Every other year, Hawker hosts a National Sales Meeting with our dealers to regroup and share news about products, resources, and company activity. This year’s meeting, was held at the Omni Montelucia resort in Scottsdale, AZ, September 20th - 23rd. Below are some highlights from the meeting.

Awards

Hawker wouldn’t enjoy the success we experience today without the impact and support of our dealers, who are crucial in delivering the best customer experience. On September 20th, we held an awards dinner to celebrate our fiscal year (FY) 2018 Dealers of Excellence and FY2018 Target Busters.

The Dealer of Excellence award is achieved by hitting various benchmarks/DOE report card, which is monitored each year based off the previous respective dealer’s activity and performance with Hawker. The Target Buster award is achieved by a dealer surpassing a sales goal established by Hawker each fiscal year.

FY2018 Dealer of Excellence Award Recipients:
ABT Power Management, Inc. – Greensboro, NC
ABT Power Management, Inc. – Nashville, TN
Andersen Material Handling – Deerfield Beach, FL
Battery Concepts, Inc. – El Paso, TX
Black Equipment Co. – Evansville, IN
Brodie – Lawrence, MA
Cardinal Carryor – Louisville, KY
CISCO, Inc – Grand Rapids, MI
Courtney Industrial Battery – Kimberly, WI
Equipment Depot – Cincinnati, OH
Forklifts of St. Louis – St. Louis, MO
Handling Systems – Phoenix, AZ
Industrial Battery Supply – West Valley, UT
Industrial Power Products – Memphis, TN
Material Handling, Inc. – Dalton, GA 
Miami Industrial Trucks – Dayton, OH
Midwest Power Industries – Kansas City, MO
NMC, Inc.  - Omaha, NE
Pape Material Handling –  Eugene, OR
Pape Material Handling – Seattle, WA
Pape Material Handling –  Spokane, WA
Pape Material Handling –  Yakima, WA
Performance Battery Group – West Chicago, IL
Prolift, Inc. – Buffalo, NY
Reynolds Battery Service– Petaluma, CA
Southern States Motive Power – Tampa, FL
Southern States Motive Power – Valdosta, GA
Thompson & Johnson Equipment – East Syracuse, NY
Welch Equipment – Denver, CO
Wells Industrial Battery – Choctaw, OK
Wilson Barrett / Towlift – Northwood, OH

FY2018 Target Buster Recipients:
ABT Power Management, Inc. - Nashville, TN
Andersen Material Handling - Deerfield Beach, FL
Battery Concepts International - El Paso, TX
Battery Concepts International - Mexico
Cardinal Carryor - Louisville, KY
Courtney Industrial Battery - Kimberly, WI
Dimorent - Mexico
Equipment Depot - Cincinnati, OH
Forklifts of St. Louis - St. Louis, MO
Handling Systems - Phoenix, AZ
Industrial Battery Supply - Salt Lake City, UT
Industrial Power Products - Memphis, TN
Material Handling, Inc. - Dalton, GA
Midwest Power Industries - Kansas City, MO
Montacargas AC - Mexico
Oldham Batteries - Canada
Pape Material Handling - Portland, OR
Pape Material Handling - Seattle, WA
Pape Material Handling - Yakima, WA
Performance Battery Group - West Chicago, IL
Prolift, Inc. - Buffalo, NY
Reynolds Battery Service - Petaluma, CA
Wells Industrial Battery - Choctaw, OK
Wilson Barrett/Towlift - Northwood, OH

We also honored Pape Material Handling - Yakima for achieving the Greatest Marketing Share, Reynolds Battery Service as Largest Single Dealer Location, and ABT Power Management, Inc. as the Top Sales Producer and Largest Dealer.

Pictured: Pape Material Handling - Yakima, Greatest Market Share

Pictured: Reynolds Battery Service, Largest Single Dealer Location

Pictured: ABT Power Management, Inc., Top Sales Producer and Largest Dealer

Our prestigious First, Best, Energized award for FY2018 was presented to Battery Concepts International, Inc. - El Paso, TX. This award is given to one dealer that exemplifies outstanding traits, including: solutions seller, 100% exclusive HAWKER dealer for more than 13 years, a “whatever-it-takes attitude”, customer-focused, respected by and supports other dealers, easy to conduct business with and challenges Hawker without complaining.

Pictured: Battery Concepts International, Inc. (El Paso, TX), FIRST, BEST, ENERGIZED FY2018 Award  

September 21st: First Day of Meetings

Our first general session meeting featured keynote speaker, Mark Schulman, motivational speaker and drummer for P!nk. Mark focused on behavior and attitude mindset adjustments (like turning your “have to’s” into “get to’s”), that can benefit everyone with how they view their current situations and making the most of them. He walked us through his ABCs: Attitude, Behavior, and Consequence and how each one of us is in control of our unique situations. Mark has created a special video for Hawker, which can be viewed here. 

Dean Portney, VP of Sales and Marketing for Hawker, discussed past sales and the current market. Luis Barragan, Hawker Plant Manager, discussed renovations happening to the Hawer facility as well as the implementation of LEAN management and what that means for our customers.

Joern Tinnemeyer, CTO and Sr. VP for EnerSys, discussed the newest, cutting-edge HAWKER FLEX Li3 lithium battery product and inductive charger, which will debut at Promat 2019. Joern also demoed the new Gen. 2 TPPL Flex battery we plan to launch soon.

That afternoon, we had four breakout sessions discussing: FLEX and FLEXPAK TPPL batteries, our soon-to-come Lithium battery (FLEX Li3), performance selling, and HawkerNet - our premier, cloud-based cost-savings management tool. 

September 22nd: Second Day

Attendees started their second day by enjoying an activity of their choosing, whether it was mountain biking, horseback riding, hiking, golfing, relaxing at the spa or resort, or even a Jeep tour of the desert. 

We reconvened that afternoon for our last day of general sessions. Kenda Carter-Mansfield, Director of Marketing for Hawker, discussed modern marketing tactics, including social media platforms and best practices, Hawker’s incentive trip program, and new product videos available for our dealers to use with customers.

George Miller, Hawker’s Director of National Accounts, discussed updates to our National Accounts, as well as, introduced our newest team member, Bobby Brankely, and his role within National Accounts. George also spoke about last year’s sales for National Accounts and projected growth and strategy for the next fiscal year. 

Following George, each presenter from both days returned to the stage to answer questions they received during their respective sessions that needed further investigation. And to wrap up the meeting, the drummers of BOOM! stormed the stage and delivered an energy-packed performance.

Closing

Our National 2018 Sales Meeting went spectacularly well and we look forward to the new opportunities that lie ahead. We’re so thankful to have a network of dealers that work hard to keep HAWKER growing and continuing to exceed expectations for our customers.

Pictured: Hawker Sales Team

With over 75 authorized sales and service centers across North America, HAWKER can provide the best solution for your business’ needs. From forklifts to AGVs, we offer a range of solutions that will bolster production while keeping your operation sustainable and environmentally-conscious. Contact your local HAWKER representative today by calling 1-877-7HAWKER or click here.