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inmy home inAlbuquerque, all because of Mar-
vinFaulk.Thecopper industrybegan touseboom
trucks inhundreds of newways, increasing safety
and ef
Ä
ciency at every turn. The oil
Ä
eld contin-
ued to adopt boom trucks for use in thewire line
business, and then utilized them for coil tubing
work as well. Marvin Faulk was the single great-
est driving force in these developments, and yet
almost noone knows of his contributions orwhat
made him so successful.
The keys to Marvin’s success should become a
textbook to everyone inour business. Hewasted
no time and was relentless in his drive to solve
customer problems. First, Marvin would meet a
customer.He thenwoulddiscoverwhat problems
related to lifting machinery were hindering job
site safety, ef
Ä
ciency and cost reduction. Marvin
realizedmore clearly than anyone else that if you
can help solve customer problems, you are use-
ful in a customer’s life. If a customer needs no
help, get out of theway. If help isneeded,
Ä
ndout
what needs to be done and then move Heaven
and Earth to solve the problems.
For decades, boom truckmanufacturers thought
their salespeople should present their already
well-designed and constructed products to end-
user customers who would happily buy them.
Manufacturers couldn’t understand why cus-
tomers treated their products as “commodities”
where pro
Ä
t was dif
Ä
cult to achieve.
In truth most manufacturers were, as Marvin
would say, “As lost as a ball in tall grass” when
it came to understanding the true needs of their
customers.Marvin Faulkwas a genius in his
relentlesspursuit to learnexactlywhat customers
needed, and he then maneuvered his manufac-
turers to do exactlywhat the customer required.
By so doing, he dominated his segment of the
business, and he created the relationships that
brought huge value to customers and great pro
Ä
t
to his dealers and manufacturers. Marvin knew
customers werewilling to paymore for products
and services that were designed to solve their
problems.
Tomanycranemanufacturers, thismeant acom-
plete change in how they did business. They had
preferred to just send out products and tell cus-
tomers, “Here it is.Good luck!”ButwhenMarvin
got throughwithmanufacturers, theyunderstood
the profound imperative he presented to them.
If you change products tomeet customer needs,
you will own the relationships with customers.
AndMarvin owned just about every relationship
thatmattered.
It was great fun to watch Marvin again and
again set up small, not very wealthy, highly mo-
tivated and energetic dealers to battle with his
competitor’s much larger dealer networks. Again
and againMarvin took themarket away from the
competition. He never stopped, didn’t rest. He
had no doubt. He told the truth, even when it
hurt. And hiswordwas his bond. A favorite
Marvin saying ofmine: “If I tell you a rooster can
pull a freight train, bet on the rooster!”
Marvin could drink and
Ä
ght with the best of
them, and I was there formany evenings that
includedboth. I drankwithhim, foughtwithhim,
won with him, learned from him, and trusted
him.We very seldom lost. I loved him as a friend
and as a brother. I bet on the rooster, andmy life
was transformed for the better.
