Page 304 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

CORE VALUE: EXCELLENCE
Left to right: PTI parts warehouse; (L-R) Tyler Ahlborn, Branden Carpenter, Dustin Murphy, Indy Montoya and Kevin Sinclair in May 2015
so valuable is that they walk around with their chests puffed out like, ‘Don’t you wish you had one of these? We worked so hard to earn this.’ They like the fact that nobody else can get one, and they will always remember the specific task that earned them that hoodie.
“A huge part of the switch in attitude here at Trucks happened when Tom Bagwell took over,” says Sinclair. “He’s a machine. We don’t know how he does everything he does. But one thing he does is empower us. The whole reason he brought the Great Game of Business over here is to fight against the old, stereotypical way of doing business, which is: Just do it because that’s what I pay you for. Of course, we’re in business to make money, but the end goal here is to also have fun doing it. This is fun that we have at work, not after work. It’s fun be- cause we reached a common goal that’s brought profitability to our bottom line.”
And it’s certainly working. According to Peterson’s CFO, Erin Sorgel, “Peterson Trucks parts department PAD [profit-after-direct expense] for 2017 was four percentage points over 2016. That’s a pretty impressive figure. Even one percentage point growth is a big deal.” For Sinclair, that’s all part of the fun—setting goals and watching his crew outshoot them.
302 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG