According to the CVSN, this year’s Summit was a success. The highlight was the first-ever legislative summit, coordinated by the CVSN with help from the AAIA. The legislative summit allowed members of the aftermarket community the chance to discuss key issues facing the industry in individual meetings with legislators. Multiple topics were discussed, though the CVSN says the main issue raised in the meetings was the accessing of technical information during repair orders and the right to repair.
Marc Karon, president of Total Truck Parts and new president of the CVSN board of directors, says the right to repair issue is the biggest obstacle facing the heavy-duty aftermarket in more than a decade. Karon says it affects every independent distributor, service provider and truck owner in the marketplace, and could dramatically change the industry in the coming years.
“It’s the biggest challenge we’re facing right now,” he says. “Who knows how much the industry could change in the next five or 10 years? This is a real issue, it’s a battle, and the Summit gave us a chance to fight that battle for our industry.”
Karon says nearly 200 people attended this year’s CVSN Summit to be part of the legislative discussions, marking the second year in a row the CVSN has set an attendance record.
“I want to thank all of the distributors who were there and brought their people with them to participate,” he said. “Those guys get it, and I think we need to give them kudos for coming out and participating. I thank them for recognizing their responsibility to the market and the industry.”
The large group complemented the CVSN as well. Karon says comments on the Summit were universally positive. “I got some feedback — with this now being my first year as president — that I will have a hard time topping this in the next two years.”
Between the legislative sessions and the bevy of educational sessions, there are a lot of positives to take from the meeting. “The people that come absolutely love the meeting,” he says. “If you go to this meeting and you pay attention, you will pay for this meeting many times over with the tools you learn during the sessions and during the interactions with your other distributors.”
And yet in spite of the Summit’s overall success, Karon says he hopes to expand the offering even more in 2012 and 2013 to bring in more distributors. His goal is to double CVSN members and CVSN Summit attendance by the end of his two-year leadership run.
“We’re still growing the association and we need to grow it much more,” he says. “We need to have a unified voice.”
The right to repair issue is not going to go away quietly, so the more distributors step up to work for a solution the strong their side will become.
“We want them to understand how important this is,” Karon says. “We need all hands on deck. It’s vital for our industry to understand the challenges we are up against and we need as much help as we can from all the distributors in our industry.”
Educational Sessions
The educational programs of the CVSN Summit were also successful the organization says, with the speeches and presentations providing valuable insight on the industry and the industry’s future, CVSN says.
The first education session was titled “Helping your Customers with Tools and Technology.” The premise of the session was that accessing technology and technical information is not just a problem for service providers, CVSN says. The session featured the following speakers: Tom Kotenko from Nexiq, Dave Costantino from Mitchell 1 and Christopher Edd from Motor and Fleetcross.
There also were multiple discussions about CSA 2010. Bert Mayo of the Lockton Company provided a better understanding on how fleet owners are changing their maintenance procedures to accommodate this new initiative. According to the CVSN, Mayo also recommended practices distributors can use to increase awareness for customers and become more valuable to them. Mayo was followed by Anne Ferro, an FMCSA administrator, who explained the motivation and direction of the new initiative and agreed to consider aftermarket distributors in the discussion about future rulemaking.
The final educational sessions included Jim Camp giving a presentation on negotiating with customers, Gene Marks providing analysis on the industry’s outlook for the coming months and years ahead and Dr. Bob Nelson giving a presentation on ways to make a better and more productive working environment.
The CVSN also included nine private strategic planning sessions with suppliers. The sessions were designed like mini-DAC meetings, which CVSN says allowed the distributors to discuss issues as a group with individual suppliers.
Next year’s CVSN Aftermarket Distribution Summit is set for Sept. 16-19, 2011 in Niagara Falls, N.Y. For more information, please go to www.cvsn.org.
