How to Honor a Long-Time Customer

How to Honor a Long-Time Customer

From an annual chili feed to homemade chocolates, Thermo King of Sioux Falls Owners Lyn and Ann Tschetter have long understood the importance of nurturing customer relationships and showing appreciation – for both new and long-time customers. But when local customer K&J Trucking was celebrating its 40-year anniversary, they knew they wanted to do something extra special.

“K&J Trucking has been a loyal customer through the years and similar to our dealership, is family-owned and run,” explained Ann. “President and Owner Shelley Koch, took over the company at the age of 29 when her father passed away in 1991. She defied the odds of the time and became one of a very few women in the trucking industry. And today she is an inspiration to many.”

To honor Shelley and help celebrate K&J Trucking’s 40th anniversary in 2019, Thermo King Sioux Falls decided a custom-wrapped unit was in order. Peter Halverson, gen-eral manager at Thermo King Sioux Falls, worked with Shelley’s sons on the design, which included the compa-ny’s gold color and logo, as well as an anniversary tribute.

“We utilized a special wrap we’ve been trying out that is cost-effective, resilient, and offers many custom capabili-ties,” said Peter. “We also added in some chrome grills to provide some extra flash. The result was a very surprised, excited and emotional customer.”

The Thermo King team presented the unit, appropriately re-numbered 7940 (company was founded in 1979 and it was 40th anniversary) to Shelley during a surprise gather-ing at K&J Trucking in May.

The event was recorded and shared on Facebook where it received some added attention – nearly 23,600 people saw the post, more than 6,000 people engaged with the post (commented or ‘liked’), and more than 100 people shared the post.

“It really was heart-warming to see the positive comments from K&J Trucking drivers and also Thermo King Corpo-rate – employees from the Puerto Rico plant were espe-cially proud to see their unit,” said Peter.

Learn more about the K&J Trucking story on their website.