Mar. 3, 2009 – A developing business plan

INDIANAPOLIS — Curtis Industries is adjusting its sales approach this year, adding a national business development team that not only will gauge the marketplace but serve as a resource for dealers.
“Curtis Industries obviously has a very rich brand name with thousands of dealers across the United States and I didn’t think it was getting leveraged to its potential,” said Tom Dimauro, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing.
The manufacturer known for its ATV and UTV accessory lineup added the four-member business development team earlier this year. Dimauro said that team will spend its first 90 days in the field “asking dealers what they want.”
Eventually, Dimauro sees this team customizing specific dealer stocking programs, which will include marketing co-op, point-of-purchase displays and assistance with regional trade shows.
“Anything we can do to assist the dealer in helping them sell our product as a profit center,” he said, noting the eventual plan will not be “a cookie-cutter program” to be used by all stores, no matter their staff size.
Curtis Industries, a Worcester, Mass.-based company, started building cabs for tractors nearly 40 years ago. The company has recently began to put more and more concentration on the ATV and UTV markets. “Clearly the growth curve is in powersports,” Dimauro said of the company’s growth. “It was a big switch from years past. For 40 some years, it was tractor cabs, tractor cabs.”
Curtis Industries manufactures its snow plows but uses outside sourcing for most of its other product lineup, Dimauro says. Increasingly, those products are being made within the United States as the company has experienced some timing issues with product done overseas.
The biggest factor for the coming year, however, will be increased exposure for the history-rich brand. Dimauro will be looking toward the new business development team to push that.
“The biggest thing we have is a very talented, knowledgeable group of sales folks who can help a dealer sales team sell our product,” he said.