Mark Taggart
President & CEO,
Toyota Industries Commercial Finance

Mark Taggart
President & CEO

Recently, we sat down with Tom Wolf, who transitioned from a sales role to a brand-new position as a dealer trainer. Tom shared insights into his career journey, goals, and the exciting challenges of his new role.

Tom has been with TICF for almost five years and joined the organization as a Regional Sales Manager supporting Toyota dealers in the Northeast region.

Moving from sales to a dealer trainer role involves more than just changing titles; it’s a strategic shift. Tom emphasizes the importance of meticulous planning in shaping effective training programs. He is actively refining training modules with a focus on dealer merchandising. Another initiative Tom leads involves reaching out to forklift dealers through a new survey to better identify dealer training needs.

“At TICF, we want to make sure we are spending time creating and teaching training courses that will have the most impact and be the most beneficial to our dealer network.”

One aspect of his new role that he is most excited about is interacting with the entire Toyota dealer network, expanding his reach beyond his previous regional territory. Developing training materials and curriculum has become a fresh and intellectually stimulating aspect of his career. While he misses the thrill of closing deals, he looks forward to the long-term impact training can provide to dealers.

When thinking of a training strategy, Tom is dedicated to creating consistent training materials and plans that can be accessible to all dealers. He aims to empower dealer personnel to recognize the benefits of training, enabling them to enhance their sales capabilities. Tom emphasizes the modular nature of TICF’s training approach, acting as building blocks for customized dealer-centric programs.

For those eyeing a career in sales and training, Tom advocates gaining diverse experiences within the industry. He encourages individuals to embrace new challenges, say yes to every opportunity, and take valuable lessons from each role and apply it to a future role.

When asked about the types of training courses forklift dealers have expressed interest in, financial merchandising and overcoming objections related to equipment financing are at the top of the list. The initial round of TICF dealer-led training concentrates on highlighting the benefits of leasing for both customers and dealers and how dealers can overcome objections from customers when it comes to financing equipment. Another aspect of the training curriculum revolves around providing a more comprehensive understanding of all the flexible financing products TICF offers customers. Sales teams may not always know the best products for customers, especially when a customer wants to structure payments quarterly or annually.

When not at work, Tom enjoys golfing, hiking, and spending quality time with his family. He also likes to read, particularly historical fiction.

The weeklong meeting combined traditional business meetings with Japanese cultural experiences for attendees. Attendees stayed in Tokyo and Nagoya, and spent time at Toyota Industries Corporation’s (TICO) headquarters, where the NDAC met with Koichi Ito, President of TICO.

During the business meeting portion of the trip, TMH demonstrated their commitment to the dealer network and shared the ways they are working to get production back to full capacity across all classes. Mark Taggart and Mike Schultze represented TICF and discussed new programs and initiatives that are being developed in conjunction with TMH to better enhance our presence and support among the Toyota dealer network.

Memorable highlights of the trip involved a trip to the forklift production factory and a visit to the largest Toyota Forklift store in Japan. The group also visited three temples and a sake-producing mill to find out how traditional Sake is made.

The opportunity to have the NDAC travel to Japan for their meeting was a truly special and unique experience, fostering strong relationships between the dealers, TMH, and TICF.

The Commercial Account Services team is comprised of 22 associates. One of the biggest strengths of the team involves their experience. Many associates worked in other departments at TICF, bringing knowledge of those departments to their current role, and a deeper understanding of how the organization works to help dealers and customers each day.

Also recently, TICF created and hired for a brand-new role along with the recent departmental and role name changes. A Commercial Account Quality Assurance Analyst will be dedicated to reviewing and listening to phone calls and e-mail interactions between TICF and customers, with the ability to coach and train current associates to continuously improve and ensure we provide a best-in-class customer experience. The Quality Assurance Analyst will also work with the supervisors to develop and implement training for the department on an on-going basis.

When asked about the purpose of the team, Commercial Account Services Manager, Michelle Klaus shared, “There are a lot of our associates who care about providing a great customer experience. As we all know and experience, we are customers too. It is within our power to do what we can and always work on crafting the greatest experience for our mutual customers.”

We are committed to providing excellent service on our accounts and believe that this name change is a positive step forward for both TICF and our mutual customers and dealers.

As we look to the new year ahead and reflect on this past year, we want to thank our associates, OEMs, dealers, and customers for their support and business. With this, TICF is able to support our community partners.

Last year, we created our first ever non-profit year in review video.  The video had a big impact and we decided to make this an annual TICF tradition to reflect on our community involvement for the year.