59: Building a Superhero Brand in Heavy Duty- with Whitney Jennings

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[00:00:39] Erin Courtenay: Yeah.

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[00:00:43] Erin Courtenay: Oh my God. No, they scare the hell out of me. My husband has one. And he just, it's the whole, he loves that thing. But no, why? Do you?

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So we've been doing a lot of cleanup here at the farm. And most recently a weekend ago, my father came down. So my 73 year old father came down and said, I'm bringing my chainsaw and I'm going to help you cut up. We're going to go out there and we're going to cut those trees. And I rented a splitter from Home Depot.

We went out there with the chainsaw and I'll tell you. Still today, whenever I work with my dad. Yeah. I always learn something new. Oh. He really kicked my ass at 73. Aw. . Just, yeah, moving. He didn't stop and I was trying to keep up with him, so it was pretty awesome. But I was curious if you use a chainsaw.

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So there's, there's plenty to be just scavenged. And then he is like the neighborhood woodsman. It's very, very funny, but I love that story. And I love your dad already. That's great. That's great.

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So that there's just a second set of eyes around in case you don't hear it out there. Go out and check on the person. So.

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[00:02:38] Kris Harrington: Perfect. It's absolutely time to introduce our guest. Our guest today is Whitney Jennings, who is the President of QX Heavy Duty. She started working for an automotive gasket manufacturer in 1994 and has worked in the aftermarket ever since.

A girl after my own heart. Uh, She's been a pricing specialist, a sales administrator, customer service manager, sales manager, and today, she's president of her own company. Whitney is married and has two daughters, one a senior in high school and the other started college last year. She also has four stepchildren who are all grown.

Two pugs and a Beabull, which is a beagle bulldog mix. QX Heavy Duty is a women owned, women controlled business in Phoenix, Arizona. Whitney, welcome to the broadcast.

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[00:03:34] Kris Harrington: Yeah.

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[00:03:45] Whitney Jennings: He's pretty cute.

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Can you share with our audience, you know, you tell them about the theme of your booth and what you did there and the approach that you took? I would love to hear your story about that.

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And she said, that's a fantastic idea. So that's when it started. It's a process to have your superheroes drawn to your likeness. You have to submit pictures from every angle so they can get you, whether you're flying, whether you're holding fire. All the girls chose what they wanted to wear.

For example, they just put me in a power pose, the hands on the hips, but Krista, she's like, I'd really like stretchy arms and a utility belt. So that's what she got. And same thing with all the girls they have hobbies outside of working in heavy duty trucking. So one of them is wearing ballet slippers.

he world of dirty cores since: 2015

[00:05:51] Erin Courtenay: Oh my God. I love that.

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[00:05:59] Erin Courtenay: Awesome.

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[00:06:18] Kris Harrington: Yeah.

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[00:06:21] Whitney Jennings: Once they realized that they were they stayed a while to figure out who was who and,

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[00:06:26] Erin Courtenay: Now I'm really happy we're going to have pictures of what's the Beabull's name.

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[00:06:32] Erin Courtenay: Murphy, that's great. But what we really need, I hope you have them, are pictures of the superheroes.

Fantastic. I can send those as well. I'm going to just jump in because I think this is such an interesting sort of expression. Not to get all gender on us, but, as a woman, you're ready to go there. You know, that's a, that's the creativity and the sort of, the self awareness and not taking yourself too seriously.

That is, it's hard for, for some men sometime. And it just is like another notch on the belt of, what can happen when you have a diversity of people leading in a manufacturing situation. So that is a cool story. I can't wait to see.

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We acted like everybody else because we just wanted to fit in. So a few years later we realized we don't want to fit in anymore. We want to stand out. So let's figure out how to do that, and so that was the change that took place last year before Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week.

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[00:07:47] Whitney Jennings: We are. We put those, so we also came out with the 2024 catalog at the same time and those superheroes are in it.

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[00:07:54] Whitney Jennings: So if you turn to a page um, for example, one of the things we have is we have a page with our steering gears. And Krista with her stretchy arms, she's there saying new, no core steering gears, aren't a stretch for a QX Heavy Duty.

I mean, they're everywhere. They're there. We're uh, working on our website right now too. They're adding them to that. And then also they're in the catalog and they, we have, you know, full size posters of ourselves.

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And you had a lot of the younger generation in your booth and working for you, and maybe you can touch on that, but you found a way to attract them in. And not just the typical heavy duty looking person, right? You've got women working in your business, selling aftermarket components, that's impressive.

