Meet the dynamic duo who delivers a customer-centric accounts receivable solution for Daimler Trucks North America
Most people can’t imagine working with their significant other, but for Amanda Fallows and Steve Fallows, that’s been their reality for over a decade. Amanda, Manager of Community Programs for Corcentric, and Steve, Director of Managed Accounts Receivable (AR) Growth and Development for Corcentric, both used to work for Daimler Trucks North America on what is now known as their Fleet Boost program. When this program was outsourced to Corcentric, Amanda and Steve, with their years of hands-on experience, were brought over as well. The duo has helped grow Fleet Boost into a powerful tool for enhancing customer loyalty and simplifying transactions across the Daimler dealer network by building out the AR management program. Their story highlights the balance of innovation, customer care, and personal dedication that have propelled the program’s success.
Q: First things first, you two are married and bring a unique partnership to the Corcentric and Daimler relationship, can you speak to that?
AF: We met on the job at Daimler in 2002, with our personal relationship developing about 12 years ago. It’s interesting because we were kind of forced to work with each other before we were good at working with one another and given our roles, we had to really pay a lot of attention to the other person, listen to what they were saying, understand their perspective, respect where they were coming from, with the understanding that both of us were focused on doing the right thing. This was before we were working for Corcentric and were aware that ‘doing the right thing’ is a core value of the company. So with everything we had to do when engaging with one another was in pursuit of something bigger and better than ourselves, that became foundational for us as individuals and in our partnership. It’s something we bring to running the AR management function for the Daimler Trucks after-market program and building out this capability for other Corcentric clients.
Q: What are the origins of the Pinnacle program, which is now Fleet Boost?
SF: I used to work for the gentleman who first invented the program at Daimler and he had a vision that a billing program that focused on customer service could drive loyalty from fleet customers to the Daimler network. The idea was to incentivize them to want to buy from Daimler dealers, rather than taking those sales outside of their network and going elsewhere. He built that from the ground up for about a decade, convincing dealers and customers that it had value. Then in 2008 he left the program, and I took over managing it for Daimler Trucks.
AF: I’d like to add that the reality is there was zero budget for any kind of enhancements, system changes, or improvements, so the program at the time was just for the dealers – send us your invoices and we’ll guarantee that receivable if you hit a couple of benchmarks. We distributed statements after the fact, and then we collected money. There wasn’t a lot of customer service, people thought of us as a payment clearinghouse.
Q: How did Corcentric take over the program, and transform and grow it to what it is today?
SF: Corcentric took over the program in 2013 and in that time we’ve grown the program by over 140% since Daimler outsourced it. We just rebranded the Daimler after-care program as Fleet Boost. The goal of Fleet Boost is to drive more revenue and more volume by incentivizing customers to buy more as well as create an easier path for dealers to help their customers.
AF: Corcentric’s presence in the market and focus on process automation, especially in the AR management space, has filled a gap and recognized the needs of Daimler. With experts like Steve and myself being able to be the voice of both the buyer and the seller and the client to Corcentric, we can advocate for meaningful change that allows people to be more empowered and give them more tools when they’re using programs like Fleet Boost in the aftermarket space. Corcentric brings finance reporting, processes and procedures to address the direct needs of the network of buyers and sellers.
Q: You mentioned Corcentric’s focus on process automation, can you elaborate on how this removes roadblocks and allows sellers to do their job?
SF: There’s a gentleman at Daimler whose famous quote is “sell more parts”. These salespeople, they’re not even on the truck sales side, they’re selling aftermarket parts and services. Daimler wants their people out there selling parts and helping the dealers to grow their parts sales and volumes. They don’t want their sellers tied up with collections and disputes. They want a partner who can help run all the processes and systems behind the scenes to take the burden off Daimler so they can sell more parts and that’s exactly what Corcentric does.
AF: When we’re talking to sellers about the program and trying to get them enrolled or use it more, we say to them you can outsource your receivables to Corcentric and we’ll pursue all the sticky financial details so you can go do what you do best: sell. Our goal is to take all the friction and pain out of that transaction. For instance, when folks are fumbling with credit cards or credit applications and all the financial stresses around them, we take that out. So what happens is someone says I am part of the Fleet Boost program, here’s my account number, and parts get handed across the counter or units get repaired, and everyone is back to business. It’s that simple.
Q: Can you talk about your individual involvement in the process automation and building the program out?
AF: As a program manager, one of my jobs is to listen to the needs of the network buyer, seller, or client in terms of AR management. What kind of reporting do they need? What kind of APIs do they need? Then I work internally with our integrations and product teams to determine the best way to bring them that kind of solution. As far as design goes, when Corcentric was first taking over the program, Steve and I worked for a year and half helping to design CorConnect, the AR management solution that underpins the operation. Then there’s ongoing involvement in adding services or integrations.
SF: We both have a lot of longevity so there are a lot of things we both know but our respective strengths lie in different areas. While Amanda handles day-to-day activities and understanding the needs of the client, my focus has been more on growing the program and finding the evolution of what we can do to bring in more volume. It’s not just marketing or sales efforts but finding ways to support program members so that they want to work with us and take advantage of what we offer. We both have the experience and relationships with Daimler and their network to identify those opportunities.
Q: It sounds like your ability to create positive customer experiences has largely contributed to the success of the program. Can you speak to this?
SF: Our background is really in customer satisfaction and customer development. We are more people-oriented, which is weird for a couple of introverts, but we focus heavily on the network of customers and trying to create good experiences for them. When customers are engaged with us, that’s how we drive more success and satisfaction, and in our world, satisfaction leads to volume and purchasing. People aren’t going to want to transact with us if they’re not happy and don’t feel supported. As we work with the individual buyers and sellers of the program, when they leave an interaction with us (that often starts because a problem occurred) and they felt heard and got what they needed, they’re going to want to use us again and more importantly they won’t hesitate to reach out if there is a problem. When Daimler is successful, then we get to be successful, because we ride along with them.
Q: What advice would you have for businesses looking to improve their AR management?
SF: Having spent time working for Daimler and now working for Corcentric as a vendor who supports them, I feel like I can see this from both sides. With that in mind, my recommendation to any company would be to make sure that their people are focused on their core business, whatever that business might be, and partner with companies like Corcentric who can provide the services that are their area of expertise. Supporting other companies with their AR management through our people and technology is what we do, and we are passionate about it. Daimler does what they do best, and they let Corcentric do what we do best, so together we can achieve amazing results.
AF: I echo Steve’s comment about focusing on the core business. Success comes down to people and the relationships we build amongst our stakeholders. Invest in the people, find their strengths, and focus on bringing the power of your people together with your core business.
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