It was 2020 when I first met Mike Virnig, president of REV Fire Group. We were in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Clarion Events took on the challenge of conducting an online fire truck expo when no one could travel.
At that time, what now constitutes the REV Fire Group was in its infancy. Months prior, REV Group had completed the acquisition of Spartan Emergency Response (ER), bringing the Spartan ER, Spartan Chassis, Smeal, and Ladder Tower Company (now Ladder Tower) brands into the same fold as E-ONE, KME, and Ferrara. One of the goals of the online fire truck expo was to create awareness of the REV Fire Group, which will be part of REV’s Specialty Vehicles segment, and how these, now seven, brands were all part of one company. The group went from three brands in 2018 when Virnig was hired as vice president of sales to seven brands in a hurry. But, Virnig was no stranger to bringing independent brands and sales directors under one umbrella.
- Fire Apparatus Solutions Expands Reach in CA With Acquisition of REV Fire Group’s State Dealership
- REV Group Appoints New Leadership Team for Its Fire Group
- Rev Group Archives
FIRE TRUCK DEALER START
In 2010, Virnig sold his fire truck dealership in California to join Spartan Motors in the Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) side of the business. “At that time, there was a Spartan Chassis team and the Spartan ERV side,” says Virnig. Both teams had a vice president of sales and individual sales teams. Although they acted like they were independent, the opposite was true, and based on his experience as a dealer, he recommended to then CEO of Spartan Motors, Daryl Adams, that both staffs be brought together. After some time, Adams decided to go with Virnig’s recommendation, elevating him from a regional sales manager for Spartan ERV to vice president of sales with the directive to bring both organizations together. While it was not easy to do it, Virnig based the decisions he made as vice president of sales on the fundamental belief that the customer will buy product from the dealer it wants to do business with. “It’s that fundamental,” says Virnig. “Anytime as a manufacturer we try to steer that because we think we know more than the customer, we’re going to lose. The products have to be good. They have to be quality. You have to be able to stand toe to toe with your competitors. But the deal maker is the relationship.”
Although it was a rough start, the following year, Spartan sold more chassis than the previous year, so Virnig’s vision ended up being successful.
Over time, things at Spartan began to change. The leadership had less interest in the fire side of the business and, although the opportunity to move up in the company was there, Virnig decided to pursue another avenue and, in 2018, joined REV Fire Group to basically do what he did at Spartan but this time with three brands.
REV FIRE GROUP ARRIVAL
When Virnig arrived at REV Fire Group in 2018, there were three brands: E-ONE, Ferrara, and KME. Initially, he realized he had a long road ahead of him as he worked to get everyone onboard with his vision. A big part of that was getting the dealers from each brand to trust each other. “The two brands had just come into REV with KME and Ferrara,” says Virnig. “And, we had just started the journey of building a sales team and building a story around how this is going to work.” He adds that the brands have to matter, and the dealer relationship with the customer drives that brand loyalty. “But, behind the scenes, we have to believe that we have a solid foundation,” he states, “How does a KME dealer fit into REV when he’s competing in a market with an E-ONE dealer? We had just started to get some traction where dealers were starting to believe and starting to feel like, ‘I get it. I see how this is going to work. We have to write the spec; we have to go do our jobs better if we want to have the opportunity.’ And then we buy Spartan.”
According to Virnig, bringing Spartan into the fold brought its approximately 35 dealers plus 30 OEMs. “We almost had to start over again. It was literally a firestorm when we bought Spartan. It got very complicated. But, if you don’t change the baseline of how you look at the business, and if you get everyone to buy into that baseline, you never have to get on a call with a dealer or in front of a customer, and you’re never in a position where you’re made a liar. You have to be consistent. This is how we’re going to do it. And, this is what we’re going to do. So we did that. The first year we owned Spartan was the roughest year we had in any of the times I’ve done that vice president job from Spartan ER all the way through to then. The hardest thing to do was to get the dealers to trust us after we bought Spartan. Because now we’re basically seven brands. There were people who just weren’t going to buy into this idea that we can be independent brands in the marketplace but we can also be one under the hood. We can work as one unit and we can compete in the marketplace and let the customer’s voice be heard.”
Just as everything was settling, the REV Fire Group reintroduced the Spartan chassis into E-ONE, Ferrara, and KME, which created questions for Spartan dealers and the OEMs who regularly build their rigs on Spartan cabs and chassis. “You start to climb the mountain and start to win trust and you want to maximize your assets. You make the next acquisition or you make the next move with Spartan Chassis, and then you have to go to the bottom and start over again. So, it’s been a lot of work to get us to this point where there is no conversation about what we’re doing with Spartan Chassis. Everyone understands the legacy of Spartan Chassis has always been that of the custom cab supplier to the fire industry.”
ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES
Virnig says that the plan to address the challenges encountered getting the various brands to function under the REV Fire Group umbrella was “a lot of communication—trying to overcommunicate,” he says. “We started with the top dealers—spending a lot of time traveling to dealers and spending a lot of time bringing dealers into the facilities and overcommunicating about here’s what we’re doing, here’s why we’re doing it, and here’s what comes next.”
