Steve Hansen- Minimizer Sales Manager
Headquartered in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, USA, Minimizer manufactures poly truck fenders, poly toolboxes, customized mud flaps, and bracket kits. Family owned and operated for nearly three generations, Minimizer’s parent company Spray Control Systems, Inc., was founded in 1983 by Dick Kruckeberg. Dick was a truck driver and was consistently disappointed with his metal fenders bending, cracking and breaking. He invented his own solution: The Minimizer poly fender.
Now, 27 years later, Minimizer has over 50 employees, and goes to market via an international distribution network making Minimizer products available locally on a national level throughout North America.
The product and the Minimizer lifetime guarantee are the foundation of our success. Minimizer fenders never need paint, never fade, never rust, never crack and never need polishing. They are “Tested and Tortured” before they go on your truck to make sure they can withstand any challenge.
Minimizer continues to grow our core fender product line and is expanding into new materials such as chrome poly and new markets such as military applications. The Company has experienced significant growth over the past decade as a result of investments in marketing and sales, new equipment, research and development enhancements and a new corporate campus.
Much of our sales are via independent distributors. They are the lifeblood of Minimizer and we view the relationship as a partnership. We recognize independent distributors enjoy a unique flexibility allowing them to sell to all heavy-duty customers with a much broader product mix. And because of the high level of service provided by independent distributors, customers and fleets have a much better buying experience.
Critical strategies for success with our independent distributors are communication, training and sales support. Minimizer’s goal is closer integration with distributors for improved training, product support and the resulting sales increases. We want to do more fleet calls and onsite training with distributors.
Training has always been a central focus of the Minimizer sales process. The company consistently leverages the most up-to-date technology for increased and improved training. Sales meetings occur in a room with the words “Training, Training, Training” stenciled on the wall. Minimizer is unique in that we don’t use manufacturer representatives. With the exception of our Canadian territory manager, all of our sales representatives are based at our Minnesota headquarters. This provides us with unique control and consistency with our sales channel execution. Our 9 territories each have a manger that visits distributors monthly for training purposes. When not traveling with distributors our sales managers leverage webinars for remote training.
Minimizer is also focused on lead generation for our distributor network. We aggressively market to the end user, spending over $1 million annually attending tradeshows, advertising in trade publications, sponsoring industry functions and utilizing a state-of-the-art website. The leads generated are sent directly to distributors to close the loop on the sale.
The distributor relationship is so critical to Minimizer that we sign a partnership promise with all distributors. It’s a written agreement ensuring what each party will provide – leads, marketing support, custom sales sheets, training, and a long-term partnership. To this end… we also attend the CVSN Summit each year. This Summit provides a productive meeting venue and allows for face-time with our important customers in both a business and a casual setting. We always garner new partnerships and new business at CVSN.
CVSN also provides valuable private strategic planning sessions and round table discussions where we receive valuable feedback from industry leaders. We believe this past show was the most important meeting this year in the heavy-duty aftermarket industry. CVSN is a terrific investment for the future of our business.
As we move forward we are committed to providing innovative products manufactured to the highest standards so you, our valued distributor, can confidently go to market and win business.
For more information or to contact Steve Hansen directly please call (800) 248-3855, email him at steve@minimizer.com or visit www.minimizer.com.
