Understanding the needs of the market and keeping the right mix of new and used truck stock, is key to successful sales and ongoing relationships with transport customers, according to Blackwells Isuzu truck and bus sales manager Dave Wilson.
He also says having a well-equipped and -staffed service workshop with a light engineering capability — as well as professional truck painting and crash panel repairs on site — also supports ongoing transport-customer relationships.
“We have retained many national clients because of our ability to meet their needs and to service and repair their vehicles: repeat business is a big driver for us, and I’m proud to say we’ve just recently signed a six-year procurement contract with one such customer,” Wilson says.
Wilson acknowledges the market has cooled a little in Canterbury as the rebuild has slowed, but the inquiry level on trucks is still healthy.
With more than 15 years of service at Blackwells, Wilson has seen many changes in the Canterbury truck and bus market, but he says one reason for Isuzu’s ongoing success is its extensive model range across the light, medium and heavy-duty segments.
He says the new heavy-duty Giga has made significant inroads into the rural transport market because it offers the combination of a lower chassis height, a manual transmission and air suspension, plus feedback on fuel consumption from customers has been very encouraging.
“The stock-truck market prefers a manual transmission instead of an AMT, however, in other markets the AMT is becoming more and more desirable across the light, medium and heavy-duty truck segment because of its ability to save wear and tear, and that is growing our sales volume,” Wilson says.
He adds that the availability of factory-built specialist bodies is also a huge advantage to Isuzu truck buyers.
“Having three to four types of new factory-built tippers has been a godsend for us,” he says.
“We try to keep two or three of these new tipper units in stock, so it’s a turn-key situation for the buyer, there is no need for them to wait for a truck build, they can just jump in a brand-new one and get straight to work.”
Blackwells also keeps a good range of quality second-hand imported trucks in stock, between 40 and 70 units, and a mixture of box-body units, tipper trucks, and flat deck–bodied vehicles.
“Late-model used imports meet the requirements of a buyer who needs a high-quality vehicle for a job, but cannot quite take the step up to a brand-new unit,” Wilson says.
Buses, however, are a different story:
Wilson says, “We urgently need more capacity in the coach building industry, it’s a frustration for bus operators that the industry cannot meet current demands as more new public-service contracts come online.”
He says that truck-derived buses have sold well for Blackwells, at more than 20 a year, and there are more than five new coaches under build on the new Isuzu LT rear-engined bus chassis.
Wilson says the service department is also critical to the ongoing success of Blackwells Isuzu.
The 15-strong team of technicians at the Sockburn workshop includes two who are qualified to provide COF A and COF B certification on client vehicles while they’re in the workshop for servicing.
The service department also runs an evening shift from 3pm until midnight, which is a service that is very popular with clients, as the truck can be dropped off in the afternoon and collected at 6.30am the following morning.
“We’ve been running the service department evening shift for more than six years now, and it’s very well patronised, and those clients just love it, so I’m surprised other transport service workshops in the area haven’t followed suit,” Wilson says.
That’s a primary example of understanding the needs of your market being a key to success. “In fact, I understand the availability of the evening shift has brought us service business from customers that we haven’t sold trucks to.”
