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Knowledge Cafe |
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The Circle of
Innovation
You Can't Shrink
You Way To Greatness
by Tom Peters
From the dust jacket: "Tom Peters--brilliant, original, and perhaps the most inspiring and listened to business thinker of our time--has a lot on his mind these days. And he wants to share it in The Circle of Innovation.
The world of business is in a permanent state of flux, he argues, a state of chaos in which constant innovation is the only survival strategy--for the individual and for the organization. And he presents here a lifesaving handbook--both provocative and practical--designed to turn any organization into a perpetual innovation machine. . .
To keep us alert, limber, and ready for action, he provokes and cajoles in chapter after chapter. Among his intuitions and revelations:
We are all Michelangelos. He shows how to transform every "jobholder" into a full-fledged business person.
All Value Comes from the Professional Services. How to convert sluggish staff units into Vital Centers of Intellectual Capital Accumulation.
The System Is the Solution. How to build great systems--which go far beyond nuts and bolts.
Create Waves of Lust. Quality is not the automatic advantage it recently was. There is a pressing need to reverse the rising tide of product and service "commoditization."
Tommy Hilfiger Knows. In a crowded marketplace, branding is far more important than ever before. . .
Little Things Are the Only Things. As the Blight of Sameness encroaches on market after market, design is often the best tool in services or manufacturing for sustainable differentiation. . .
This book is energetic. . . and profound. It aims for the brain, the heart, and the soul. It can transform your organization, your career, yourself."
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This book was first published in 1997, so it is now about 13 years old. Some might think this amount of time in this lightening-paced world is an eternity, but really, it is today as much as any day.
I love Tom Peters, his books and his strong desire to be a bold and outspoken encourager of better business and change. His book, In Search of Excellence was my first experience with Tom's desire, and I loved it.
I particularly loved, The Pursuit of Wow!. It shows me how, for those who are willing, quantum leap change can take place.
This book, The Circle of Innovation, I love as much today as I did in 1997. You can open the book almost anywhere and read for 2-3 minutes and get some great ideas anytime you want. It is like a warehouse of ideas at your fingertips.
In today's business climate after the bust, crash, bump, skid, or whatever we might call these things, I think this book is more relevant than ever.
For the executive, it is a great book to keep near you in your office and several times a week, just pick it up and take a 5-minute reading break and get inspired. It makes a great reference book.
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There's no time like the present. Here is a link to get it right away. You can get the hardcover for a song and the softcover is available new. You will be so glad you did:
Book:
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K.C. Archive |
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Here is a list of books and audio's that have been recommended in the Knowledge Cafe.
The Circle of
Innovation
by Tom Peters
Raving Fans
by Ken Blanchard
and Sheldon Bowles
All Marketers Are Liars
by Seth Godin
Failing Forward
by John C Maxwell
Leadership Is An Art and Leadership Jazz by Max DePree
The Spirituality of Success by Vincent M Roazzi
Power In Praise by Merlin Carothers
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg & Hohn David Mann
The Gratitude Effect by John DeMartini
Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, MD
The Power To Have It All Audio Package by Bob Proctor
The Secret - Book and Audiobook by Rhonda Byrne
Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell
Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
As A Man Thinketh by James Allen
The Power of Focus by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt
How To Talk To Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere by Larry King
Lead the Field Audio by Earl Nightingale
Your Invisible Power by Genevieve Behrend
and
The Spirit of Opulence by Thomas Troward
You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor
Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, MD
You2 by Price Pritchett
The Magic of Believing by Claude M Bristol
Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins
Success Magazine
and
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People by Irving Tressler
and
How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy
and
How To Sell Anything To Anybody by Joe Girard
How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling by Frank Bettger
The Success Principle by Jack Canfield
Jeffrey Gitomer Little Books Collectors Edition: 5-pack of books plus CD
Enterprise One To One
and
The One To One Fieldbook by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer
Customers For Life by Carl Sewell |
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CTS Blog |
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Subscribe to our daily Commercial Truck Success Blog!
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Have A Great Day! |
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Smile. It's the easiest gift you can give someone. Better yet, tell someone something positive and uplifting today. It will make their day--and, it will make yours! |
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Show Your Favorites |
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Do you have some special favorite bodies or body companies? Or, perhaps you have photos of overloaded trucks.
Send us photos and a short story of your experiences and we will put them in the CTS IdeaLetter.
Send to:
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CTS is proud to be associated with the National Ford Truck Club
If you're part of a Ford dealer, we highly recommend you subscribe to the FordPros Magazine. It's FREE! Click on one of the links below to sign up and get access to their new website.
This is a great organization!
