Superior Trailer Sales Company has won the 2024 Trailblazer Award | Trucks, Parts, Service

Superior Trailer Sales Company, a division of W&B Service Company, was crowned winner of the second annual Trailblazer Award, powered by Successful Dealer, during the National Trailer Dealers Association (NTDA) Convention banquet Friday in Indian Wells, Calif.

Superior Trailer Sales has a more than four-decade history supporting the commercial trailer business while W&B has been engaged with the commercial vehicle sector for more than 70 years. Together, the two entities operate 20 locations across four states and are headquartered in Dallas.

Sponsored by Procede Software and Hendrickson, the Trailblazer Award was developed as a way to recognize North America’s strongest trailer operations for excellence in the areas of the business development, customer service, employee engagement, community outreach and more. Royal Truck & Utility Trailer was crowned winner of last year’s inaugural award.

In accepting the Trailblazer Award on Friday, company Owner and President Tracey Maynor was appreciative of the honor.

“Thank you to everybody in the room,” he says. “I have a lot of friends in this room who have helped us along the way — competitors, fellow dealers in our space. That's the wonderful thing about this industry, everyone works together to help each other. Rising tides lift all ships.”

[RELATED: Superior Trailer Sales uses expertise, OEM and customer partnerships to thrive]

Superior Trailer Sales and W&B Service Company are a unique entity in the trailer business. W&B was opened as the first Transicold dealer in 1952 and has remained one of the most respected experts on a refrigerated transportation for more than seven decades. Maynor says the company’s long and respected history servicing the reefer business was fruitful when it finally entered trailer business as it did so as a company familiar with many of the nation’s most common trailer brands.

Hyundai Translead was its first OEM partner, and today the company also represents Fontaine, Fontaine Heavy Haul, Doonan, Dorsey, Kalyn Siebert and East. Maynor says the company is regularly a national sales volume leader for each brand (as well as the world’s largest Carrier Transicold dealer), but balks at categorizing the company as just a trailer dealer.

“We are a service company first that happens to sell a lot of equipment,” he says.

And it is the services the company offers and the expertise it provides with them that gives Maynor the most pride.

“We don’t like to sell equipment that is low engineering,” he says. “Spec competency and operational efficiency is our advantage.”

The company showcases that advantage by dedicating itself to relationships with its OEM partners and customers. And with more than 630 employees, Superior Trailer Sales has a lot of people it can put into the field.

Maynor stresses kindness, listening and professionalism across the workforce. Superior Trailer Sales doesn’t have a written culture, but it has values and beliefs that are essential to its success, he says. “You have to trust your people to go out and do that.”

Superior Trailer Sales also trusts what its workforce can do inside the business.

[RELATED: Finalists named for second annual Trailblazer Award]

Maynor strives for continuous improvement across the company and he and his leadership team encourage employees to share ideas they believe can help the business. Those same ideas, when acted upon, also offer employees the chance to lead and further develop their professional skills.

“Whenever we have a project, whoever is most qualified will lead it,” he says. “It could be a situation where we have VPs or myself on the project, but if we have an hourly person or a [department] manager who has more knowledge on the topic, they get it to lead it and be the final decision maker.”

Employees relish those opportunities, as well as the many training programs the company requires of its staff to remain experts in the field. Maynor adds Superior Trailer Sales also is an accredited Carrier trainer, and regularly holds free customer training events to share its expertise with its customer base.

The company also doesn’t overlook the value of camaraderie and the joy of community engagement.

“We eat lunch together every day,” says Camryn Lee, marketing manager. “I remember when they told me that when I started, I didn’t think they were serious. But our whole building eats lunch together every day.”

Communal meals are prioritized in other ways too. Every manager is expected to cook for their team at least once every six weeks, Maynor says, and customer appreciation cookouts are regular outreach events.

Outside the business, Superior and W&B are strong supporters of the Special Olympics, America’s Mighty Warriors (which supports veterans suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injuries), and other local organizations that benefit their communities and employees who live there.

“We act like a family,” says Maynor. “We are a bunch of friends who care about each other and hold one another to a really high standard.”

Other finalists for this year’s Trailblazer Award included CVTR, Frontline Truck & Trailer, Great Dane of Utah and Trailer Equipment.