Daimler Trucks North America and Corcentric: Building a best-in-class aftercare program
By Nick Chapman
I always wanted to work in the automotive industry, so when I got the call 10 years ago to join the team at Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), I couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough. Trucks transport everything we rely on, and being involved in building a customer experience that reflects the quality and reliability of our vehicles has been a privilege.
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work in various roles across the aftermarket parts and marketing departments. Today, as the Manager of DTNA Parts Fleet Solutions, I lead our Fleet Boost billing program. What I’ve come to realize is that we’re not just managing parts or prices – our differentiation comes in providing exceptional customer service, and I appreciate how Corcentric follows this through when it comes to managing finances with our customers.
My journey with DTNA
When I joined the company in 2014, I was part of the inside sales team. We were responsible for communicating with dealers, providing them with a comprehensive menu of parts to sell to walk-in customers, fleet clients, and local independent repair facilities. This introduced me to our suite of parts offerings and the needs of our customers.
Eventually I switched gears and moved to product marketing, taking over the segment for power transmissions. This role allowed me to engage with our supplier network, learning the intricacies of the production side and how it connects to our aftermarket solutions. From there I knew I wanted to get out in the field and had my eyes on a district parts manager role, which, in 2019, became a reality.
However, Covid was not far behind, and suddenly my job of building relationships in-person was now virtual. This was a very challenging period, because how do you bring value and awareness to the initiatives we’re promoting over Zoom or email? Nonetheless, our team rose to the occasion and learned a great deal about how the dealers operate, how they recognize profit and loss, and where they make their revenue from. From there I was brought back into the office to supervise the Pinnacle fleet team, now known as Fleet Boost, which led me to my current position as manager of DTNA Parts Fleet Solutions.
Fleet Boost: A rebirth
The transition from Pinnacle Fleet Solutions to Fleet Boost has felt like a rebirth. We came out of the pandemic with renewed energy, focus, and drive to reestablish our presence in the market. We’ve identified this new segment of business – small to mid-sized regional fleets – where we feel we can make an impact, and Corcentric has been there for us the whole time in helping us execute this pivot.
The team we work with day-to-day at Corcentric really supports our business needs, mutual goals, and customers, which is why it’s not surprising that they too have been reenergized by the change to Fleet Boost – they want to see us evolve and succeed.
Corcentric and Daimler both seek out opportunities where we can make an impact, and with Fleet Boost it’s measurable. We can go to these new customers confidently and sell the value proposition of why DTNA is the best to partner with, develop that relationship, and get them on the program. With Corcentric’s resources and technological solutions, we can see how we’re making a difference in our clients’ ability to find and purchase parts.
Relationships as a foundation
Our aftercare program would not be where it is without the relationships we’ve built and nurtured with our dealers, supply chain, fleets, and of course Corcentric. When I look back at Covid, it could have devastated us, but we had strong relationships with an emphasis on continually bringing value, and this was key to our survival. Coming out of Covid, we hit the ground running with those established relationships while other companies went belly up.
I recall a specific scenario where we were presented with a potential customer that wanted nothing to do with us, but we were determined to forge a relationship with them. I had one or two run ins with this customer before the world shut down, and I believe that the combination of our sales team, product marketing, our suppliers, and Corcentric is what got our foot in the door. We proved our worth and expertise, we made sacrifices and gave this client a small glimpse into how we do business. In the end, that account, which was previously worth half a million dollars a year, is now worth 9 or 10 million dollars year, and it’s all because we had the right mix of people, goods, and tools dedicated to developing and growing this new partnership.
The Corcentric effect
It’s no secret that DTNA cares deeply about its customers, but the fact that Corcentric does too takes our program from good to great. Corcentric is like an easy button – we can go to any of our customers and say here is a wonderful user experience to shop, find and buy parts, as well as centralized billing program, which doesn’t require you to send an email or make a phone call. Corcentric puts in the time, people and resources into giving DTNA’s thousands of customers, regardless of their needs, seamless transactions.
And it’s not just the technology they provide. I’ve seen firsthand Corcentric’s in-person commitment to the customer. Steve and Amanda Fallows joined us at several district parts conferences last year to help lead breakout sessions for our dealer network, during which we brought awareness to our program and how they can sell it to fleets. Their presence and engagement at these events created a significant impact, reinforcing the message that DTNA and Corcentric are one team, committed to making life easier for our dealers and fleet customers. Those face-to-face interactions build confidence in our dealers and make them feel supported.
Corcentric has been a critical part of our success, and whether it’s understanding our business, or finding new ways to offer exceptional customer service, I am excited to see where this collaboration will take us as we continue to push the envelope in the aftermarket industry.
Nick Chapman is Manager, DTNA Parts, Fleet Solutions at Daimler Trucks, North America