You know, I get fired up about that stuff. I can see you do, but that's the kind of energy inspiration and, that is needed to draw more talent into the industry. Can you talk a little bit about how you've attracted people and are bringing people in? Address that.

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There was a point in time where I got a very large customer that required more effort, more attention. I had to travel more like lots of travel, lots of ride alongs with salesmen. And one day I was in the car with a salesman. And at the back then I, I tried to seem like a big, strong, normal company that wasn't just one person who had satellite warehouses, right?

So I tried to seem a little bit bigger than I was probably. And so I remember I was on this ride along and I. My phone rang and I answered the call and it was checking inventory and checking a price. And so I answered all of the questions. I had all these papers in my computer bag so that I could answer those on those kinds of questions on the spot.

And when I hung up, he said, Oh, where are all the people answering the phone? Oh, oops, busted. And I, And I lied. I lied to him. I said, Oh, they, I'm last in the call queue. So they must all be on the phone. And I thought, and so I, about a week later, I was at the gym and I had a friend there. Her name's Michelle.

And I told her what happened. I said, it was really embarrassing because my phone rang. And it was embarrassing that I'm answering just base level questions when I'm trying to be a salesman in the field, calling on all these customers. And she said, I can answer your phone. And I said, Oh, okay.

Never really thought about that. So the next time I traveled, she answered the phone for me. When I was, when I was gone, she had all the same papers in front of her that, that I did. And so it turned into a little bit more than that. And then over time, I had another friend. I said, man, I need a new catalog, but I just, I need to enhance my interchange, so I need to do all this research. And she said, Oh, I love research. And I said, Oh, then why don't you do that? So that's Kelly. I run the day to day. I pretty much run the business. I am customer service and I am accounting. But all those little outlier outlying things, like doing the catalog, keeping your trademark up to date, answering the phone when you're traveling, all of those things were difficult for me to handle.

So honestly, QX Heavy Duty, they're my friends. They're not people that have heavy duty aftermarket background or even automotive background. But they care about the business, they do a great job and they all do things that they like to do. All to help the company. So that's how it just started to grow.

Everyone QX Heavy Duty is based in Phoenix. We all, we go to church together. We, we're friends. But what happened at the show after that booth, I can tell you is I have never been approached by so many young women who wanted to know if, or wanted to let me know if I ever had an opening, they'd like to send me their resume.

And it was an odd feeling because We've always been, we're a pretty fun group. You know, We've always, we make friends at the show. We fit in pretty good these days, but we've never been admired. And that's a weird feeling to be admired. And that's what happened this year. And all the girls felt it no matter where we were.

So that was the change. So if we do grow enough to continue adding people, we certainly have a stack of resumes. Yeah, all young women. So you're right. The superheroes definitely attracted people to our business.

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[00:13:49] Whitney Jennings: So I grew up in the automotive aftermarket. I got a job right out of, while I was in high school with a local gasket manufacturer, I worked there for quite a long time.

he automotive aftermarket. In: 2014

I wasn't doing anything. I, as a matter of fact, at the time, I had a small core company. I sourced hard to find cores for two local remanufacturers for rack and pinions and steering gears, but automotive stuff, not heavy duty. And that's what I did here once we moved to Phoenix.

And so I went to the Apex Show just as a wife. I had plans to go see my friends, you know, and hang out and see people that I hadn't seen in a couple of years. But we ended up going to dinner with the owner of a Chinese factory. I sat next to the woman owner of that factory and over dinner, we chit chatted.

She asked me all about my life and just I don't know, we got along really well. And at the end of that conversation, she said, I have a really good product to sell. I have OE contracts and 23 different countries, but I cannot for the life of me, sell my product into the heavy duty aftermarket of North America.

She said, you know what? I think I just need a woman to do it. So here's what I propose. You shut down your company. I'll pay you whatever you draw, and I'll give you five years to get my product into the heavy duty aftermarket. So it sounded like a fun challenge. So I did just that.

I shut down my core company. I went on the payroll for them and realized pretty quickly that heavy duty is not automotive. Cause to me, I thought I understand the automotive aftermarket, but heavy duty, it's like a completely different industry almost. It's very different. But it was difficult because all of the people who supply the product that they do, which was power steering pumps at the time there was no catalog, so there was nowhere to go and get the information of what we needed to sell.

So it took me about nine months. I went door to door and asked people, what do you sell? How much of this do you sell? What part numbers are you selling? And then tried to build a catalog and it did take about, yeah, it was nine months of that. And once I had a decent array of product, I bought samples, sent them to the factory for anything they didn't have, and I had a stock order come into LA about a year, it had been about a year, so about 12 months.

