To a harried construction site superintendent with a mission-critical equipment breakdown, it's like the cavalry arriving when the IMT Dominator charges onto the job site. The Dominator, a field service vehicle from Iowa Mold Tooling Co. of Garner, Iowa, is helping Star Equipment, a rental company in Des Moines, build a reputation for commitment to customer support.
"Field mechanics keep telling me, 'I love this truck,'" says Jay Love, a Star Equipment territory rep.
IMT offers two prepackaged, fully integrated trucks, 9 ft. and 11 ft., each with an air compressor, a corner-mounted 38,000 ft.-lb. telescopic crane (the larger truck can be equipped with a 60,000 ft.-lb. crane), a corrosion-resistant steel body, six storage compartments (eight in the larger model) and a menu of options:
The design flexibility of a field service truck like this means it can be configured and sized to the needs of the customer. So even a small construction equipment rental company could benefit from a service agreement, if it could have a field support vehicle built that would be ideally matched to its business volume and major customer profile. There is extra money in such agreements, and what's more, long-term customer loyalty. (See the article on a Neff Rental service contract in the September issue of Rental Management, page 68.) "IMT distributors do a customer needs assessment based on anticipated lift requirements, service area covered, payload requirements and air requirements," says Mark Whaley, IMT's vice president for sales and marketing.
Whaley says the Dominator's torsion-box construction eliminates typical cross members and the long-sill construction provides an extremely rigid, rectangular subframe that integrates the outriggers and crane box.
Dominator packages can be installed on customer-supplied chassis at IMT's distributorships or at the factory on IMT stock chassis.
"These vehicles are productivity vehicles designed to increase rental equipment productivity and utilization," Whaley says. "They also represent an image to the firm as a moving billboard."
Love raves about the Dominator at Star Equipment. "It sells itself," he says. "It's superior to anything in the industry that I've seen. It's made to last. Mechanics [tell me] that the Dominator's crane is absolutely a workhorse."
Derwood Foster, Star Equipment's rental manager, uses the field service trucks as a "key selling point," he says. "We can repair and service our equipment with minimum downtime."
In fact, Foster has found that the carrying capacity of the Dominator II (the larger unit) "enables us to use it as a dual-purpose rig for repairs on both our own and our customers' equipment as well as performing routine maintenance, lube and oil.
"When we are out working on our rental equipment, we also pick up quite a bit of work on our customers' equipment, as well."
Love says the larger field service trucks keep the company prepared for the worst.
"When they see what we come on their job with, there's no question they're getting their money's worth," he says. "The Dominator increases our market share and revenues."
Foster says there's another important facet of this: "The Dominator enhances our corporate image. We use it in our marketing to let our customers know exactly what we offer them.
"When you're having someone come out to work on your new $200,000 rig, you want to know they take pride in their own equipment. A dusty old pickup with a cable and winch just doesn't cut it today."
Foster believes the rental customer is expecting a very high level of service - higher than ever before - and that Star Equipment can meet this standard, thanks in part to the Dominator.
In today's competitive environment, says Foster, "You need to exploit every advantage you can create. Going in and doing a better job with less downtime, that's what today's customer is looking for."
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