Nearly 30 years ago, Renville Sales was born as an auction “It showed, not only to our customers but people in our community,
company in the city that shares its name, Renville, MN. Little did
Todd Fitzner know at the time, dabbling in trailers while his father
ran the auction side of the business would lead to big things.
“In 2002, my wife Lisa and I really wanted to expand into the trailer
side because we saw the auction industry changing. We put more
of our focus onto the trailers because that was an avenue that we
both enjoyed and we knew that there was room for growth and
expansion.” said Fitzner, owner of Renville Sales.
Since shifting gears in 2002, Fitzner’s son, Shane, also joined the
family business and is currently part of the sales team. Keeping
Renville family-owned-and-operated has become something of a
trademark for the company, taking pride in treating each customer
like family.
“A big part of our success comes from a lot of referrals. People
are referring their friends and family to us. We hear it all the time.
‘You’ve got to go to Renville to buy your trailer. They really treat
you right. They take care of you!’ We treat our customers as fairly
as we would treat our own family,” Fitzner explained.
Just like every family, though, Renville Sales has faced some hurdles.
In 2003, Renville upgraded their facilities due to the poor condition
of the original structure that housed the business. Building a new
structure gave Fitzner the ability to introduce a new, full-scale
service department offering yet another layer of commitment to
the community.
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that we were willing to put something down on the line and show
a vested interest by saying – You know what? we’re going to be
here for a long time,” Fitzner excitedly shared. “Renville’s not like
going to a big box store. We’re standing behind the product. We
service every trailer before it goes on our lot. We take it in from
the factory and we perform a complete service on it. It gives us a
piece of mind that when the customer picks that trailer up, we’ve
checked it. Not only has the factory done their job, but we have
done ours,” he added.
As times change and the business grows, it’s not always easy to
find the right people to perform the work necessary for the day-
to-day operation of a family business. As Renville grows, that
means more jobs are created. Fitzner mentioned to NATDA that
staffing has always been a pain-point due to not always being able
to find the right people for the job.
So, who are the right people? Fitzner shared, “somebody with
the required background and skills, but more so the willingness to
show up to work. They need to be there every day and want to
be there. We have good working conditions and we feel that it’s
a good atmosphere”
Fitzner continued, “We’re interviewing every customer, asking if
they know of anybody or almost silently interviewing them even.
We’ve gained some employees that were customers looking for
a trailer and we thought that they might be a good fit for Renville
Sales. Sometimes, it was short term and sometimes it’s been long
term.”
NATDA Magazine www.natda.org