The mutual investment in the latter arrangement is far greater, as are the rewards when done correctly. Betts’ profound commitment to the shared success of customers, suppliers and employees is inextricably linked to its own prosperity.
Drawing on the 140-year history of its parent company, Betts Spring Co., Betts and his partner Don Devany, senior vice president, have a profound commitment to their customers, suppliers and employees.
In response to customer demand in the late 1970s, Betts Spring Co. moved from manufacturing springs to installing them as well. The company opened its first distribution branch focusing exclusively on suspension parts in 1988 in San Leandro, Calif., at its manufacturing location.
“We quickly grew that location and moved it, and then we expanded into other markets where we already had good customers, brand recognition and respect,” Betts says.
Today Betts Truck Parts and Service operates out of nine locations in California, Arizona and Oregon.
Its newest location is located in San Jose, Calif. Only 30 miles separates the San Jose location from the San Leandro headquarters, but according to Betts, it can take an hour and a half to two hours to get from one to the other. “By opening our San Jose location, we will make deliveries to our customers much quicker and our customers can get to us quicker. We are much more available now.”
In a partnership, each party has responsibilities and Betts sees this as true in the company’s partnerships with its customers. “We greatly value all customers at Betts, but on rare occasions we have found that a customer’s objectives may not be aligned with our values.”
What happens in a circumstance like this is that the partnership becomes “too one-sided and can collapse under the weight of the disparity,” he explains. This might occur in a situation where a customer demands the lowest price on every product they purchase without regard for volume, expertise, fill rates, payment terms, etc. “While we value that customer, that challenge could be something that is not in our wheelhouse. Partnerships with our customers are founded on mutual respect for the need for profitability. Our focus is on adding value and at the same time being competitive.”
The idea of partnerships carries over to Betts’ interactions with component manufacturers. “We distinguish between vendors and suppliers,” Betts explains. “Vendors sell products and suppliers add value.”
Betts has what the company refers to as preferred suppliers. “They understand the importance of establishing long-term partnerships that are premised on optimizing the relationship for mutual growth and profitability. While pricing and inventory investment always are critical elements, a real preferred supplier relationship focuses on total cost reduction for both the manufacturer and the distributor.”
As a result, Betts and its preferred suppliers put a lot of emphasis on ordering cycles, logistics, billing and payment process and “even the more subtle cost drivers.”
Betts says, “It is the total package. Our preferred suppliers understand the value of the partnership with Betts because it is built on trust, integrity and a commitment from both parties to be equally successful and to move in the same direction.”
Firestone’s Jim Carter backs this up, saying, “Betts had the opportunity recently to go with a competitor, but Mike and Don decided that their relationship with Firestone meant more than switching to Brand X for a cost reduction. They are sticking with us for the long haul.” Betts has been a Firestone distributor for 30 years and according to Carter, “they know how to treat people and that includes suppliers. They treat everyone with a lot of respect. If you make a mistake, they give you every opportunity to make it right without jumping up and down and threatening you.”
Dayton Parts also has been a long-time supplier to Betts Truck Parts and Service and the company’s Gary Smalley considers Betts to be a loyal distributor and a partner. In fact, Dayton Parts believes so strongly in the relationship that “we are willing to share some of our strategic initiatives that we have on the drawing board with them. We get their input and guidance on how they see something helping them or benefiting our company.”
He adds, “A partnership is a two-way street and there has to be a willingness to share information and for both companies to be able to do things that will help each other grow their businesses in the future.” Dayton Parts feels it has found this willingness in Betts.
One of the things Betts counts on its preferred suppliers for is training. He believes it is absolutely paramount that Betts’ employees be well trained. When evaluating a supplier, Betts looks at those who have the technology like Webinars and the staff to participate in open houses, field training and customer training. “All aspects of training are very important to Betts Truck Parts and Service,” Betts says.
To evaluate the performance of its suppliers, Betts formed an Inventory Committee. Each year, Betts employees are rotated on and off the committee. “We call it the Inventory Committee, but really it is about supplier relationships and products. This committee evaluates the performance of our suppliers using a set criteria. Training is at the top of the list.
“The committee examines the core values of the supplier and compares those values with the company’s values. Are they in alignment with ours? Obviously they have to have the products and the products have to be good, but it also is about core values being aligned.”