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[00:16:34] Whitney Jennings: Later. So about two and a half years after that, I got a national account. And when that happened, that was satisfactory to her. And she said, great job. Now you can buy the company. And I didn't understand what that meant. I

said, what do you mean I can buy the company? And she said, all of the inventory. We had one warehouse in LA at the time. She said all the inventory in LA. I'll give you one year to pay me for it. And every receivable that comes in from today forward belongs to you and everything that's on the water belongs to you as well. So everything that was on the water happened to be a very large order. It was about a, probably about 150, 000 receivable that she was just giving to me. So she laid it in my lap. You wonder how people become business owners. For me, it was, I'm going to say right place, right time.

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[00:17:35] Whitney Jennings: And I said, yes. Yes. And you did what she needed at that time. And so I did, I ended up buying the inventory, and now we've expanded from just LA. Now we have a warehouse in Dallas and also in Phoenix.

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[00:17:48] Erin Courtenay: That's awesome. You I know I hear the serendipity in your story, but several stories about serendipity, it starts to be there is a pattern and the variable that's in all those stories is you. And I'm hearing that you create relationships that really generate a lot of trust and that has brought dividends. So awesome. That's great. I love hearing that.

Hey, just get into the nitty gritty a little bit more. You've mentioned several different product lines and product types. Can you give us a quick highlights of what you guys have now, what products you are offering and moving and seeing the sales happening?

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And so it took us a few years to really get one. We had a partner at the time who helped us out in making sure that everything was exactly as the OE, that everything tested the same, fit the same, fit form, function, all of that. So we added steering gears. I would say we added steering gears when it became apparent that the steering gears outsell pumps 10 to 1.

And for steering gears, we were actually the first new no core gear supplier in North America for heavy trucks. So we had about a two year head start before anybody else started bringing them in. So that was helpful to our business. And now we with power steering pumps, we've developed a couple that are called tandem pumps. So those are steer part steering part fuel. And so since the factory has the castings and moldings and everything to make the tandem pumps, we're adding fuel pumps to our line, which we have one right now in stock, but we have nine more in development.

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[00:20:07] Whitney Jennings: So we're working to add those. So today it's power steering pumps, steering gears, and soon to be fuel pumps.

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[00:20:40] Whitney Jennings: For us it's about the cores. What we realize is do no core is a huge difference than from what people are used to. And like I said, about the steering gears are a hundred pounds. So if you're dealing with core returns for steering gear, your counter guy is picking that up off the counter and putting it down. You know, it's, it's a big deal.

And so we look for ways to anything that is primarily rebuilt in the industry, we're looking to try to add whatever we can have those items to our line.

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So tell us about your customers. Are you selling direct? You mentioned national accounts earlier. Are you selling direct? Are you selling through distribution? What are your goals there? Who are you specifically targeting?

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And so we help by supplying them brand new units so they can not only make the sale to their customer, but also get a core back in return. Our line, we carry a short line, so we only have the fastest moving product. So our, you can't replace your current supplier with QX Heavy Duty, but you can tack us on. You can't get a full line from us and you never will be able to, there are hundreds of steering gears out there. And today we have 14, but they make up more than 50 percent of the market. So.

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[00:22:48] Whitney Jennings: It moved just fine.

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[00:22:52] Whitney Jennings: Oh yeah. It's about 30 percent year over year so far.

Yeah, we expect even larger growth now. We've been in the next two to three years because we've added so many products, but steering gears in particular, that's a relatively new category for us. And so we're just beginning to scratch the surface of that market.

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[00:23:28] Whitney Jennings: So the initial draw to QX Heavy Duty is the new no core element. But on top of that, our service is next level we have a true no hassle warranty on our products, which basically means if you say it's bad, we say, okay, and we take it from there.

It's that simple. And the reason we did, the reason we do that is because our true warranties at the back in the beginning, we used to have every single alleged defective product tested. And the ones that actually had a manufacturer's defect was less than one half of 1%. So that's a very small number.

We don't say that out loud very much because it just sounds unbelievable. But it's true. It's true. And so we know our products are good. We know that there are a lot of things that can go wrong on a truck to make it seem like the power steering pump or the steering gear aren't performing. So much so that we ended up putting a paper in our, all of our packages this year that say one of those, stop, call this number before you remove the part.

