as of August 2023

Since 2016, Jerry Pilla has been a devoted TICF associate, supporting dealers and team members alike. He was recently promoted to Business Development Manager for both Hino and Forklift projects and is looking forward to expanding his current relationships with dealers. His efforts will focus on building stronger collaboration and propel the growth not only of TICF, but also its dealers and their customers.

Specifically, he is excited about the possibilities of developing new programs and business opportunities with its two main OEMs — Toyota Material Handling (TMH) and Hino — as a way to support volume growth and revenue generation. He believes successful initiatives could take a variety of forms, whether expanding current programs through renewed training sessions in the field or developing non-traditional programs that will create demand for interest-based products and alternative programs that drive fee-based income. For example, these non-traditional approaches could include electrification financing and “charging as a service” revenue opportunities.

He also envisions revitalized subvention programs for both retail and DFS areas from TMH and Hino, along with finding new revenue growth. “Ultimately, we want to provide a unified front to our dealers through jointly developed programs,” he says. “The aim is to leverage our significant marketing dollars and product expertise to present ourselves as one company that’s in sync with market needs. By emphasizing the synergies we have together, we can better serve all our stakeholders.”

Jerry believes TICF can add value to dealers in two key areas: through flexibility in handling dealer requests for program and credit support and through a creative approach to problem solving. “In both functions, our people demonstrate our commitment to teamwork by adjusting for unique situations to resolve issues and create a win-win dynamic,” he says. “We are truly dedicated to providing top-quality service and working together for success, and every day we strive to show dealers why we should be their top choice.”

Over his years at TICF, Jerry has learned that opportunities always exist and you can always do more. That might be by finding new ways to serve your clients or helping support teammates and contributing to the internal company culture.

Throughout his tenure, Jerry says he’s seen significant company growth. As he explains, “TICF began as essentially an offshoot from Toyota Financial Services (TFS), and now we play a key financial role in the transportation, material handling and logistics industry sectors.”

The corporate culture and company history are what keep Jerry at TICF. “Because teamwork is embedded in our culture, I believe the people who work here are the reason for our growth,” he says. “One person cannot do everything that is expected from a finance company, especially one that carries the Toyota brand, but when you take one associate working jointly with their fellow associates, it becomes powerful and of great value.”

In addition, he knows that the company’s success comes from always looking to the future, which he predicts to be bright. “We have truly innovative products coming out and are always looking for new ways to bring capital to customers to help them achieve success,” he says.

When not at work, Jerry enjoys traveling extensively, often to Europe, where he appreciates the chance to experience different cultures, particularly enjoying ethnic cuisines. In fact, this love of good food has spurred regular cooking challenges with his wife. While he acknowledges her signature seafood paella may often be the winning dish, he holds his own, in particular with a specialty pasta dish that includes broccoli. To help burn off all that great food, they stay active, most recently joining the pickleball craze.

Jerry Pilla
Business Development Manager
for Hino & Forklift Projects

At TICF, we value the culture of feedback, which can provoke change and fuel growth. One of the key methods for gathering feedback about our performance is through the annual Dealer and Customer Satisfaction Surveys.

In March 2022, for the fourth year in a row, the TICF-branded surveys were sent to more than 1,500 Toyota forklift dealer personnel. The last few years have brought unprecedented times and uncertainty, and while our team has rallied to overcome challenges, we have fallen short in your eyes.

In fact, Toyota Material Handling dealer satisfaction dropped to only 41% of respondents being very satisfied after back-to-back-to-back annual improvements.

While we are disappointed to learn of your experience, we do take it seriously. We use the feedback to identify the highest-impact attributes, then pinpoint those items with the greatest areas of opportunity. Our current areas of focus for improvement have been:

You’ve already benefited from changes to TC3’s Customer Search and Address Validation for improved applications, digital contracting with the Master Service Agreement in DocuSign, and updates to the Certificate of Delivery.

And we are continuing to work to ensure that we are transparent and aligned with dealers. This entails transparency of TICF’s communications, the ability to resolve individual questions or problems with a focus on timeliness, and a high level of strategic alignment between TICF and TMH.

Some of the additional specific opportunities we are focused on include reducing the time on hold while waiting to talk to an agent, improving a customer’s ability to obtain account information, focusing on minimizing the turnaround time for e-mail responses, and increasing the clarity and frequency of all communications.

Most significantly, we have negotiated and started working on a 5-year, $41 Million business transformation project that will change every dealer and customer interface as well as our back-end systems.

We are committed to doing our best to support the work you are doing to care for your customers and keep your business moving.

The fifth annual Dealer Satisfaction Survey will begin fielding in September, and TICF couldn’t be more excited to see dealers’ perspectives on where we are doing well, what we can be doing better, and how we can continue to best serve you and our mutual customers.

In the Toyota spirit of Kaizen, there is always room for improvement, and we look forward to this year’s dealer and customer feedback to help us focus on the areas of our business that matter most to you.