Gold-Certified Truck Enterprises Hagerstown Plays Key Role in Customers’ Success
Dealership General Manager Alan Kohler practically beams with pride when he talks about the dedication to customer service possessed by Truck Enterprises Hagerstown employees.
Truck Enterprises Hagerstown
The dealership’s measurement of staff efficiency was 98 percent in 2016. “We’re firing on all cylinders. That result represents our efforts to get customers back on the road faster,” Kohler said.
“We’re intensely focused on providing every customer the best service possible,” he added. “For years, Truck Enterprises, led by (CEO) Jim Hartman, has instilled in all of us an appreciation of how much it costs our customers to have a truck down.
Truck Enterprises Hagerstown
“We know our customers only make money when their wheels are turning. It’s why we work so hard to get customers back on the road as quickly as possible,” said Kohler, who noted that his employees’ dedication to superior service earned Truck Enterprises Hagerstown the 2013 and 2014 Kenworth Parts and Service Dealer of the Year awards, and a Kenworth Silver Award in 2015.
Kohler points out a key reason the dealership’s dedicated employees can provide superior customer support is Jim Hartman’s commitment to invest nearly $12 million in the dealership’s new state-of-the-art facility, plus equipment and employee training. Truck Enterprises Hagerstown relocated last year to the 48,000-square-foot facility on eight acres, near U.S. Interstates 70 and 81, with almost twice the retail and service space available at its previous location.
Jim Hartman, CEO of Truck Enterprises, is shown cutting the grand opening ribbon last year at Truck Enterprises Hagerstown.
Truck Enterprises makes a significant on-going investment to provide its employees with advanced training, and currently has five technicians who are fully certified to service PACCAR MX engines.
The attention employees pay to getting customers in and out quickly, among many other factors, has earned Truck Enterprises Hagerstown the prestigious Kenworth PremierCare® Gold Certified status. Under the Gold Certified program, certified dealers go above and beyond industry standards to help fleets and truck operators maximize uptime with a range of premium services.
This includes extended evening and weekend operating hours, rapid diagnosis of estimated repair time in two hours or less, dedicated technicians with training to use Kenworth TruckTech+ and service PACCAR engines. Kenworth TruckTech+ remote diagnostics provides real-time information on PACCAR MX-13 and MX-11 engine health to fleet managers and dealers to help optimize truck uptime and productivity. Gold Certified dealers also offer a large parts inventory, including guaranteed in-store stock of PACCAR MX engine parts, a comfortable and productive driver's lounge, and Roadside Assistance.
Kirk Martin, president of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania-based David H. Martin Excavating Inc., relies on that focus for the sake of his company and his customers. David H. Martin operates a fleet of 55 dump trucks and tag trailer combinations. The firm’s trucking division operates another 50 on-highway trucks that haul heavy equipment and general construction industry-related freight.
Two years ago, the company began the process of replacing all its older vocational trucks with new Kenworth T880s, according to Martin. The T880s are equipped with PACCAR MX-13 485-hp engines and 1,650 lb-ft of torque, and provide productivity enhancements. The company has plans to replace its on-highway models with fuel-efficient Kenworth T680s. Truck Enterprise’s service commitment played a role in winning over his company’s business, he said.
“We know when our trucks, particularly the older ones in our fleet, need servicing, we can count on Truck Enterprises to get them in, serviced and repaired in a timely manner,” Martin said. “And they always keep us posted. Communication is the key. The people at Truck Enterprises (Hagerstown) understand this.”
From left are Kirk Martin, president of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania-based David H. Martin Excavating Inc., and Conrad Martin, new truck salesman at Truck Enterprises Hagerstown.
While Martin credits the service Truck Enterprises offers as a major reason for keeping his company’s business, he attributes sales representative Conrad Martin (no relation) for playing a significant role in winning it.
“I’ve known quite a few salespeople, and Conrad is clearly different,” Martin said. “He understands Kenworth trucks inside and out. In fact, he’s one of the most knowledgeable people I know.”
Martin said he’s come to rely heavily on that expertise when choosing the right truck specifications to get the job done. When he looked at buying a new truck, Conrad asked him all the right questions and came up with a Kenworth T880 with a tandem drive axle and a set-back steer axle that could offer the versatility and maneuverability needed to deliver equipment and supplies in tight locations, he added.
“The people at Truck Enterprises and our Kenworth trucks have all played integral parts in helping our company’s operation become more productive and profitable,” Martin said.
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Kenworth Truck Company is the manufacturer of The World’s Best® heavy and medium duty trucks. Kenworth's Internet home page is at www.kenworth.com. Kenworth is a PACCAR company.