Based in Southern Maryland, independent mobile tool dealer and owner of TNT Tools Marty Pessagno has been selling tools for almost 13 years now after following in his brother’s footsteps.
For the first ten years of his tool selling career Pessagno worked for a flagship, but as he puts it, “I kind of [do] better working for myself than anybody else.”
As his own boss and a part of GEARWRENCH’s Street Team, he services shops and dealerships in Prince George’s County, as well as makes runs to Andrew’s Airforce base.
When he first started, Pessagno had a diesel truck. In his first month of business, he ran into a problem with the truck that he notes was “devastating,” as it had cost him almost everything to get started. Three years later in 2011, Pessagno was finally able to get rid of the problem truck and purchase his current truck, a Ford F10 with a gasoline motor.
Though the tool dealer had the opportunity to lay out the truck in a way that was workable for his needs, he admits that, “I’ve learned things over the years that I would change on the truck.”
Since Pessagno’s truck is a solid rear-axle, he lists adding airbags to the back as one update and adding a second A/C unit to keep the truck cooler.
He was also able to add some customizations to the truck, such as choosing the color of the straps that hold the tools to the ceiling – blue – and adding an area large enough to put two toolboxes on the truck.
For Pessagno, one of the most important parts of his business is presentation – inside and out.
“That's the first thing people see is your truck when it pulls up, the second thing they see is you, and third thing they see is the inside of your truck,” he says. “[It’s] real important that it looks good, so people want to come out there.”
The tool dealer keeps his truck neat and organized at all times, so he knows not only where everything is, but when customers get familiar with the truck, they can find what they’re looking for easily as well. Pessagno arranges his products so that tools used for specific jobs are together – A/C tools, body shop, electronics, etc, – and he keeps a lot of the point of sale products close to him up front. These are usually small items like soap or nail brushes.
Aside from organization, Pessagno’s biggest tip for other mobile tool dealers is to educate your customers on your products. What do you have in stock, what’s on sale, what deals do you have going on? He notes that you should put a sign on your sale items.
“Show [your customers] what you have on sale,” Pessagno says. “Also, make sure you hand out your flyers because the majority of your sales are going to come from the flyers.”
Overall, Pessagno is very happy with his truck, and in the future, he plans on adding another to go along with it.
