At TICF, ‘Driving Innovation Together’ is more than a tagline; it’s an approach to doing business that is woven into the fabric of company. Yes, continuous improvement, or Kaizen, is foundational to the Toyota Way of Working, but for dealers in the network it is also an advantage of working with a captive finance company.

With more than a focus on just the next deal, TICF is here to work with dealers on a long-term basis. We aim to meet the needs of your customers and your business; and doing so calls for a relationship built on mutual trust and success. We build that trust by working together, and after two years of limited travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic, today we are working to reintroduce ourselves, put faces with names, and ideate by bringing our teams to your dealership to meet in person.

A July visit to Industrial Power’s Lewisville, Texas, location generated a robust list of future-forward initiatives that left both teams energized. Stephen Lanahan’s June visit to MHC’s Overland Park location in Kansas was equally successful, with TICF representatives from credit and funding detailing process, programs, and policies. In August, Mike Francani and more team members will be visiting Allegiance Trucks in Hartford, CT. Thank you for welcoming us to be your partners.

While we cover approximately 75% of Hino customers using the portal, we are organically increasing the number of EIPP registrations by 50 to 60 customers per week. This effort is being supported by our Customer Service Team, who helps introduce this streamlined system to Hino Customers calling in who are not yet registered on the EIPP portal.

We will continue to increase self-service capabilities, while seeking new ways to provide “white-glove services” for our dealers and customers. Share this offering with your customers by including the Customer portal brochure in your delivery packet. Contact your RSM.

Contact your RSM to order these brochures for your customer delivery packets.

These survey results show an overall satisfaction with TICF as a lending source. Hino dealer satisfaction improved for a third year in a row, with 81% of respondents saying they are “very satisfied.” Improving Hino dealer satisfaction starts with identifying the highest-impact attributes, then pinpointing those items with the greatest areas of opportunity.

Seventy-six percent of Hino dealers are very satisfied with the retail credit department—a 1.6% improvement from 2021. Key metrics and opportunities to move from good to great include knowledge and experience of the staff, turnaround time on decisions, clarity in communicating decisions, ease of completing credit applications, and supporting documents when applying for credit. Additionally, we learned the retail credit experience was the number one driver of dealer experience impact on overall satisfaction.

Seventy percent of Hino dealers are very satisfied with the customer service department—a 4.7% improvement from 2021. Sixty-five percent were satisfied with other departments helping serve customers—a 4.6% improvement from 2021. Key metrics and opportunities to move from good to great include an assessment of the days of operation for the customer service department, the ease of obtaining information from customer service, and the helpfulness of the title department.

Results show that 52% of Hino customers are very satisfied with TICF as a financial services company. To lean into this opportunity, we are focused on reducing the hoops customers feel they must jump through. We can do that by giving them opportunities to provide feedback to TICF, answering their questions in a timely manner, resolving problems, and providing a customer-focused approach to service.

Forty-four percent of Hino customers are very satisfied with TICF’s online customer portal (among customers who are registered for and use the portal). We can transform the portal into a greater TICF strength by improving its performance, increasing its effectiveness by allowing customers to use it to make payments, facilitating enrollment for ACH payment process, making the process of one-time payments simpler, and increasing accessibility to invoices.

Knowing the results from our FY22 Dealer and Customer Satisfaction surveys helps benchmark where we are and where we must grow to continue to provide exceptional customer and dealer service. Our priorities as we move forward will be:

We appreciate everyone who took the time to respond and look forward to continuing to earn your business every day.

Jay Jarvis took over NETS about 11 years ago and now offers two showrooms – Avon, Massachusetts, and Smithfield, Rhode Island. The past 11 years have brought various challenges but the dealerships ability to overcome obstacles and create successes have made NETS the number one Hino dealer in New England. 

In late May, the TICF Sales team and Operations leadership team met to kick off FY23 and ask ourselves how we can continue to serve you better. While together, the group focused on collaboration, team building, and identifying great ways to continue to grow. 

The group had the pleasure of welcoming a valued Hino dealer, our Hino OEM partner, and associates from other departments to join the meetings. The various guests provided valuable insight into the industry and how TICF is positioned as a partner in growing business and driving the vision.

Glenn Ellis, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience for Hino, shared a status of the truck industry and a Hino motor update. He highlighted the work we accomplished last year and the tremendous dividends that resulted, along with a look ahead to the immense changes we are ready to embrace as we change and grow with the marketplace. In the next five years, the industry will change more than we have seen in the last one hundred years! 

