Greg Smith, a 21-year veteran Cornwell Tools dealer, counts himself fortunate living in a state –Utah -- that has largely escaped the recession. “If you are a good technician, you don’t have any trouble finding a job,” he says. Smith, who was a farm equipment technician before becoming a mobile tool distributor, is based in Genola, Utah, which is in the central part of the state.
But that’s not all he’s enthusiastic about. Nowadays, there is more innovation going on in diagnostic tools than ever before, and he enjoys sharing the new capabilities with his customers. Smith carries four different aftermarket diagnostic lines.
Smith recently returned from the Cornwell Tools tool show in Dallas, Texas with plenty of new diagnostic tools to show his customers. He’s especially excited about the tablets now available, as they are more durable than the laptops. “Scan tools are changing all the time,” he says.
He notes that the amount of OE-specific information continues to expand in aftermarket scan tools.
To help educate his customers about scan tools, Smith sometimes has a manufacturer rep come to customer locations and do demonstrations.
Code readers are also improving, he notes. Hence, they are becoming more popular. “They (techs) sometimes want a fast code,” he says. “It takes a while to plug in the bigger scanner and get them up and running.”
As the technology has improved, Smith has noticed that many of his OE dealership customers are hosting more online training.
Smith gives all the automotive shops high marks for providing ongoing technical training. This makes the job of selling new technology easier.
