Dealer Spotlight: North Central Bus & Equipment
Dealer Spotlight: North Central Bus & Equipment
Interviewee: Paul Fiereck
Title: Sales Representative
Q. How are propane bus sales going in South Dakota?
A. Actually, South Dakota is one of the three states where we don’t have any propane buses right now. That’s why they are such a good target market.
Q.What are you doing at North Central Bus & Equipment to change this?
A. I teamed up with Ryan Zic with ROUSH CleanTech and did a sales blitz in South Dakota to see if we could shake out some sales.
Q. How did you accomplish this?
A. We reached out to CHS, the local propane company, to put together an event with the idea of gathering influencers in one place. We thought, “Why not have the fuel provider bring in potential customers?”
CHS invited customers on the fuel side or in their local depot areas that CHS felt were the folks who would have the most influence over school district decision makers.
We developed an itinerary which included a product presentation from ROUSH CleanTech and Blue Bird and a ride and drive event. The fuel providers sat through the presentation, so we were selling to both the district and the fuel provider at the same time. CHS presented on the infrastructure side. Of the 10 people from CHS who attended, we now feel like they are salespeople helping to sell both propane and propane buses. Plus, this event solidified my relationship with the propane provider, and they’ll know who to go to with propane bus questions—and hopefully leads!
Q. Did this event lead to any solid leads or sales of propane buses?
A. I’m happy to say that we have a few school districts that are very interested in buying our propane buses. I feel like that without the event, South Dakota would still be unaware of this clean-operating, low-NOx propane technology.
