STE — Living Roadmap¶
What this page is — strategic memory for STE
The single source of truth for STE: research → strategy → expectations → return → report. Every fire triages against this — direction that persists, not tasks that scatter.
Markers: 🟢 Confirmed · 🟡 Assumption · 🔴 Gap · 🎯 Target.
Role in the group: the monetization face — the only entity with the Arizona dealer license, so every rebuild (SEQ / CTR) must clear through STE to reach the market. Narrative depth → entity page.
0 · MARKET RESEARCH & ANALYSIS — the why¶
- Market — 🟢 Phoenix/Southwest commercial trucks; buyers in construction, dust-control, fire/wildland, municipal water. Product = rebuilt restored-salvage + clear-title trucks sold below clean-title retail.
- Two-brand strategy — 🟢 Superior Truck (
superiortruck.com, standard rebuilds, accessible price points) + Iron Mesa USA (ironmesausa.com, premium — low-miles, restored-title, self-certified rebuild). 🔴 Gap: exactly what the Iron Mesa self-cert covers (warranty, mileage cap, inspection scope, paint spec). - Strategic competitor — 🟢 J&S Truck & Equipment (Mesa) (incorporated 2023) builds custom, sells new + pre-owned, refurbishes, rents. Structurally the same business (Brandon flagged 2026-09-07; the old "only one who builds its own trucks" moat claim was FALSE and retracted). J&S beats us on capacity (to 5,000 gal vs our 4,000) but is absent from the core rental/sale searches and publishes no rates — that demand-capture gap is the real opening.
- Demand baseline — 🟢 25 leads shared across SEQ + Superior Truck (
source='sales'collision — IT-CRM to resolve); Iron Mesa 6 leads. Demand is the binding constraint. - 🔴 Gaps: addressable $ market + quantified edge; named premium-tier comps for Iron Mesa.
1 · SALES & GO-TO-MARKET — the how¶
- Customer 🟢 — commercial buyers (contractors, fleets, owner-operators) buying a work truck at a real discount to clean-title retail; considered, low-volume, $80K–$120K+ purchases. They already understand restored-salvage; rebuild quality is what they evaluate.
- Positioning 🟢 — "a professionally rebuilt truck, fully disclosed, priced below clean-title retail." The salvage title is the reason for the value, not hidden; transparency is the differentiator.
- Sales motion 🟢 — speed-to-human on the buyer call is the whole game. A $100K buyer who can't reach a person dials the next dealer → the phone AI routes a live buyer to Brandon in seconds (never plays salesman). On-site deal-packet: bill of sale, restored-salvage disclosure (§28-2095(H)), odometer, FTC Buyers Guide, trade-in — generated + e-sign.
- Three exit paths for a finished truck 🟢 — sell (Ritchie Bros / direct / web), rent (via SWTR), or lease (direct STE).
- Marketing — 🟢 owned by IT-CRM/GHL as of 2026-09-06 (older plans superseded).
- Play for the year 🎯 — acquisition discipline at auction + rebuild-cost discipline (SEQ/CTR)
- defensible retail pricing; capture the demand J&S is leaving on the table (rates + presence in the searches they're absent from); finalize the Iron Mesa rebuild standard to justify premium.
2 · EXPECTATIONS — targets (the contract)¶
| KPI | 🎯 Target | Horizon | Owner | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Units sold / month | 🟡 8 (engine target) | Monthly | Brandon | QB / DMS |
| Gross margin / unit | 🔴 set | Per unit | AM | QB job/sale cost |
| Days-on-lot | 🔴 set | Per unit | Sales | Inventory log |
| NextGear floor-plan utilization | 🟡 ~11% of $2.5M facility | Monthly | Brandon/AM | NextGear |
| Leads captured / month | 🎯 grow from 25 (SEQ+Truck) / 6 (Iron Mesa) baseline | Monthly | IT-CRM | Warehouse |
| Iron Mesa premium mix % | 🔴 set once rebuild std defined | Monthly | Brandon | Sales |
3 · RETURN — actuals (the books)¶
Fed monthly after close. — = pipeline not yet wired.
| KPI | 🎯 Target | Actual | Variance | As of | Source / status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leads (baseline) | grow | 25 / 6 | — | 2026-09-06 | warehouse — baseline confirmed |
| Units sold / month | 8 | — | — | — | QB/DMS — wire |
| Gross margin / unit | — | — | — | — | QB — pending gl_fact (#55) |
| Days-on-lot | — | — | — | — | inventory — wire |
| NextGear utilization | ~11% | — | — | — | NextGear — wire |
4 · REPORT — monthly review (the loop)¶
Diff Expectations vs Return → misses → actions → dated entry in the decision log.
Latest month: (pending first close)¶
- On track: — · Behind target: — · Research that changed: — · Actions (owner→by when): — · Decisions logged: —
5 · AI LAYER — how AI serves STE's goals¶
- Phone AI = speed-to-human on live truck buyers → Brandon in seconds (the whole sales game).
- Deal-packet generation (disclosures, e-sign) → close faster, compliant.
- GHL marketing (IT-CRM) → capture the demand J&S is missing.
- AI KPI: live-buyer connect rate + time-to-human; leads captured attributable to AI/GHL.
How AI uses this page¶
Direction for every STE-facing agent. Work traces to an Expectations row; Return says if it moved; Report recalibrates monthly; every 🔴 (Iron Mesa rebuild std, margin/days-on-lot targets, source collision) is standing to-do. Persistent memory pointed at outcomes.