Do not return it to the store because we want people to call our tech line. That is the only guy who works for QX Heavy Duty is our tech guy. He's been in the industry for over 30 years and he's fantastic. And so we think that well, we know our services. It's really easy to do a good job when everybody knows how to handle every situation.

And I think that's the beauty of being a smaller company in the office, at least is we communicate. And so if somebody has something that comes up on the phone, they make a little note, everybody knows it. And so everybody's a decision maker. Everybody can handle anything. You don't have, our goal is to handle every issue on the spot, no callbacks, no anything. And even though it sounds simple, we answer our phone, we respond to emails. And that is a little bit unheard of these days from what we can tell. So we want to take care of everybody on the spot and we do a really good job of it.

And even if the girls don't have as much knowledge as I do, you typically don't need it in those situations. It's just about customer service. So I think, I think when people switch to us, they're pleasantly surprised by the level of service they receive. For sure.

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I grew up playing sports and I always say that there's just basic blocking and tackling that you learn, right? Pick and roll and basketball and, just dribbling moves and all of those things. And you just talked about doing the basics very well, but differentiating in the way in which you handle it.

And it's amazing how great service and giving your employees the autonomy to make those decisions on the spot to give that great service, how much it can separate you from the next, right?

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What there is to lose is the cost of our item, period. It doesn't matter it doesn't get any worse than that, so it's it's pretty easy pill to swallow you know to

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So we might have to bring you back in some time after you keep growing the business and hear how these things that you're, putting into place, how it keeps changing things. But at this point, I want to move into our next topic. Part of the show, which is to finish the sentence, I just learned that.

So Erin, I'm going to ask you what did you just learn?

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[00:27:17] Whitney Jennings: Yes, I was a Girl Scout leader.

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So there's been a focal point and I wanted to learn a little bit more. I have all, I'm so curious about so many things about the cookies, but I went right back to the history. And I'm just going to read this from the internet because it's almost too much to believe. The tradition of Girl Scout cookie sales began in 1917 when the mistletoe troop from Muskegee, Oklahoma stopped kissing people and began selling simple sugar cookies in their high school cafeteria as a service project, kissing.

What? Yeah. Wow.

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[00:28:14] Erin Courtenay: That's a bygone era, I tell you what. So I have learned that in my Girl Scout cookie research. What about you, Kris? What have you learned?

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I didn't come to the show today with anything and I read the introduction. I'm like, what's the Beabull, a Beagle-Bulldog mix. It really surprises me how many mixes there are out there and all the creative names that people come up with. So I really, I just learned about Beabulls. Yeah.

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[00:29:05] Whitney Jennings: Actually, yes. I actually just learned how to play backgammon. How's that going? It's really hard. That game has more rules. I had to watch a 28 minute video just to play around because there are so many nuances to it.

And I also learned that traditionally it's a betting game. If you want to play it the traditional, like with the traditional rules, there has to be a wager.

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[00:29:41] Whitney Jennings: I haven't, I played it just one time with my husband. For one night, I should say I think three rounds and he beat me every time. So I don't have a good strategy yet, but I'll get there.

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[00:29:57] Whitney Jennings: Yeah. I didn't realize how difficult it was though. There it's just, there's a lot of rules.

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So I've got a little PTSD sort of backgammon, and my husband loves it. He's always can't we just get some place to play some backgammon? I'm like, I can't. I'm sorry honey.

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[00:30:25] Erin Courtenay: What is it called?

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[00:30:32] Erin Courtenay: Thank you. He would like that. Yes. Oh, good. And then I won't have the trauma. There you go. Okay. Thank you. Great.

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[00:30:45] Whitney Jennings: Yes.

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And Whitney, I'll ask you for those that want to get in touch with you after listening to this today, what's the best way to reach you and your team?

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So we have a page now. We're not exactly sure what to do with it, but we're working on it.

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[00:31:22] Whitney Jennings: We have a hundred followers though, which was crazy to me to do that so quickly when we're not big on social media. So I thought we'll see how big we can get it and then, make it do something.

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[00:31:34] Whitney Jennings: We'd have LinkedIn and our website and all of our contact information is on the website.

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[00:31:39] Whitney Jennings: Pretty easy to get ahold of.

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[00:31:52] Whitney Jennings: All right.

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[00:31:58] Erin Courtenay: I just want to say thank you so much. I appreciate your story. Phoenix is, I'm from that neck of the woods, so it's nice to talk to somebody down from my home zone and have a great week.

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[00:32:13] Kris Harrington: Okay. Bye bye everyone.

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