This same concept carries over to the distributorship’s dealings with its bank, insurance provider and other consultants. It also plays a role in Betts Truck Parts and Service’s involvement with HD America. “We are proud of our partnership with HD America. We feel aligned with them. It gets back to our core values of trust and integrity. We have a long standing relationship with HDA and we are honored to be part of it,” Betts says.
“Building Well, Serving Better,” was the motto of Betts Spring Co. founder, William Michael Betts I. And to this day, it is the motto Betts and his staff live by. He explains that his great, great grandfather recognized that anyone could make or ship a truck part and that customers patronize businesses that care about them and respect their business.
Part of the way Betts Truck Parts and Service demonstrates its commitment to its customers is through the empowerment of its employees. “We empower our salespeople, our field people and our counter people to solve the customer’s problem.”
The concept of being part of a team is stressed at Betts Truck Parts and Service. “We establish guidelines for our people and then encourage them to use their own good judgment in solving customers’ problems.”
Betts explains he is not necessarily referring to a customer having a problem with the company, but rather a customer who may be having difficulty identifying a part or one who has some other need that “our customer service and sales people are trained to solve.
“We don’t want them to have to say to the customer ‘I need to call my manager. I will get back to you.'”
He continues, “We want them to have the tools they need to solve problems now. We pride ourselves on doing the right things right; right now. We feel that probably is one of the biggest differentiators between us and more bureaucratic organizations.”
With locations in three states and providing service to six states, Betts is known as the No. 1 suspension specialist in the western United States. “We are known for our vast knowledge, ability to service customers, large inventories and expertise. “We have been serving the suspension market for 140 years, so that makes us unique,” Betts says.
The distributorship carries a little more than 100 product lines and 36,000 inventory SKUs. “Our true focus has been on the lower body applications and complementary service around those products,” Betts says.
“While we never say never at Betts, I don’t think our people see us as being engine specialists because that is not core. We try to expand around our core and that will continue to be our focus.”
To continue to be successful in the future, Betts says the company pursues continuous improvement and that starts by listening to customers. “We will continue to focus on what the customer wants. If we do that and stay true to our core values we will be successful. If you have the people who are executing well everyday and they come to work with passion and a positive attitude, it is hard to lose.”
And Betts Truck Parts and Service is positioning itself for the future. Both Betts and Devany have sons in the business today. “Don has two sons in the business and I have one,” Betts says. “From a succession planning standpoint, we are very excited that we have the young bucks aboard and that they are going to help carry the torch forward.”
It is likely that the next generation to lead Betts Trucks Parts and Service will continue to grow by sustaining the partnerships that already have been developed and by forging new ones.
Specialists in a Specialty Market
Camerota Truck Parts continues to build on its nearly 50-year legacy, using cutting-edge technologies and business principles to serve customers.
By Derek Smith, Editor
Finding a needed niche in the aftermarket and serving it well is a proven formula for success. Growing complacent in that niche and not evolving is a proven formula for failure.
Camerota Truck Parts – boasting growth for the past 47 of its 48-year existence – proves these points on a daily business.
They have prospered, as their company tagline “Driverain Specialists” proclaims, by honing in on a market need. They have maintained their leadership within this role by making sure that tagline is not an empty customer promise. Investment in training and technology, adopting Fortune 500 business philosophies and seizing upon market opportunities keeps Camerota Truck Parts in a constant state of evolution, growth and adaptation to customer needs.
And, given the markets it serves, this not an easy task. Based in Enfield, Conn., Camerota Truck Parts – owned by Frank (president), Steven (vice president) and Salvatore (treasurer) Camerota – has the challenge of covering a wide range of customer parts and service needs across a vast territory.
“We have perhaps one of the most diverse market areas in the country. We serve the most densely populated areas of New York City and northern [New] Jersey, as well as the least populated areas of northern Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire,” says Frank Camerota, president. “As far as our largest challenge, it is stocking the newest generation of products which go first in the highly populated areas, as well as keeping in stock the 20- to 30-year-old items which we still sell in the more rural areas.”
Those demands for replacement parts and component support for both older and newer equipment requires a great deal of inventory. And, Frank admits, while it may not make fiscal sense according to some business philosophies, Camerota Truck Parts does it to help ensure they always have what customers need, when they need it.
“We handle every person who owns a truck from a pickup to a Class 8,” says Frank. “We consider all of them Camerota customers, so there’s no distinction. However as far as opportunities, it’s our extensive inventory. We are very inventory heavy which I consider an advantage to us going toward the future because we live in a world that is reducing inventory.
“We probably operate contrary to most accounting [practices]
