Your Best Sales Person Should Tell Your Story

Your Best Sales Person Should Tell Your Story

You know your company has the very best product and/or service in the industry; however, no one seems to know this, but you. In this era of frenzied business competition, how do you make sure people know what you do for your customers? That's easy. Let other people tell the story for you. Of the many forms of advertising and marketing, only one can change how someone "feels" about your company. Only one speaks to people, because it's by a real person. One of the oldest, and best, forms of advertising is directly from your customers. In short, you need testimonials. Reviews. Recommendations. With these references, you are now the star, instead of simply another player on the field. There is no doubt that it can be difficult to get great reviews - if you simply sit back and wait for them. While customers may indeed love what you do for them, it's always hard to get someone to submit a great review on their own, and especially if you give them nowhere to do so. Negative reviews seem to be another story. More on those later.

Keep your reviews current. No one wants to see a review from 1984.     The truth is you have to ask for reviews. Somewhere you have an email list of people your company deals with. Write a personalized e-mail (no bulk e-mails) to your customers asking for their thoughts on your products/services. When you get a good review back; and you will, simply ask the customer if it would be OK to use their review. Happy customers will likely agree to this, as they already appreciate what you do for them, and probably wouldn't mind influencing others, as well. It's simply human nature to be an influencer. It makes us feel good about our purchasing decision when people act on what we tell them. With permission, use these reviews on your web pages, literature and anywhere people see your company in public. If you don't have time for this; find someone that does. Much as referrals carry weight for job interviewees, they are essential to your business for the same reason. Each customer interaction is an interview. You are "hired" or "fired" on the purchaser's review of your businesses' "resume." If it's filled with recommendations, chances are good you'll be getting the job. The beauty of this review system is that it also allows you the chance to correct any problems your company might also have. As much as we dislike getting negative feedback, it is a necessary part of business. Each one, however, should be viewed as an opportunity. If you get a negative review from a customer, and it truly was something that was your fault, and an area you can improve upon; do so. Then communicate the steps taken to your customer. You become a stronger company with every review - be it positive or negative. Your best customer is also your best sales person, if you ask. With that said, we would love to hear from you. Please email us and let us know about your experience and what we can do to improve our relationship with you. As stated above, our best sales person is a happy customer.

Difficult Operations Don't Always Require Complex Solutions!

Move vehicles with ease    Scenario 1 This one was supposed to be an easy tow. However, you get there to find that the car is not only tightly parallel parked between two other cars, but the customer is locked out of the vehicle. Scenario 2 It's a late-night repo. You need to get this car out of a "blocked" situation quickly and quietly. This is now even more difficult than what you planned for. Scenario 3 You're staring at one super-expensive antique vehicle. It needs to be safely moved from one side of the storage area to the other. You don't want to start this piece of history, let alone drive it. Solution Three situations with one easy solution. Break out the Go Jaks. This lightweight dolly system allows you to move blocked, locked or damaged vehicles into a proper hook-up configuration with tow trucks or car carriers. They also allow you to move an entire vehicle where you need it. Whether you need a vehicle moved eough to do a proper hook, or completely rotated into a new position, this is your go-to dolly system. You can use just 2 units on the drive wheels to move the car into position to be towed, or you can use four Go Jaks (one each wheel) to move the car into a position anywhere it needs to be moved, with minimal effort, and precise placement.

East Coast Truck and Trailer Sales 877.814.9468 Parts.ECTTS.Com

East Coast Truck and Trailer Sales 877.814.9468  Parts.ECTTS.Com

How Are Your Driving Skills At 100+ Miles Per Hour?

It’s cold and absurdly early on this Las Vegas morning, but 30+ people couldn't be happier. Not just because it’s Vegas, but because East Coast Truck and Trailer Sales is hosting their Richard Petty Driving Experience again. If you’ve never been, the Richard Petty Driving Experience is a thrill ride you control - starting at 100+ mph!

Every year, the folks at ECTTS ask a number of their friends and customers to come out for the driving experience of a lifetime. This is a chance to drive a car as fast as you can – without any fear whatsoever of a ticket. In fact, the faster the better! So much so, we keep track of the stats. 

The day starts with a facility overview of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. There’s roughly 1,500 acres to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, consisting of over 10 tracks.  There’s the 1/2 mile World of Outlaws dirt track, the quarter mile NHRA drag racing facility known as “The Strip” and the 3/8 mile “Bullring”, which is the home track of NASCAR superstars Kurt and Kyle Busch as well as Brendan Gaughan – just to name a few.

But before you’re allowed to put a 600+ HP car through its paces, you have to go through safety and instruction and in-car/on-track training. This isn’t just a formality if you’re driving these beasts, this is absolutely necessary. You need to know how the brute you’re going to be doing your best to control will handle in a curve, or “out of the groove.” You’ll hear from the instructors/drivers just what you’re going to feel, and at what speed. They know these finely-tuned monsters; they drive them every day.