Jay Jarvis, Dealer Principal of New England Truck Solutions, gave valuable dealer insights with overviews of respective success and opportunities, along with suggestions for ways TICF can further support its dealerships and clients. 

Mario Delfin, Director of Treasury and Financial Planning & Analysis, and Howard Lee, Manager of Financial Planning & Analysis, shared valuable insights into rising interest rates and how they affect TICF. 

Keith Courtney, Senior Manager of Sales, and Steve Lanahan, Central Region Regional Sales Manager for Hino Dealers, provided details on the various sales strategies that will allow us to continue to grow our business with a focus on ease of use of TICF by Dealers & Customers. There was lively discussion as RSMs shared ideas of what we can do as an organization to support this goal.

Jack Pellegreen, Senior Manager of Credit, and Scott Ashimine, Funding Manager, presented insights from the credit, funding, and title & transfers departments, including our title vendor change. We discussed our FY23 focus on ways to become more proactive.

Gina Gardner was introduced as our new Director of Customer Experience. She provided insights into her background and customer service philosophy, as well as what she had learned in her first 30 days with TICF. Gina shared her strategy for setting up our customer service team for success and giving her team the tools to serve customers and dealers at a high level.

During the pandemic, a remark from a dealer helped instill even more pride in TICF for Leisha Nalls. “He said, ‘What we do keeps the country moving,’ and during the recent supply chain disruption, we all have realized how vital this industry is. We need trucks and forklifts to move groceries, clothing, and everything we buy in the store,” she says. “It’s exciting to work behind the scenes, and it’s what makes my work with TICF so satisfying.”

Leisha has been with TICF for six years this summer—her first position was in retail credit as a credit analyst where she became involved in process improvement.

“What we do keeps the country moving.”

Next, she had the opportunity to cross train with the dealer credit department, and, most recently, was promoted to the sales team in January. It’s a position she finds particularly unique because while truck and forklift sales are typically divided, as the inside sales manager she can work with both. Leisha looks forward to working collaboratively with dealers to increase market share, serving as a liaison who can help rectify a situation or take care of a special request.

While Leisha says she never expected to pursue a sales career, she has found one of her favorite parts of the job to be interacting with the CFOs, dealer principals, and other top dealer personnel to understand how TICF’s financing tools can help their businesses grow. “It’s a significant part of what our sales team does—working with the dealer to understand their needs and showing them how captive finance can act as a partner to take their business to the next level.”

When Leisha joined TICF, she immediately noticed a difference from other companies where she had worked in how it prioritizes finding creative solutions for dealers’ unique needs. “While the requests can be specialized and occasionally challenging, we band together here in the credit, sales, and operations teams to figure out an answer. It’s what sets us apart from other lenders, and it is why dealers continue to work with us,” she says.

As one example, a Hino dealer had come to her hoping to finance a specialty product, which was something the department hadn’t done in the past. However, given their long-standing relationship, the team worked together to determine a way to provide financing for this unique request.

Next, she had the opportunity to cross train with the dealer credit department, and, most recently, was promoted to the sales team in January. It’s a position she finds particularly unique because while truck and forklift sales are typically divided, as the inside sales manager she can work with both. Leisha looks forward to working collaboratively with dealers to increase market share, serving as a liaison who can help rectify a situation or take care of a special request.

“I appreciate when dealers provide full transparency when they approach us,” she says. “Sometimes when they are making a request, they know is outside of industry norms, they hesitate to tell us all the details because they think we might not be as open to consideration; but, in reality, it’s the opposite. The more we know, the better equipped we are to offer customized services.”

Leisha admires the fact that many dealers’ businesses are family-owned and operated. “Because both my father and grandmother own and operate businesses, I understand the mindset and am even more motivated to strive to help our dealers meet their goals as they aim to improve their business and preserve their legacy,” she says.

When she’s not working, Leisha enjoys spending time with her family and loves to try new restaurants and explore her local farmer’s market. She even has passed on these “foodie” tendencies to her nine-year-old fur baby, a Maltese Yorkie mix, and makes his wholesome food from scratch using chicken, rice, and vegetables.

“I find you can get in touch with places through food since it tells such a fascinating story,” she says. Given her love of travel, Leisha looks forward to getting on the road to visit dealers as soon as possible but also has her sights set on more exotic locations, like Cancun and the Mayan Riviera region, with an aspiration to eventually retire at the beach.

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