NEW WEBSITE
For the
National Ford Truck Club
or
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2010 NTEA
Work Truck Show |
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The National Truck & Equipment Association's huge annual event is coming up very soon. The Work Truck Show is an awesome event and a great chance to see truck bodies and accessories from all over the United States and the world.
The hotels fill up fast, so get registered right away. Last year's event in Chicago was off the charts great and Knapheide's party at the Navy Pier was a smash hit. Plan to attend and bring a friend!
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Tony Anderson of Harbor Truck Bodies shows off one of the new Masterack packages. Harbor is a Masterack distributor and can take care of your van interior needs.
Call Tony at 800-433-9452 and visit their website at www.htbi.net.
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Free
CTS Daily Inspirations
Email
We all need a little pump up to start our day, including myself. We now offer a Daily Inspirations email to give you some food for thought and a little encouragement. We began this new feature in Sep '09, and feedback is very positive.
To subscribe, click the link above "join our mailing list" logo. You will be sent an email to finalize your changes.
To see some samples, click here: Samples. If you prefer, an easy way is just to drop me an email (see link below) and put Daily Inspirations in the subject line. As always, you can unsubscribe easily at any time.
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Stratec Locks! |
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Recently, Strattec sent me 3 locks to try, one for GM, Ford and Dodge. I have to tell you that this is one sweet lock. The lock "codes" itself. You just take your ignition key, put it into the lock, turn it and unlock the lock. Now the lock is "coded" to that key only. Try another key and it doesn't work. It is just that easy.
Whether you use padlocks on your vehicle or storage facility or around your home, now you can have all the lock keyed to the ignition key of your GM, Ford or Dodge. You have got to try one of these locks to believe it. They aren't cheap, but they are heavy duty and they are an excellent value in my opinion. Try one and I know you will want more.
Learn more at:
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The Royal Touch |
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This design using removable plastic trays instead of metal dividers is such a simple idea and such a great idea. Customers love it. Bravo!
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AG Body Drawers |
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AG Body, Inc. is dedicated to designing and manufacturing a variety of specialized and standard tool storage products. By combining traditional craftsmanship with modern technology, we are able to offer a quality line of truck equipment products tailored to our customer's needs. The A G Body product line includes a selection of size-to-fit drawers, bolt bins, chests, cabinets, and boxes along with standard tool storage items.
Contact AG Body for your storage needs at
800-786-2639
and visit their website
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Welcome! |
Welcome to the Commercial Truck Success Idealetter!
Published every other week, the Idealetter is an informative thought starter and news source for busy commercial sales professionals and managers with numerous links to great products, the Commercial Truck Success website, Daily Blog and many other links to useful information, tools and inspiration!
Please feel free to offer comments and suggestions for future topics that are of interest to you. Also, please forward this to others you wish to share it with. There is a forward email link at the bottom of this page. I wish you success! Keep up the good work! And, never stop learning! - Terry Minion, Editor |
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TruckStairs Saves Your Back |
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Save Time, Money, and Your Back
Allows Simple and Easy Access to the bed of Any full size truck. The days of climbing onto your Tailgate to access your truck bed are over.
This could be the single greatest PU Truck accessory ever devised. All full size PU truck beds are in the vicinity of 36" off the ground. With Truckstairs its like walking up a comfortable set of stairs, but now you're able to carry your tools and materials with you as you enter and exit your truck bed.
The stairs are wide enough to allow a furniture dolly to operate and thin enough to still be able to use the tailgate as a work platform.
This is a new product and will be introduced at the NTEA Work Truck Show at booth 493 on March 10th in St. Louis, MO. Distributorships are available. Contact Robert Carr Jr, Business Development Manager at 603-321-1991, or email for more information at robert@truckstairs.com.
Truckstairs is manufactured by New England Machine Co., of Manchester, New Hampshire. You can reach them by phone at 603-935-9210 and see more at their website: www.truckstairs.com. |
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Game Bird & Poultry Bodies From M H Eby |
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Game Bird Body
Live Poultry Body with Side Panels
Live Poultry Body
Since 1938, M.H. EBY has been building high quality, durable, bodies and trailers serving transportation needs in agriculture, equine, commercial, landscape and industrial uses. With three locations in Blue Ball, PA, Story City, IA and West Jefferson, OH, along with their dealer network, they serve the entire eastern United States.
EBY's aluminum transportation equipment is recognized for their exceedingly competitive empty weights, durable construction, attractive appearance and advanced designs. Shown above are a few examples of EBY's specialty bodies. You can see a wide range of truck bodies and trailers at their website: www.mheby.com. Or, please call them in Pennsylvania at 800-292-4752 or Iowa at 866-894-3297, and Ohio at 800-752-0507.
