PM Truck Of The Month ― Nagy Service Co. Inc., Mentor, Ohio - Truck of the Month

No More ‘Sleeping At The Wheel’

Nagy Service Company Inc. is more than 60 years old and is deeply rooted in Northeast Ohio. It has a loyal customer base, and for many years relied solely on Yellow Pages display ads and referrals.

But a few years ago it was caught “sleeping at the wheel.”

“After joining Nexstar in 2007, we completed a market analysis and uncovered a weakness: We had no top-of-mind awareness within our marketplace,” admits third-generation owner Chris Nagy. Not happy with such a low brand identity, the company knew it was time to shake things up.

With the weakness identified, Nagy turned it into an opportunity. “We’ve worked to increase existing customer loyalty and, through our public relations firm, we’re going after new customers via media opportunities, giving back to communities, service communication plans and more.”

Part of this marketing makeover can be seen in the company’s six service trucks. The new brand centers on the emotion-evoking image of a family, which is featured on the Dodge Sprinter vans and Isuzu box trucks with Hackney Superbodies. It is consistently followed through to the Nagy Web site, as well as used on customer brochures and other marketing material.

According to Nagy, the warm and comfortable feelings the image suggests is exactly the kind of emotions he was going for when he carefully chose the stock photography.

“We kind of have an inside joke. The spouse of one of the technicians calls the image our ‘rental family.’ But it’s really had an impact,” Nagy reveals.

In the past 12-14 months since the new marketing efforts have been implemented, the company has seen the benefits — 30-40 percent growth over last year.

“We’ve become pro-active rather than re-active. We used to sit back and wait for customers to find us, but now we get out in front of customers — before they even have a need,” Nagy says.