Original Article:
How NC Trailer Sales stands out amid tougher competition
By Kevin Ellis
12/01/2024
Business North Carolina
The competition can’t hide in the sale of trailers, and Johnny Shelton could see more large dealerships sprouting in lots along the highways near his North Carolina Trailer Sales business in Thomasville.
To fight back, North Carolina Trailer Sales changed the way it attracts customers, focused on getting repeat business and borrowed some strategies from auto sales to make it easier for people to buy from him.
Those changes are paying off as NC Trailers grew from $4.7 million in sales in 2017 to $7.5 million in 2020 and $10.6 million last year. Trailer unit sales increased from 800 in 2015 to 1,500 in 2021.
NC Trailers also expanded its physical footprint by opening a second lot in November 2023 about 25 miles north in Winston-Salem. The expansion proved challenging, but appears to be paying off.
“There’s a lot of people between us and those two locations,” says Shelton. Because it’s in a larger city, the Winston-Salem location also should have excellent growth potential.
Trailer sales tend to follow the economy, with individuals and businesses buying them out of need, Shelton says. Trailer registrations, which are a market indicator, increased steadily between 2010 and 2019, and then exponentially in 2020 through 2022.
The number of large trailer dealerships within 80 miles of Shelton’s Thomasville location grew from 15 to 22 between 2020 and 2022, he says.
A steep drop in registrations followed in 2023 and has continued this year. The level is now down to the pace of 2015. Reasons for the decline include a slower overall economy, higher interest rates and a post-pandemic market correction, Shelton says.
NC Trailers sells about a dozen product brands and 10 different types, everything from concession and food trailers, landscape and utility, enclosed trailers and ones that come with a dumping feature. More than half of NC Trailers’ customers live within 80 miles of the store and about 95% are within 120 miles.
Online reviews are one way to attract customers, Shelton says. People may not be familiar with the differences between trailer brands and types, so they have to rely on the dealer’s help. NC Trailers has more than 1,400 reviews with at least a 4.8 out of 5-star rating on Google.
“Early on we set out to be the best-rated dealer in the Carolinas,” says Shelton. “It helps customers build trust in our brand.”
Shelton’s parents started NC Trailers in 1996. He spent his boyhood working on the lot after school, on weekends and during the summers. After he earned a civil engineering degree from UNC Charlotte in 2005 and spent several years in engineering-related jobs. In 2011, he returned to the family business, which then had two employees. By 2015, when he bought the company, it employed six.
Shelton says he wanted to grow the business. One way was to attract return customers. He hired a mechanical staff to work on trailers, whether the customer had bought a boat trailer, horse trailer or a custom food trailer. He wanted someone who could help customers by assembling equipment, adding accessories or doing repairs. NC Trailer now has six employees doing those jobs.
“There’s a lot of trailers being sold, but there’s not a lot of people willing to work on them, and that’s one thing that sets us apart from our competition,” Shelton says. They’ve also expanded into recreational vehicle repairs, truck bed servicing and accessories and fifth-wheel hitch installation.
Having a robust service department similar to automobile dealers pays dividends in other ways, such as providing service reminders to customers, organizing processes and nurturing leads to help sell more trailers, Shelton says. The company works with Davidson-Davie Community College to help train workers, he adds.
To further grow, Shelton studied how automobile dealers arrange financing. Most of Shelton’s trailers cost between about $3,500 and $30,000. “If someone has $7,000, but they need a trailer that costs $10,000, we have expertise in-house that can help,” says Shelton. “We’ve truly got into a true financing and insurance department in the last four years.”
The different operations diversify the business, and prepare it for further growth, he says. “It’s almost like running three separate businesses,” he says. The ultimate goal is to continue expanding with more stores. By 2031, NC Trailer expects to add four dealership locations at undetermined North Carolina locations. Some stores will be new locations and others acquired businesses, he says.
Experimentation has also helped grow the business. In recent years, NC Trailers has created content for blogs, social media channels from Facebook to TikTok and websites. Monthly newsletters, email and text campaigns are part of the mix. A lot of little things can make a big difference, he says.
“The customer is the true test. They tell us with their wallets as much as they do their words,” he says.
Software changes have streamlined the customer experience and made it easier to shop online and see available inventory, Shelton says. Those changes made the transition of adding a second store in Winston-Salem smoother.
“We’ve had to learn a lot to operate that location efficiently,” Shelton says. The Winston-Salem store has three employees and an inventory of between 80 and 100 trailers, about one-third of what’s available in Thomasville, Shelton says. Most office functions such as financing take place in the original location.
The software changes also help NC Trailers share inventory information, improve hiring and training practices and ensure that sales leads go to the right store.
In the past year, NC Trailers has conducted more than 100 employee training sessions and recognized 200 employee achievements during company meetings.
“We believe in working together to support the significant moments in each other’s lives, our customers and our community,” says Shelton.
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