CANTON, Ohio — Timken this week said it continues to drive sales growth for its company and distributors by creating pull-through demand for Timken bearing products in the heavy-duty aftermarket. Training is a significant part of this growth strategy, according to Mark Stangl, Timken regional manager – heavy-duty aftermarket for the Western region.
"Part of our strategy is to provide comprehensive training throughout the entire channel, which gets us closer to distributors and end users," said Stangl. "We start by systematically training our independent reps so they are extremely knowledgeable about the Timken products they sell – including proper installation, adjustment and maintenance procedures. In turn, they’re teaching what they’ve learned to our distributors.
“This approach enables reps and distributors to work together to provide greater product and technical training to fleet owners and operators. We’re confident that the more fleet maintenance personnel know about Timken, the more likely they are to specify the brand in their next order to the distributor.”
According to Joe Reder, regional sales manager at Point Spring & Driveshaft Co., which supplies medium- and heavy-duty truck parts to customers ranging from owner-operators to very large fleets, the strategy is paying off, with better results for everyone in the process. Reder is working with Clay Tice, an independent Timken rep, to train his countermen and customers.
"I’ve seen a marked improvement in Clay’s understanding of heavy-truck applications and Timken products," said Reder. "He also has new technical skills to share with Point Spring’s countermen and is making more meaningful fleet calls with our outside sales team. The best part is the informative wheel-end training clinics Clay has been providing for professional technicians at the fleet locations."
While Tice is helping Point Springs educate its customers on Timken technologies, Reder also credits Timken’s Stangl for providing inventory suggestions that are helping Point Spring adapt to new market trends and increase sales.
"We suggested different inventory levels based on industry trends in wheel-end technology, which include wide-single tires and pre-adjusted wheel-end designs," said Stangl. "We recommended stocking Timken 454-Series wheel bearings for wide-single tires. We also suggested Timken Set-Right heavy-duty hub rebuild kits, which eliminate the need for manual bearing adjustment and make it easier for installers to achieve proper wheel bearing end-play."
Both products are designed to help optimize bearing, seal and tire life for maximum truck uptime. For distributors like Point Springs, the products offer an opportunity to sell more value-added solutions to fleets.
"This is the kind of service and collaboration that makes us prefer Timken," said Reder. "We have more than 150 suppliers, and we consider Timken among our key suppliers because of the value they’re bringing to the table."
Timken wants to continue providing value for distributors and fleets with focused specialists and has promoted Dan Humphrey to Timken regional manager – heavy-duty aftermarket for the Eastern region. Humphrey joined Timken in May 2001 as a principal application engineer for heavy-truck wheel applications. Like Stangl, he will work with sales representatives and independent rep agencies to create "pull" demand from key heavy-truck fleets.
