When Cornwell Quality Tools distributor John Patterson bought his current truck, a 2013 Freightliner M2, it had already had two previous owners in under three years. At the time, Patterson was driving around a 2007 Bush C5500 truck. When the ad went up for the Freightliner, Patterson had just begun considering custom ordering a new truck. Joined by his son, he flew down to Memphis, Tennessee, to look at it, then flew back down to drive it home shortly after.
“It was one of those situations where it was just kind of like the right place, right time,” says Patterson.
Equipped with a Cummins diesel engine, Allison transmission, and a Spicer rear end, the Freightliner was too good to pass up.
“My father is a diesel [technician] by trade,” says Patterson. “When I explained all that to him, he said, if I don’t buy it, I’m an idiot.”
Customized to fit
Since 2007, Patterson has been on the road in Northwest Baltimore County selling tools. He sells to a variety of places, from mom-and-pop shops to dealerships, and even a bus depot.
When looking for his new truck, Patterson wanted to make sure whatever he bought had more room than his previous truck. That, along with more reliability, was exactly what the Freightliner offered.
Typically, the kind of truck Patterson drives only has one shelf for the toolbox opening, so he custom-ordered a second one for additional tool storage and built some of the displays himself.
“I built the bulk of the display on the top shelf myself,” explains Patterson.
He also added a custom cordless tool display for all the Milwaukee tools he carries. The display can hold around 26 tools at a time. Patterson estimates that around 25 percent of his shelf for the whole truck is just Milwaukee tools.
Organize with intention
After working in retail for most of his life, Patterson has a knack for keeping things organized. On his truck, he likes to organize products by their type/category, keeping things like diagnostic or brake servicing tools together.
“Every shelf has an area that specializes in what I sell,” Patterson says. “There [are] advantages to moving stuff around.”
One advantage that Patterson has noticed when he switches the placement of products, is that it encourages his customers to look at things that they might not normally go for. If they’ve come to expect their go-to tools to be in one spot, then they’ll only ever go straight to that area.
Aside from organizing to promote products, Patterson tries to keep his truck clean so that things are easily seen and found. At 20’, it can be hard to utilize the space to its fullest potential, but Patterson manages to do it well.
Sharing wisdom and looking forward
With 18 years as a distributor under his belt, Patterson understands the ins and outs of this industry. He encourages distributors who are looking for a new truck and have an opportunity to purchase one, to take that leap and make the upgrade.
“It’s only going to help their business,” explains Patterson. “That payment on a new truck might be scary, but the initial pain will go away.”
He’s seen firsthand the advantages of having a nicer, larger truck, and knows that the dividends pay out rather quickly. When he got the 2013 Freightliner M2, he saw a significant increase in his business just after the first month. More than that, he’s noticed that a customer’s opinion of a distributor can be affected by the state of their truck.
“Customers always want to do business with somebody successful,” Patterson says. “Part of that is having a nicer store to show up to their shop.”
Eager to make improvements to his truck where he can, Patterson plans on rewrapping his truck from an older Cornwell wrap to a newer Cornwell wrap this year.
