How to learn about trucking and truck repair
The more you know about how fleets, drivers, and garages operate, and what their goals are, the better you will be able to understand and cater to their needs. Finding the best places to learn about their needs and perspectives. All that being said, you need to understand that not all sources are made equally. Not all professional sources actually know what they’re talking about. And not all complaints are accurate and valid.
Learning about the trucking industry
There are a lot of trade magazines and websites. A simple search online will come up with a lot more results than you would expect. Stick to the first page of results, at least to begin with. Odds are the best and most longstanding results will be on the first page. In any case, from there you will learn which are better than others, and maybe come up with better ideas for your market specifically.
When you read the articles in these magazines keep in mind that most of these journalists did not grow up and go to school to write about Transport. And unlike a newspaper or news channel, there are far fewer opportunities to find advertisers who pay all the bills. So, when transport industry heads complain all the time about driver shortages, most publications get the message and maybe they’re less likely to push the issue. Discussing stories like driver shortages you won’t see anyone bring up the issue of how small the marginal cost is for additional drivers to be hired as well as how easy it can be to pick up work, known as loads, on spot markets.
It can be important to know when fleets have merged, new regulations have come, or will come into effect and things like this. There will be a lot of advice on running green or saving on fuel or driver turnover. Most of this can be ignored and it’s mostly bunk. If you don’t believe me look how long people have been writing the exact same stories. Stick to major updates and choose what is and is not pertinent to your job.
Learning about truck repair and maintenance
While there are some great publications, and you should read them, the best place to go is actually forums and YouTube. You should do this a little bit every week. When you sell a job, and you have no idea what it is, look it up. Here are a few examples
You sold King Pins. Good for you. Where do they go on the truck? It’s probably useful to know, but what’s more is that you should know how it’s installed, and what can go wrong. Here’s how: Go to YouTube and look up King Pin Replacement. Use the filters to get the most viewed videos. Watch 2 or 3. Listen to how they explain the job, not with an eye to doing the job yourself, but understanding the process generally. Is it easy to do? Is there a lot of work before and after the exact job they hope to do? What do they need to do after the job to verify the job is done right, and what should they watch out for?
What you want to look for is two things. First, what common mistakes are made, and can it result in a part being returned as defective when really the mechanic made a mistake? Second, what tools, equipment and other parts do they need? A reamer? A punch? Will they be doing the brakes at the same time since the wheels are off? This is cross-selling at its finest. Here’s an example: Thanks for buying the King Pins. Are you good for a reamer or do I send you a new one? How about sandpaper? While the wheels are off the steer axle do you plan on changing the brakes at the same time? By the way, do you have the gauge with the magnetic base to measure how loose or not the King Pins are?
Of course, this is a conversation, not 21 questions. But I’m sure you knew that. Here’s another example.
You sold batteries. Good for you. Why did that have to be done in the first place? IT’s probably useful to know. Do the same steps as before for the King Pins. Check out forums and look for complaints about batteries dying and batteries being replaced. What sorts of issues have they had? Look up videos of replacements, what do you notice? What you should find is that the cables and nuts should be clean. If not either sandpaper, nuts, or cable connectors are possible cross sales. How do you know the batteries are actually dead? Maybe they should have a load tester, or a better one, or a voltmeter. How can you prevent it from happening again? Maybe some battery stud/connector spray is a good idea to prevent verdigris from building. If you don’t know about that go check out my short E-Book on the subject of batteries.
Conclusion
There are a lot of great places to learn about the profession and problems that your customers face. But one of the best is simply listening to your customers in the first place. And always pay attention to what people are doing when you visit the shops and ask questions. Look at the things you don’t recognize on shelves or toolboxes and ask. You may be shy to ask but you have two choices. First, you can live the rest of your life not knowing. Second, you can ask the question, listen to the answer and know for the rest of your career what it is. And maybe even sell some!