This setup is vital to the company’s growth. Steve Hallas noted the sheer volume of opportunities at the event, explaining, “We’re based on a dealer network, how we sell our product line, and you meet dealers at MATS. I’ve met ten today that… we’ve talked about how many areas that are open throughout our country to where they could sell our product line.”

Instead of relying on cold calls, MAC Trailer uses its impressive booth to attract potential distributors who recognize the brand’s scale. Bill McKenzie, President of Sales, confirmed how crucial this is, noting, “We can’t grow our company without our dealer network.” He explained that seeing the full equipment lineup completely changes how potential partners view the brand: “This allows people to come in and they say, ‘Wow, look at MAC Trailer. I didn’t realize that they were this big or that they have so many different products.’ And then some of the results we’ll get is they’ll call us and say, ‘hey, we’d like to look at maybe having a distribution relationship with MAC Trailer.’”

Equally important is how MAC Trailer uses the show to support its 80+ existing dealers. Since the company relies on these partners to drive sales, MATS acts as a premium, corporate-backed showroom that individual dealers can use as their own. Dealers from across North America invite their best customers to the MAC Trailer booth to see the full product line in a professional setting. Hallas emphasized this goal, stating, “We think it’s very important for our dealers to see a nice display of the product line we build and have to offer. A lot of their customers come to the event here, and we want to make them proud of what we have and what we display and how we display it.

The Ultimate Launchpad and Real-World Testing Ground

Rather than treating MATS as just another event on the calendar, MAC Trailer has historically used it as the driving deadline for their major engineering releases. They intentionally time their manufacturing schedules so their newest models are ready for the opening morning of the show. By saving their biggest reveals for the MATS floor, they’ve trained the market to anticipate their massive booth displays. Founder Mike Conny emphasized this strategy, stating that “introducing product is the most important milestone we use MATS for, like this combo trailer right here today, it’s another milestone for MAC trailer. We bring our new product every year to MATS, we always want to introduce our new product at MATS.”

This strategic launch cadence ensures their newest trailers don’t get stuck in development limbo; they go straight from the factory to active buyers. McKenzie reinforced how this speeds up their sales, noting that “every year if we have a new product, we like to unveil it here at the show.” Returning to the event acts as a massive stage to communicate what the brand can do. By moving innovations straight to a packed show floor, MAC Trailer bypasses typical corporate launch delays and gets deals moving immediately.

At the same time, MAC Trailer treats their time on the show floor as a giant focus group to capture real-world feedback straight from the end-user. Instead of relying on surveys or administrative red tape, leadership simply talks to the drivers who operate the equipment daily. Conny readily admitted the knowledge gap between building heavy-duty assets and using them in harsh field conditions, explaining that “we get a lot of ideas. People come through here, like truckers, that pull these trailers. We build the trailers, but we don’t pull them, we don’t operate them. So truckers will come through here, and they’ll tell us, why don’t you do this, why don’t you do that, and it really helps us make a better product. It’s the voice of the trucker.” They take this driver feedback straight back to the drawing board, ensuring every production run perfectly matches what the market actually needs.