How to Sell Heavy-Duty Parts in a Digital World
Learn what you can do to sell more heavy-duty parts in a digital world, and the importance of doing so.
Episode 134: In 2022, we are expanding the number of episodes we publish on our podcast per week. On Wednesdays, we are going to focus on the subject of selling heavy-duty parts in a digital world.
One of the most important things you can accomplish by adding a digital sales channel to your business model is to create a frictionless buying experience for the customer.
But what is a frictionless buying experience, how do you accomplish it, and how does it integrate with digital tools? This segment will help answer all of those questions and more.
Need some help with your sales and marketing? Visit HeavyDutyPartsReport.com/Consulting
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Sponsors of this Episode:
- Want to look up parts but don’t have a part number or the VIN? Download Diesel Parts for free on Desktop or on your Apple or Android device.
- Looking for high-quality fuel injection for heavy-duty applications?Visit AMBACInternational.com/Aftermarket
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Want to buy any of the parts mentioned in this episode? Visit HeavyDutyPartsReport.com/BuyParts.
Transcript of Episode:
Jamie Irvine:
You are listening to The Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I’m your host, Jamie Irvine. And this is the show where you get expert advice about heavy-duty parts that keep trucks and trailers on the road longer while lowering cost-per-mile.
I’d like to extend a big warm welcome to you. Thank you for listening to today’s episode. In 2022, we are expanding the number of episodes that we are publishing on our podcast. And on Wednesday, we’re gonna really focus on the subject of how to sell heavy-duty parts, how to sell more parts, and more importantly, how to do so in a digital world.
So all year we’re going to be focusing on that one question. How do you sell heavy-duty parts in a digital world? How do you sell more parts using digital tools would be another way to ask that question.
And when you think about people who sell heavy-duty parts, there’s a lot to take into consideration when looking at where we are headed with the way that customers are going to demand that resellers structure, their websites, structure their systems, their order fulfillment systems, and in general serve vehicle owners and commercial fleets.
So selling heavy-duty parts in a digital world is really about one thing. And that is creating a frictionless buying experience for the customer. You’re gonna hear a lot about that – frictionless buying. What is it, how do you accomplish it and how it integrates with digital tools. So think about it from the perspective of the person trying to sell the parts. There’s a lot of challenges that goes into not only transitioning from a traditional distribution model where most heavy-duty parts is either purchased by customers coming into the retail store, going up to the parts counter and ordering the parts, or by phoning or emailing the orders in to that parts counter and having them delivered to their repair shop. That is where we’ve been in the past. And many of the fundamentals around that system from the traditional distribution model are not going to change going forward, but the way that people buy and the experience that they have is where we’re going to see and have seen the biggest changes over the last couple years.
So that transition creates a real challenge for heavy-duty parts resellers. Another area that is a challenge is integrating the old system and the people who spent their entire careers, maybe 20, 30, or 40 years with the traditional model and integrating their efforts with this new digital model. From there, there is the challenge of setting up a digital sales channel that provides customers with a buying experience that is something that they actually want, is easy for them to use, and is going to see seamlessly integrate with the resellers existing computer systems and order fulfillment systems. We’re gonna take a quick break. We’ll be right back. Don’t have a heavy-duty part number and need to look up a part? Go to parts.diesellaptops.com or download the app on Apple or Android to create your free account. Looking for high quality fuel injection for heavy-duty applications?
Having one supplier for fuel injection allows you to better serve customers by providing them with a complete line, which increases your sales and profitability. Learn more at ambacinternational.com/aftermarket. So as much as selling heavy-duty parts in a digital world is about setting up a digital sales channel that provides customers with a frictionless buying experience. It’s also about integrating the traditional model with this new model. We’ve talked to a lot of resellers in the last 24 months. And one of the consistent themes that we hear is that they don’t feel that the digital sales channel is a replacement for the traditional method of distributing heavy-duty parts. When you talk to fleets and repair shop owners, and also vehicle owners that are buying the heavy-duty parts and installing them, they echo those sentiments. On the one hand, they are looking for a better buying experience, but on the other hand, they don’t want to let go of the positive aspects of the traditional distribution model that help them to run their business, their truck more effectively.
For example, they want access to experienced parts people to help guide them through their purchasing decision. Just not for all of the parts that they buy, because some of the parts are kind of commodities and they can be purchased regularly. But when they run into an issue where they’re not sure they still want to be able to have access to what made the traditional distribution model so great. Of course, too, the fundamentals of the traditional distribution model, were centered around good customer service, having the right part on the shelf, taking the order and delivering that part quickly. And then picking up cores and making sure that any issues post purchase are taken care of. So those fundamentals customers don’t want to change, but as more and more people in senior leadership roles at commercial fleets and repair shops are starting to trend younger. And as the older ones retire, there’s this big push for a really solid digital experience that will empower the fleets and the repair shops and the commercial vehicle owners to get access to parts in a really simple, easy way, and that will enable them to streamline their operations further.
So there’s all kinds of factors that we’re going to dig into this year. This is what we’re going to really tackle, and we’re gonna try to provide listeners with some insights into how they can make their heavy-duty parts distribution company more successful. And we’re also going to try to reflect the desires and the comments from the customer, the commercial fleets and the independent shops. So tune in to our segment, Sell More Parts coming at you every Wednesday, all year in 2022, to get access to this great information. I’m so looking forward to tackling this subject and really getting into it and be able to serve you to our best of our ability and provide you with some really great information that’s gonna help make your business better. This segment also is an opportunity for me to be able to talk to you directly about what I do as a consultant.
So I’m a marketing consultant and I work with heavy-duty parts companies to help them to be able to get their marketing message structured in such a way that it attracts more customers, to help them with their systems, to not only lead generation systems, but also customer fulfillment systems, and to help salespeople to make the transition from the traditional distribution model to a hybrid model that includes a digital sales channel.
So if you would like to get some help from me in any of these areas, head over to heavydutypartsreport.com/consulting. That’ll take you to our consulting services page and you can learn more and schedule a free consultation with me. I look forward to talking to you soon. Thank you for tuning into this episode. We’ll talk to you next week.
