Stoops wins Trailblazer Award at NTDA

Indianapolis-based trailer dealer, part of the McCoy Group, wins third annual award

Mark Hall, general manager of Stoops Trailers, accepts the Trailblazer Award on the final night of the National Trailer Dealers Association meeting Oct. 9 in Tucson, Ariz.
Mark Hall, general manager of Stoops Trailers, accepts the Trailblazer Award on the final night of the National Trailer Dealers Association meeting Oct. 9 in Tucson, Ariz.
Beth Colvin / TPS

Stoops Trailers, with its affiliations with the McCoy Group, can be something to everyone. That versatility makes them the winner of 2025’s Trailblazer Award.

“We’re very honored and humbled to receive it,” says Mark Hall, general manager of Stoops Trailers. He also thanked the other finalists of the award, Mountain West Utility Trailer, Intermountain Trailer, North American Trailer and Vernon Gene’s Mega Store. “You help us do what we do every day, to get better.”

Jeff Miller, left, from Hendrickson, watches as Lucas Deal, editor of Trucks, Parts, Service, presents Mark Hall, general manager of Stoops Trailers with the Trailblazer Award. At right is Bennett Whitnell, vice president of sales at Procede Software. Procede and Hendrickson sponsor the award.Jeff Miller, left, from Hendrickson, watches as Lucas Deal, editor of Trucks, Parts, Service, presents Mark Hall, general manager of Stoops Trailers with the Trailblazer Award. At right is  Bennett Whitnell, vice president of sales at Procede Software. Procede and Hendrickson sponsor the award. Beth Colvin / TPS

The third annual Trailblazer Award, powered by Successful Dealer, was presented Thursday by Trucks, Parts, Service Chief Editor Lucas Deal at the National Trailer Dealers Association (NTDA) Convention in Tucson. The award is sponsored by Hendrickson and Procede Software and recognizes the top trailer dealers in the country for business excellence, customer service, employee support, community engagement and more.

“For all the Stoops employees, we thank them for what they do every day to make our industry great,” Hall said in accepting the award.

Stoops sells trailers, leases trailers, services trailers and offers financing. They also can help their customers find the right truck too, with its connection to parent company The McCoy Group.

“We try to be the circle of life when you look at the products and services we offer,” says Mark Hall, general manager of Stoops Trailers, adding the company tries to bring value to every customer, from independent owner/operators to small- and medium-sized fleets.

The critical component in the value Stoops brings is its people.

“We’re investing in our employees so they continue to get better every day,” Hall says. Part of that is the Stoops Training Academy in Indianapolis, through which the company works to provide a long-term career path for its employees.

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“We want our employees to be experts in their field,” says Steve Young, corporate fixed operations manager. “We put a lot into the training.”

So much so the company has a corporate trainer on staff to create the curriculum for the academy. Not only does this train the employees for better customer service, the company says, it also ensures a consistent customer experience across all 26 locations in the Stoops group.

“Again, it’s all driven to provide a career for our employees and not just a job,” Hall says.

The training equips the Stoops team to provide each customer with a great experience. Hall says their customers rely on them to get through a pain point, and the whole team takes pride in its ability to provide solutions.

“We want to have as many people touch our customer, bringing value to them every day so it’s hard for them to say Stoops is not the right solution for us,” Hall says.

Young agrees, adding, “We live off the after-sales support. We want that customer for a lifetime.”

Hall says the fact it’s the company’s second nomination in for the award (it also was a finalist in 2023) says a lot about how peers view the Stoops team as it engages with the trailer industry and with the community around each of its locations.

“We check our ego at the door, we check our brands at the door,” Hall says. “We truly believe if we can better our industry, we can benefit from it.”

Getting outside the dealership not only gives the company more exposure to potential customers, it also enables it to find and incorporate ideas to help it — and its customers — become more profitable. That includes everything from participation in NTDA to Toys for Tots and the nonprofit Stoops for Troops Foundation, which raises money to help train service dogs for veterans.

Winning “underpins that we are doing things the correct way,” says Brian Cross, new trailers sales manager. “People appreciate that.”

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