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Ute Bed - Versatile Pickup Truck Bed |
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Making Ultra-Light Trucks
More Effective = The Ute
The Ute [yoot-Australian for pick-up bed] bed is a way to take ultra-light pickups and make them more effective and useful as a work vehicle. One of the problems of using these vehicles for commercial work has always been and still is their capacity due to low gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), and when you install a typical steel service body or steel and wood or steel flatbed, this problem is amplified because of the weight of the body taking up an inordinate amount of the available cargo capacity. This leaves little payload to do commercial work, and so many who have tried this route have regularly overloaded their vehicles. This can be dangerous, so most of us in commercial truck land have been wary of light duty units--even 1/2-ton trucks--to do the work that the HD 3/4-ton and 1-tons that we sell regularly do. Of course, those have more capacity.
The Ute bed and other manufacturers are solving this problem with lighter weight bodies, so that the body installed in not much heavier than the pickup bed that came off, yet they offer a different and more effective method of handling cargo so that this arrangement can be a very effective light duty commercial vehicle. In addition, the Ute is available with a wide range of options to make their truck beds more effective for individual business needs.
With these very lightweight, yet extremely strong bodies available, along with some common sense, these ultra-light vehicles can make sense being used effectively in the commercial market. Welcome to the Ute Bed!
Above the photos show a Ute Bed with some optional tool boxes. This gives you the storage capacity of a typical service body on a truck this size with a small portion of the weight. There are many combinations of customizing the Ute Bed for most businesses.
The Ute bed is available as a General Motors Ship-Through via Dealers Truck Equipment in Shreveport, Louisiana (option code TDE) to make it very convenient for Colorado/Canyon dealers anywhere in the country to get a Ute Bed upfitted Colorado or Canyon with near standard shipping. What a benefit this is.
See more information on the Ute Bed at www.utebed.com or www.uteltd.com. You can reach their headquarters in Seattle, Washington at 866-883-2337. They also enjoy a network of dealers nationwide. |
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HitchHoist Portable Crane by Grablock Inc |
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This is the HitchHoist Portable Truck Crane from Grablock, Inc. of Ontario, Canada. It is powered by a 3,000 lb. hydraulic ram and allows one person to easily lift up to 750 lbs. HitchHoist Portable Truck Crane Benefits:
- Reduces the risk of back injuries.
- Saves on manpower.
- One person can operate without assistance and lift up to 750 lbs.
- Lightweight and Portable and can be shared among different trucks
- No modifications to the truck are required.
- Simple to install and easy to operate.
- No special tools required to install.
- Assembles and disassembles in minutes.
- Can lift loads directly on to back of truck even with tailgate down.
- Fits any standard 2" Class III or higher hitch receiver.
- Built-in self-leveling mechanism for operator safety.
- Heavy duty construction.
- Unit only weighs approximately 125 lbs. when fully installed on truck.
- The heaviest single component weighs about 40 lbs.
For more information on this interesting product, call Grablock, Inc. at 877-289-0390 and visit their website at www.grablock.com. |
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Harbor Truck Bodies Installs Video Back-Up |
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Harbor Truck Bodies now installs back up video systems for those bodies that have no rear visibility such as SuperStructure, Plumber Style Bodies, Service Bodies with Raised Roof, and many others where rear visibility is difficult or not available. Call your Harbor representative or Harbor Truck Bodies at 800-433-96452 for more information. Harbor's website is www.htbi.net. |
Guest Article:
TruckCraft TC-160 Lightning Spreader |
Here's a great way to save weight and increase payload for sand & salt spreading and dump body applications.
Products from TruckCraft are built with a combination of aluminum and stainless steel, the result is less weight and increased payload capability for the truck. A good example is the TC-160 Spreader. It is non-rusting and provides near "0" maintenance. TruckCraft uses the highest grade resistant aluminum available. The aluminum is 50-60 percent less weight than traditional steel construction.
TC-160 Lightning
This unit fits virtually any one ton dump truck body
Description:
TC-160 Lightning 12V Electric Undertailgate Spreader
Features:
- All electric - needs no hydraulic system
- 3/4 HP auger drive empties 15,000 lb/hr*
- 1/6 HP Spinner motor in protected housing
- Kit fits virtually any one-ton dump body
- Constructed of extruded T-5 allow & aluminum sheet for durability
- Installed unit weight - 275 lbs
- Backlit, fused, 100 Amp motor controller*
- Auto-level spinner requires no linkage
- Right angle spinner motor drive provides higher motor road clearance
- Stainless steel auger, spinner & Hardware
- All bolt-on kit installs in 5 hours
- Auger reducer is in-line premium helical gear type for 98% efficiency
- Spreads free-flowing material up to 3/4" diameter
- One year factory warranty
- *150 Amp Alternator recommended for 15,000 lb/hr output.