To help facilitate this communication, Virnig created a Dealer Advisory Council (DAC). It started out as a group of about 20 where Virnig would get the top four dealers for every brand on a call to try to stay ahead of decisions like, for example, when the company brought Spartan chassis back to the other brands or if there are going to be product changes.
The dealer group votes on its DAC members. They own it, says Virnig. And now, they have a relationship where leadership and the dealers are talking about issues and problems they face. “We’re bringing them what we’re going to do next and get their feedback. Once we get the top five or six dealers to buy in, it pretty much goes smoothly across the board. And—not just buy in. They get their feedback. Communication was the absolute key to what we were doing.”
THEN VS. NOW
In 2018, the REV Fire Group comprised three brands that were completely independent. Virnig says that the sales forces didn’t talk to each other. They were different operationally. The supply chain for each was completely different, and there were no synergies between the products and the people. “What we have evolved to—and supply chain helped speed this up—is we are now leveraging ourselves as a fire group instead of individual brands.” For example, for any componentry like wiring harnesses or cooling packages, etc., the group is looking at how to leverage the volume of seven brands as opposed to seven individual companies. “The suppliers loved the fact that we were totally independent,” Virnig says. “Because we’d have a different price on something at Ferrara than we had at E-ONE because there was a volume difference. We came in and said, ‘None of that. We’re one.’ ” Virnig admits that they aren’t there 100% yet. But, the company takes advantage of every opportunity it gets. “Every chance we have is an opportunity for us to become one under the hood. That gives us power of buying, but it also gives us power in supply chain because we can have the top-notch supplier and not have so many micro suppliers.”
So, according to Virnig, the REV Fire Group went from three different independent everything to seven independent everything and that, “All the work has been done to keep the brand specific but get to one underneath: the things that are not inherent to make a brand what it is. That’s the hardest part,” he sums up.
IN THE MARKET
Today, the REV Fire Group is a good portion of the market, according to Virnig. Its market share has continued to grow. Looking at individual brands and then the overall share, the group continues to pick up share in the market. “We get multiple bites at the apple as REV,” says Virnig. For example, there could be a REV brand that had been selling to a particular department for 20 years. The department’s chief changes, and the department decides its going to look for a new brand. “We’ve got four other opportunities where we can go and leverage other products, other dealers, and other relationships,” says Virnig. “When you’re one brand, and you lose that relationship, you’re out. You get one bite at the apple, and you’re done. So, the company has opportunities to put products in front of people through multiple dealers where it doesn’t necessarily lose the share.”
Virnig also cites an example where a large municipality liked different aspects of various REV Fire Group brands and asked if it was possible to cherry pick from the different brands. “When you have a major municipality buying three of your brands—different products—to me that shows that this idea that we had a long time ago is working. For the sales staff at each one of those places, for the manufacturing teams, for the inside sales teams, the story is simple: You now have a chance to win this customer over for all of his business. Go for it. So, it’s working.”
He adds, “All these brands competed before REV owned them. And, they all managed to build their customer bases and be successful. Why should the fact that we own all of the brands change that? Just because there is a handful of us who are over all these brands, at the end of the day they’re still independent brands. Go compete.”
All that said, Virnig is not content with the status quo. “I believe in continuous improvement,” he says. “I am never satisfied with where we’re at. We’ve moved the needle. We’ve done some good things. But, I don’t spend much time, and I don’t let my teams, looking backward. I think this market is about to change, and I think he who understands and has the products for the future market is the one who wins. But, at the end of the day, I like our chances.”
THE PIPELINE
As we approach FDIC International 2024, naturally there are a number of things in the pipeline for REV Fire Group, some that Virnig can talk about and some we will have to wait for. He cites the S-180, originally developed seven years ago, as a product that continues to evolve. There is a line specifically for that product, and Virnig says it is in the right place at the right time. “We’re building over 100 a year now, and we’re offering them through the other brands as a K-180 and an F-180. I think there is a huge appetite for getting something for less money than today’s price and faster than today’s lead time.”
Speaking of lead times, Virnig says right now the company’s focus is to get tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 suppliers for all truck componentry so that if something happens in the future like the Pandemic, the group will not be vulnerable. “Our team’s energy right now is making our product more reliable, getting to a more reliable foundation of a truck, and getting to tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 vendors so we don’t have these ups and downs.” The company has a three-year backlog that it needs to build out, but, Virnig notes that he wants to build the most reliable vehicle vs. building them really fast and ending up with inferior products. “If you’re going to wait an extra year to get your truck, it had better be damn good when you get it.”
At the end of the day, Virnig says the REV Fire Group is making it about its brands and its dealers to the extent that it has sold its Louisiana and California dealers to existing REV dealers. “The brands matter. The dealers are the most important thing. Our relationship is with the dealer. The dealer’s relationship is with the customer.” He is also quick to add, “It’s not me. It’s the team that we built.”
CHRIS Mc LOONE, editor in chief of Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment, is a 30-year veteran of the fire service currently serving as a safety officer and is a former assistant chief with Weldon Fire Company (Glenside, PA). He has served on past apparatus and equipment purchasing committees. He has also held engineering officer positions, where he was responsible for apparatus maintenance and inspection. He has been a writer and an editor for more than 30 years.
