Tracey Maynor knew he was destined for a career in the transportation industry.
“I lost my first tooth in a Mack truck,” he remembers.
Growing up in a family of truckers and mechanics, Maynor entered the industry working in the same roles and used his familiarity within the space to thrive. Over time, he made his way into the refrigeration market and eventually into a key role at a trailer OEM.
It was there Maynor realized his desire to one day run a dealership. Yet when that opportunity arrived, it took him by surprise.
Maynor met W&B Service Company owner John Chisholm while working at Great Dane. The two became friends and, in 2011, Chisholm hired Maynor as his president and COO. Then, on his one-year anniversary, Chisholm upped the offer.
“He came into my office that morning and offered to sell me the company,” Maynor remembers. Chisholm had been considering a sale, Maynor knew, but the suddenness of the offer startled him. As did what happened next.
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“He said the bankers will be here at 1 p.m., go prepare your pitch.”
Rushed as he may have been, Maynor’s pitch was a good one. He purchased the company in March 2013 and hasn’t looked back.
Today, W&B Service Company stands one of the largest Hyundai Translead and Carrier Transicold dealers in North America. Its Superior Trailer Sales division, acquired in 2018, also stands as a market leader and is the top dealer by volume for multiple OEMs.
For a company that didn’t even sell trailers when Maynor joined in 2011, its market share is astonishing. Maynor’s proud of the growth but shies away from taking any credit. There are more than 630 employees across the company’s 20 locations and Maynor says it’s the expertise they bring into the field each day that makes the company what it is.
And this year, it also is a finalist for the first time for the Trailblazer Award, powered by Successful Dealer.
“I’d like to think we were nominated because we have amazing people,” says Maynor. “We have so many hardworking people who are experts at what they do. They are selfless and give us everything they have.”
That enables W&B and Superior’s operations to do the same for customers.
Maynor says the company prides itself on being a “one-stop shop” for customer transportation needs, with nine trailer brands and experience selling and servicing every trailer type found on North American roadways. Coupled with W&B’s more than 70 years pioneering and supporting the refrigerated transportation sector, Maynor believes the company’s customer service capabilities are unmatched.
“We are a service company first that just happens to sell a lot of equipment,” he says. “We like to sell products that require a lot of expertise, and we bring that expertise to the market.”
Most of that expertise comes from its workforce.
Like Chisholm did with Maynor, W&B tries to the hire the trailer industry’s foremost specialist on most of its product lines. The company’s strong relationships with its OEM partners give it access to great training leveraged aggressively across its network by its own training department — which trains associates and customers alike — while Maynor and his leadership team are active in local, state and national trucking associations to keep up with biggest challenges facing their customers.
Employees also encouraged trust their own knowledge and instincts to make choices that improve customer experiences.
“We empower our people to make decisions because we know indecision costs customers money,” Maynor says.
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The company responds by showing incredible loyalty to associates. Beyond market-leading pay and benefits packages, W&B also is known for its ring program. Every associate who reaches five years with the business is given a ring during an exclusive annual banquet as a thank you for their service attended by all ring-tenured employees and their families.
Earning a ring is an incredible accomplishment, but it also comes with an added benefit — no ring-bearing employee can be terminated without Maynor’s permission. Maynor believes that job security only further inspires employees to do what is best to help customers at every turn.
With locations across four states, Maynor can’t be in every store every day, so he has to trust the people in those locations are committed to their success.
W&B and Superior also are committed to their OEMs. The company’s unparalleled skill in the reefer business often earns it opportunities to support Carrier Transicold installation programs, such as when W&B sent 16 technicians to Mexico for over a month to support an assembly plant, or drove 20 technicians to a customer during a holiday week to install 54 APUs in less than two days.
“If you treat your people right, they’ll treat the customer right,” Maynor says.
The Trailblazer Award was created last year recognize and honor North America’s trailer dealer community for their essential support of the transportation industry. The Trailblazer Award is graciously sponsored by Hendrickson and Procede Software. To learn more about the program, go the award page.