Options:
- 88" Wide model
- 96" Wide model
TruckCraft is located in Chambersburg, PA. They can be contacted at 717-375-2900 and you will find more products and more information on their great website at www.truckcraft.com.
TruckCraft also has a distributor network. Here is a link to find a dealer near you: Dealers
Guest article by Steve Taylor.
Steve is a consultant in the Truck Equipment business with over 30 years in the snowplow and truck body manufacturing business. Visit his website at www.truckarchitect.com. He specializes in the design and quality/reliability field and may be reached by email at steve@truckarchitect.com |
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CTEC Animal Control Bodies |
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Here is a selection of photos of some Animal Control bodies manufactured by CTEC (California Truck Equipment Company) of Downey, CA. They do a wide range of standard and custom bodies. Give them a call at 800-567-2832 and visit their website at www.ctec-truckbody.com |
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Demountable Concepts Inc. |
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The Demountable Truck Body System makes it possible to simply and safely demount and mount the body from the straight truck. This flexibility results in a highly efficient and cost-effective truck fleet. Demountable Concepts specializes in engineering and manufacturing the highest quality demountable systems available. With unfaltering success, the Demountable Truck Body System has proven to be the answer for increasing fleet and warehouse efficiency for the straight truck operator.
Demountable Concepts, Inc. was founded in 1989 by Frank Fisher and Rustin Cassway for the purpose of becoming the market leader in the United States for demountable truck body systems or swap body systems.
Demountable Concepts, Inc.'s headquarters is located in Glassboro, NJ where highly trained and skilled workers manufacture demountable systems.
All systems are manufactured using the latest Auto-CAD technology. All equipment manufactured complies with the latest Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards in the US and Canada.
Demountable Concepts, Inc. is continually improving the products they manufacture. A nationwide network of service centers is available for service and installation. The "Demountable Team" is available to answer any questions you may have.
Call 800-254-3643 for fast, professional service. Please visit their website for a demonstration of this product at www.demount.com. |
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DewEze Bailbed and Spear Bed |
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400-500 Series Balebeds
► 500 Series fits new wider trucks and bed is a full 8' wide
► Hydraulic system with coupler at rear of the bed
► Bed sizes to fit any single or dually pickup from 7' to 11.5' long
► Power up/power down lifting linkage
► Parallel squeeze arms
► Wireless remote control Zero-leak poppet type valve system
► Six-inch bed frame stringers on the 500 Series
DewEze Flatbeds have proven their durability and trouble free performance in livestock operations across the United States. Simple maintenance done once a year keeps you up and going throughout the feeding season. It�s hard to find such reliability in anything but a DewEze!
400-500 Series Balebeds
First, with the remote control, use the unload function to lower the arms, and then the in function to squeeze the bale. After securing, use the load function to bring the bale on top of the bed, and use the out function to release the bale. For a second bale, repeat process and push the first bale forward. Reverse procedure for unloading, all this from the comfort of your pickup seat.
The Spear Bed
The DewEze Spear Bed was designed to be the best Spear Bed you can buy with the style and durability you have come to expect from a DewEze product. The quality features of this bed have a fit and finish that will complement any truck, from that older reliable farm truck, to any current model.
DewEze beds and other products are made by Harper Industries, Inc. of Harper, Kansas. You can reach them at 800-835-1042 and visit their website at www.deweze.com. |
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False Floor In Service Body Is Helpful |
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Robbins Quality Garage Doors, Inc was doing some work at the dealership we are working with and I just loved the way he has set up his service body. He has a false floor with some dividers to transport special items and keep them out of sight as well. You can't access them unless the door is opened. Notice the two ladders tucked in the larger compartment. Mr. Robbins says "you can never have enough ladders." The cargo area on the service body is lined with treadplate for additional durability.
This Harbor service body is mounted on a diesel HD 3/4-ton extended cab chassis with the LT1 package. That makes a sweet rig to move around in. Notice also the custom stainless steel rack that he's installed. It's designed to be able to carry large items up there like garage doors and have them well supported and an even load. Looks like this does the job.
If you're in Northern California and need some garage or industrial door work, including automatic gate systems, call Robbins' Quality Garage Doors, Inc. at 209-368-1159 in Lodi, CA or 209-744-1159 in Galt, CA. | |
