Canyon State Bus Sales Offers Propane Bus Training
Canyon State Bus Sales began offering school bus maintenance and technician training simply to help its customers. Many are in remote areas — and don’t have access to a shop — so the dealership takes propane bus training to them.
Training coordinator Nate Hawbaker is a veteran when it comes to propane buses. He was with Canyon State Bus Sales in 2011 when the dealer took its first delivery of propane buses for Mesa Public Schools. He gained his propane knowledge with years of first-hand experience, with technical calls to ROUSH CleanTech, and by attending ROUSH CleanTech propane bus training. From his years of involvement, Nate developed a custom training program to include technician training and driver orientation.
Nate wants Canyon State Bus Sales’ customers to be knowledgeable, too. He schedules the first training session once a customer takes delivery of their new propane buses. Then, Nates offers ongoing training to all customers, new and existing. He regularly makes phone calls to find out how their customers’ operations are going and to introduce any new products. The dealership mainly provides this service to propane technicians, but Nate invites shop managers, business managers and school district transportation directors to attend. The latter group, he finds, is mostly interested in the safety and cost-savings aspects of propane.
Nate has also established himself as the local go-to person. “Customers can call with the question, ‘What if…?’” said Nate. “They love having someone on the technical side that will call right back to provide answers — it’s reassuring to them.”
So far this year, the dealership has held almost 30 training sessions, although not all propane-focused. Nate finds that customer satisfaction has increased enormously since offering training, and, recently, he implemented a follow-up survey to measure effectiveness. His goal for this data is to help the sales team sell more buses.
If you’re interested in offering propane bus training for your customers, you’re in luck! ROUSH CleanTech will be launching a new “Train the Trainer” certification program this fall. Stay tuned for more details.