Now it’s your turn at the wheel; right? Well, first you’ll be taken on a ride-along to get a feel for the track, and experience the car “at speed.” You get to see what it feels like to take a curve as fast as possible without slamming into a wall. Then you get to feel the acceleration push you into the seat – when you’re already doing over 100 mph! You’ll amusedly remember when you used to get a thrill punching the accelerator on the family sedan to pass a sluggish truck. And this is just the instructional phase.

“OK, this should be easy”, you convince yourself, as you climb into the driver’s seat. What you don’t understand – until you try it for yourself, is that the instructor made it look easy because of their experience. For you, getting this race car up to something even close to 130 mph is taking some work. Not that the car won’t do it, but because you’re having a tough time getting up the nerve to go much faster. Way too soon, this thrill ride is over, but you get a chance to see just how much bravado you had. After it’s all over, you get a packet that includes a time sheet with a breakdown of every lap you drove on the track.

Finally, at the end of the day, ECTTS holds a dinner for their customers, friends, and employees. The food’s good, but the stories and laughter are even better. Let’s face it, half the fun of this type of outing is comparing how you did with the rest of the guests. The only problem lies with the inevitable request to see the hard copy of your exploits, to confirm those “enhanced” tales of the track. Chris Kelly, one of our customers, posted this year’s top speed at 141 mph! We’ll keep the lowest speed to ourselves, so as to keep the embarrassment to a minimum.  As we said earlier, we do keep track of the stats.

Keep Your Diesel Particulate Filter From Dying an Early Death.

Keep Your Diesel Particulate Filter From Dying an Early Death.

You’re 25 miles out of the truck stop; settling into the long haul, and then the regen warning light comes on - again!You know you just did a parked regeneration to clear the diesel particulate filter yesterday, and you’ve been driving this rig at speed today, so shouldn’t the filter be clean? Well, probably not. Here’s why:

• Unless you’re running a disposable filter system, which are a must in the mining industry and some off-road equipment, the DPF is probably still clogged, but not with soot. The DPF works by trapping soot and other particulates in a network of cells before releasing the smaller gasses through the pores in the filter structure (usually cordierite or silicon carbide). The DPF, like any filter, eventually gets clogged with this material. Unlike other filters, this filter can usually be easily cleared – either while you’re on the road, or parked, by simply heating the filter to the point where the soot burns off to become gasses that pass through the filter. The problem arises when other particles besides soot become trapped in the filter. While hydrocarbons burn, metals and other contaminates from oils in the exhaust don’t burn off at the temperatures used for regeneration, so you end up with a clogged filter – even though you’ve just done yet another regen.

• Why does this happen? The heat from the regen can cause the metal particles to simply fuse into solid masses (sintering), and like the metals, the non-soot particles aren’t going to burn off either. In some cases the filter itself is damaged by the heat being created by the regen. As regeneration happens at temperatures around 850 to 1100 degrees Fahrenheit, and damage happens to some filters at 1200 degrees, the range between clean and damaged can be fairly narrow.

•When the filter becomes clogged with metals and ash; from burning contaminates, it creates high backpressure and triggers a warning on the dash that gets progressively more severe until the truck computer finally throttles back the power – in some cases severely. Filters that become substantially clogged with ash go through what’s called compacting, which can cause filter and engine damage, if not corrected quickly. Overriding the regen causes this compaction. To avoid those consequences, regen every time, on time. Note that the filter will still eventually become clogged with particles other than soot. So what’s the solution? It’s time to have the filter professionally cleaned, as opposed to just clearing the soot.

• Sometimes known as de-ashing, the filter cleaning process begins with an inspection, and then moves through the steps of testing, pneumatic cleaning, thermal regeneration (about 12 hours) and a final air flow test. At the end of the cleaning the air flow test will tell whether it passes for continued use, or needs to be replaced. How often you regen, vs. letting your filter compact with particulates and ash, can greatly affect the usable life of your filter. Similarly, having your filter removed and cleaned regularly increases its lifetime, so this step should be an important part of your regular maintenance schedule.

• Finally, this is not a do-it-yourself job you want to tackle. Unless you have the proper equipment, and knowledge, it will just end up being a very expensive lesson in what not to do yourself. Dealerships and service centers nationwide offer DPF cleaning services; take advantage of it on a regular basis to keep your filter and engine operating at its best.

East Coast Truck and Trailer Sales Power Pricing

Rollback and Towing Equipment Specials

New Jersey, other states target unsafe motorists: Land Line Magazine

New Jersey, other states target unsafe motorists: Land Line Magazine