If you’re ever visiting Keene, New Hampshire, take a moment to look around the bustle of the city. You might see a 20’ MT 45 Freightliner navigating the tight, historic streets. In the driver’s seat, on the way to her next stop, is Cornwell distributor Gabby Libby.
The right truck for the job
Around four years ago, at the start of her career, Libby bought her 2002 Freightliner. She worked with Trans Lease for the financing and with Tim Herr as the builder. As far as features go, Libby wasn’t looking for much in particular, but she knew she wanted the truck to have good A/C and heat to fight the fluctuating temperatures of New Hampshire and a fridge to carry drinks and snacks for customers. It was also important that the truck was just the right size to get her down city streets, but still big enough to allow her to carry a good bit of inventory.
Libby stops at a wide variety of places, including dealerships, boat stores, and forestry businesses, so her truck is always fully stocked with the tools and equipment her customers might need.
“I work with all kinds of different people,” Libby says. “Pretty much anyone who uses tools for anything, I go there.”
Evolving organization
When it comes to making sure there’s space on the truck, both for inventory and customers to move around comfortably, Libby is always finding ways to organize her product offerings. Whether it’s getting rid of a display, like the air tool rack she removed for additional wall space, or shifting things around in other ways, she’s always looking for new ways to display tools as her business grows.
When customers compliment her truck, she knows she’s doing something right.
“I get compliments on [my organization] quite a bit in comparison to a lot of the other trucks that my customers deal with,” Libby says. “My biggest thing is I try to make everything visible to my customers.”
Designated spaces
The technicians Libby deals with aren’t eager to sift through cluttered inventory, so she takes the extra step to keep products visible and put price tags on everything. She finds that being able to see the tools sparks more interest than just having the box jammed on a shelf might. Customers can easily grab a tool and get a good feel for whether or not they might want to buy it.
Additionally, Libby likes to group certain products to help customers who come onto the truck looking for something to get a specific job done. Electrical stuff is in one area, diagnostics in another, and so on.
The biggest thing, again, is that inventory on Libby’s truck is organized in such a way that everything is visible so that when a customer comes onboard, they can head right for the section they need. It eliminates rummaging and gets the technician off the truck and back to work much faster.
“Knowing where everything is, I can just be like, ‘Yes, on that shelf over there,’ if I’m dealing with multiple people and there’s no problem finding what I’m telling them to look for,” Libby explains.
Utilizing a smaller space
While Libby’s truck is a little narrower than some other distributors', she doesn’t let it hinder her business.
“I wouldn’t really say it’s been a challenge,” Libby says. “Its hallways are a little more narrow on this [truck] versus other body styles, but shelf-wise, I have a great amount of space. So, I just try to utilize every bit of it.”
By using her shelf space, the floors remain clutter-free, allowing for more technicians to occupy the space at the same time. In addition to eliminating clutter, having the products on shelves puts them at eye-level with technicians, ensuring that they get a full view of all inventory.
Despite its somewhat smaller size, Libby’s truck is perfectly tailored to serve both her and her customers.
