Portland, OR, Nov. 15, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- “Times are changing,” says Pamela Jenkins, part owner of Springfield, Missouri-based Jenkins Diesel, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. “Trying to keep up with technology is almost mind-boggling at times.”
It’s a sentiment shared by many in the trucking industry, but not everyone chooses to act on the evolving relationship between technology and business.
Jenkins Diesel was founded by Ed Jenkins, who began as a trucker in the 1930s, hauling cedar and grain between several Midwest states. While on the road, Ed did all of his own maintenance work, and he was at the forefront of the gasoline to diesel transition in the 1940s and ‘50s. In 1956, Ed opened a diesel engine maintenance and repair shop in the same Springfield location where Jenkins Diesel exists today.
“Humble beginnings,” Pamela Jenkins says, reminiscing on the rich history of her family’s business. “We started with two people, and two bays. Now we’re a nineteen-bay, full-service truck dealership with sixty-five employees.”
It may sound like a huge leap, and it is – but Jenkins Diesel still stands true to their family values and roots, practicing their dealership’s slogan of “One Team, One Goal” in everything they do. “We’re all owners,” Jenkins explains. “Leadership is in our actions, not the titles of our positions.”
A successful business model, to be sure. But in the modern era, a successful truck dealership needs more than just a physical storefront. Jenkins and her team are fortunately aware of this reality.
“Our website is critical for our dealership, without a doubt,” Jenkins says. “It’s critical for the very nature of whom we serve. Looking at the activity on our website, we sometimes see spikes at two in the morning when customers are sitting at a truck stop. They are so impressed when we are able to get back to them about their request or service appointment as quickly as possible – not eight a.m. the next day.”
With the tremendous amount of detail involved in truck sales, the query process needs to be as efficient as possible for customers. Truck customers need condensed information. Dealer Spike's website provides just that. “Because our audience is so mobile, we can’t just send out marketing materials to a certain demographic and wait for customers to come. We need to be everywhere, all the time,” Jenkins says.
Before signing on with Dealer Spike last summer, Jenkins Diesel’s previous web provider was a local Springfield company that served all types of different businesses. “Our website was flat – it didn’t encourage interaction,” Jenkins says. She and her team were in the process of building a new website with an entirely new provider when Dealer Spike reached out. “Dealer Spike’s abilities and the enhancements being offered far surpassed the company we were working with,” Jenkins explained. “We abandoned our original plan and went with Dealer Spike. After speaking with a few designers and technical employees over there, I was immediately certain we’d made the right decision.”
Based on other successful dealership websites, even those in completely separate industries such as powersports and RV, the Jenkins Diesel team was assured that Dealer Spike could manage an inventory-based website, moving units on & off regularly with fairly easy back-door access. “Our previous provider had a lot of difficulty with that,” Jenkins said. She also had trouble with keeping the site updated. “Every time a change was needed, it was an extra cost and not enough staffing to get it done. But we needed versatility to keep people coming back to the site.”
One year into the website launched by Dealer Spike, Jenkins couldn’t be happier. Her list of benefits from the partnership seems to be ever-growing, but some major highlights include the superior customer service, a responsive website that “pays for itself” due to improved customer interactions, and the simplicity but superiority in site design.
“One of the biggest gains, outside of how easy it is to interact with customers, is the clear and concise presentation of what we offer,” Jenkins says of the site’s design. “We get lots of compliments on that. People tell us it’s easy to find things in just a few clicks.”
With the new website, Jenkins Diesel is more than a few steps ahead of competitors, and those in the trucking industry who don’t yet see the importance of a strong web presence.
“It’s like when someone tells you something’s too good to be true,” Jenkins says of her dealership’s partnership with Dealer Spike. “Any bump in the road has actually come from over-delivery.”
It is because of that over-delivery and complete customer satisfaction that Jenkins and her team chose to feature a slide on their website’s homepage celebrating their one-year anniversary with Dealer Spike.
ABOUT JENKINS DIESEL
Jenkins Diesel Power, Inc. is located in Springfield, Missouri, and serves the four-state area of Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas. The dealership provides sales, certified parts, and services for Western Star, Isuzu, and Sterling trucks. In addition, Jenkins Diesel is authorized to work on Freightliners and other heavy-duty diesel-powered trucks.
ABOUT DEALER SPIKE TRUCK
Dealer Spike is a world-wide digital advertising company focused on helping truck dealers increase sales and service profitability through online digital advertising and training. We provide innovative, powerful, distinctive web solutions and tools to hundreds of dealers worldwide. Our expertise comes from real-world dealership experience and a passion for listening and responding to our dealers' needs in the marketplace.