Wiers is now serving the great state of Texas.
Tom Wiers & Steven Donahoo sit down and discuss the Wiers acquisition process of Allison Trans Tech and Bell Equipment Service in Corpus Christi, TX. This is the tenth Wiers location offering 24/7 Truck Repair and Fleet Service to national and local companies requiring commercial truck maintenance and repair and the second location outside of the midwest. Corpus Christi is a unique opportunity because Allison Trans Tech was an Allison Transmission Dealership and has a Parker Chelsea agreement bringing new specialized services to the Wiers product and service offerings.
We’re excited to have Steven and his team join the Wiers family!
If you’d like to learn more about the Wiers growing network or would like more information about how we’re growing, visit sellmytruckrepairshop.com
Here is the transcript of the video:
Steven – We started the company in 2012, me and a toolbox, about a thousand square foot building, possibly couldn’t even get a truck in the door, only a 12 foot door. Over the years, we’ve grown into an Allison Transmission dealer. Then we expanded into the Chelsea PTO. Chelsea PTO turned into a partner agreement. Now we’re a Parker Truck Hydraulic Center. So we do cylinder pumps, valves, anything Parker has on a truck. Nothing NASA. Only on a truck. Just grew the business and as customers needed more service to try to provide that.
Tom – You know, what Steven’s done is really kind of an American success story, right? I mean, he was in the Army, came out of the Army, worked as a technician, saw an opportunity to go into business for himself, took a big risk, right?, Stopped, quit a good paying job, didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. And 12 years later, you know, he’s built a very nice business in Corpus Christi and provides a real valuable service. The things that they’re doing in their shop are incredible, from big transmissions down to transmissions that go into a medium-duty truck. But also, you know, the diversity and such. It’s really, really drew me into Steven’s opportunity here.
Steven – The previous owners of Bell came to us and they were looking for someone to purchase the company that their customers already had a relationship with and entrusted. And we were those people. So we purchased Bell and just kind of added on our service. And that’s where we tried to create the one-stop shop.
Tom – And we’re looking to grow that part of the business. Steve and I have already been looking at other properties within the Corpus Christi market to help give that location its own space, help it grow, and in turn we can take the main location and grow it as well. Again, it goes back to what changes can customers see. Hopefully, they can see faster turn time, you know, and more capabilities, more capacity so we can get their trucks in and out quicker than maybe we are today.
Steven – I think now’s the right time to partner with Wiers due to a lot of things. One of the big things was COVID. We made it, but it was stressful and we had a couple of guys in the hospital, three guys at one time. Three main guys of the company at that. What if that was me? What happens to those guys’ jobs? Everybody else? What happens to the team if I, if I die? And this again, fixes that problem to where this thing’s going to go on. And it doesn’t depend if Stevn’s there every day or whatever happens. Tom and I seem to share a lot of values between companies personally also, I think. We don’t know each other that well I guess, but we’re getting there. Company culture seems the same. That’s a big thing for me. When we bring somebody in and they have to fit our culture. Like, if not, it is toxic. And me and Tom, I think we agree on that. I think it’s going to be a really good fit.
Tom – And I think the other thing that Steven and I talked about was, you know, his business right now is at a stage where to grow to the next level, it’s going to require a lot of investment, right? More team members, a level of expertise to go from 1 to 2 or 3 shops that, you know, is hard to pull off. And Steven and I talked about is his ability just to basically plug into the Wiers’ infrastructure and system and our ability to help him take that journey. That would maybe take years and years. We can do it in a much, much shorter time frame.
Steven – Well, Wiers got more applicants for a technician in three days than I got all year. So there’s stuff like that. That’s what, that’s why it’s. This needs to happen.
Tom – That was a fun test we ran over, over a weekend is to test our recruiting capabilities and we got how many, how many like ten? Eight?.
Steven – 8 to 10 I think.
Tom – Yeah. Over the weekend.
Steven – So that’s kind of an example of why this is appetizing for me. Also, you know, it’s going to be able to help me expand, help me grow employees, team, all-around marketing. And also if I don’t do this, I’m going to have to rebrand the company per se. I got to combine the two companies that we all now rebrand, re-signage, re-blah… A lot of logistics that I don’t want to deal with and Tom coming in he rebrands overnight So.
Tom – Here we go.
Steven – Yeah
Tom – I’m really excited about the Corpus Christi opportunity and Steven joining our team because his background really parallels our company, where started out as a small, real small operation focused on serving the customers well, vehicle uptime, that sort of thing. And as we said, over 12 years, he’s grown into a really nice business. And, you know, it’s really an extension of what we’re trying to do as an organization which is started real small. And now we’re growing not only through acquisitions like Steven’s but also through organic initiatives like mobile maintenance as well as even start-ups.
Tom – So it’s a real good fit. It’s a brand new market for us, which is Texas. We don’t have any locations in the Texas market and we feel this is a good opportunity to get a beachhead if you will, and then try to expand out of Corpus Christi into Houston and San Antonio and Austin, and other markets within the growing state of Texas. One of the favorite stories about this opportunity is how Steven and I met. We both have an industry contact that put us together. Made a nice introduction. We actually had a about a 90-minute Zoom. You know, I flew down to Corpus and Steve and I hit it off right away.
Tom – And the whole process has gone really smooth. Steve has been fantastic…
Steven – Too smooth. Too smooth.
Tom – I’m energized to have Steven as part of our team. I think he’s a very capable young guy with a lot of enthusiasm, energy, a lot of capability. Anybody that can grow a business from 0 to where he’s out today is clearly got talent and intelligence and drive and those sorts of things. This is a great launching point for us, a great person, great community, Corpus Christi. I’ve been down there. The folks are amazing. So there’s just a really good fit for Wiers and for the Wiers team.
Tom – I think it’s going to go fantastic and. I’m looking forward to a long-term partnership here with Steven and the Wiers team.
Steven – I think one of the biggest things I’m looking forward to is helping Wiers get into Texas and expanding. That’s one of my biggest goals out of this deal and everything that we did in 12 years. I’ve kind of figured out myself or through a partner of mine, and I’m ready to see a different aspect of it. I guess you could also say. This solves that problem with Wiers coming in and the new team, new technology should help us create a better environment for the team, plus the customers, and be able to get trucks out faster. Kind of catching up with the times of technology, I think is the trick for me.
Tom – Yeah, I think, you know, we’ve developed a lot of expertise as a larger organization in terms of accounting and finance. We’ve got great marketing programs. We have sales effort. So there’s a lot of back office if you will, or customer-facing things that we can do as an organization to help Steven and his team. As he mentioned, you know, they’re very good at fixing trucks. They’re very good at fixing complex problems when it comes to hydraulics and transmissions and those sorts of things. It’s going to be a great fit where we can take that burden off of his shoulder and let him focus on taking care of his employees, taking care of his customers, and growing the business in Texas.
Steven – I’m ready for a little bit of a different role, I guess you could say.
Tom – Right.
Steven – And I’m really excited about having that opportunity to help Tom expand Wiers.
Tom – Yeah, that was a common thread when we first met. You know, your interest in doing more than you’re doing today. And my interest in growing Texas and, you know, it was just an easy fit for both of us to say, you know, let’s do this, let’s do it together. Very cool.
