While designing his new 2020 Peterbilt 337 24’ truck, Cornwell Quality Tools dealer, Andy Powell, says the best word to describe his build for the truck is “efficient.”
Powell says his last truck was a money pit.
“The amount of money I sank into it was more money than just biting the bullet the first go around and buying a new truck,” he says. “I was sick of the downtime, the repair bill, and it never wanting to start in the winter when it got cold out. The new truck: best investment I made.”
For the Cornwell dealer’s new truck, he worked with Trans Lease and Herr Display Vans. Tim Herr, owner of Herr Display Vans, gave Powell a few floor plans from other mobile dealers with 24’ trucks. In the end, Powell wound up modeling his truck after another Cornwell Quality Tools dealer, Sean Fenton — the nation’s number one Cornwell dealer for 2020.
“[Fenton’s] floor plan was the best, and it utilized every part of the truck,” Powell says.
Aside from creating the most efficient floor plan possible, as soon as Powell was put on the build list with Herr, he started stocking up on products for the new truck.
“I wanted to set myself apart from my competition. When items went on sale... I bought four sets of each. Not for the intention of resale but to have to warranty or in case someone lost one. I didn’t want to have to rob from sets anymore, so I bought parts boxes and put all of the individual pieces from those sets into their designated box, labeled them part number-wise, and adjusted my inventory accordingly.”
Powell explains this has benefitted him tremendously, especially with the pandemic making it more difficult to get select items in stock.
To aid in his truck’s efficiency, Powell had everything customized to fit his needs – from the extra workstation, two mini-fridges, the pull-out drawers, and the vertical display pull-outs to the larger hammer rack, knife display, cordless tool rack, scan tool rack, and torque wrench rack. Additionally, he got a custom-built roll-around shelving unit to go in place of a toolbox opening for extra inventory storage.
For his workspace, Powell has an L-shaped desk with multiple drawers to hold things like paperwork, money, and warranty items. He also has his personal refrigerator and microwave in this space. Across from his desk, the Cornwell dealer has another workstation for more storage space. This area is also used for doing repairs on tools.
“This works for me because I have all of those warranty items right there beside me so I’m not constantly walking by customers disturbing them while they’re doing their shopping,” he says. “Also, I can quickly get the item that they need replaced and enter it in the system.”
Powell also decked out the outside of his truck with a “phenomenal” wrap done by Herr, non-functioning exhaust stacks, and billboard lights.
“A Peterbilt demands stacks and all the chrome they can get,” he says. “[But] the thing I like best about this truck is when I’m out late in the evening, going down the highway, and my truck is light up — billboard lights are a must.”
The Cornwell dealer also makes sure to wash his truck monthly because your truck is the first thing your customers see, he notes.
“That’s your image,” Powell says. “It’s me and my customers’ truck. They made this possible.”
With the length of Powell’s route, he says he’ll likely only be keeping this truck for around two-and-a-half years. He travels through Cass, Howard, Miami, Tipton, and Madison counties in North Central Indiana to visit a variety of businesses including agriculture shops; trucking companies; auto repair shops (dealerships/independents); body shops; city, country, and state highway facilities; wrecker companies; and industrial maintenance facilities.
For now though, with five years of experience as a Cornwell dealer under his belt, Powell is content to focus on his goal of finishing 2021 as Cornwell’s number one Hardline Ironman dealer.
“To me, being the number one Hardline Ironman dealer is being the best Cornwell dealer in the nation,” Powell says.
