From the Diary of
Christine Collins Blithe
How she reads the person across from her, why she brings her faith into the workday, and what she is selling to fleets now.
“We are all in Sales because we sell our desires, beliefs & opinions at every human interaction.”
The instruction is to take the company vehicle 20 minutes out of the way for maintenance. After that, the driver has to get a ride or an Uber back to his house. Christine Collins Blithe heard this from a neighbor, whose son is the driver, and put it to her LinkedIn network with a question and her own answer: “Is that efficient? Not these days.”
Keeping vehicles on the road already costs fleets more than it did. Among U.S. trucking carriers, repair and maintenance costs rose 8.6 percent in 2025, the largest percentage gain of any major cost line except tolls, according to the American Transportation Research Institute. Christine’s post is about a cost that sits beside that one: the time a vehicle and its driver spend getting to the shop and back.
Christine sells the alternative. She is Service Sales Manager/BDR at FleetPride Inc., and the same post describes the service: “We bring the impressively capable shop to your company parking lot or job site.” She has, as she puts it on her profile, “21 years experience in the fleet industry” and “an established network of 2,000+ clients.”
Is that efficient? Not these days.
What She Means by “We Are All in Sales”
Christine’s view of selling isn’t limited to people with sales in their title. “I confidently say ‘We are all in Sales’ because we sell our desires, beliefs & opinions at every human interaction,” she says.
What she asks people to think about is the listener. “Something important to consider is how others are going to perceive what you say and the method you deliver your information to them,” she says. She puts two questions to anyone going into a conversation: what tone they’re speaking in, and whether the outcome they want benefits just them or both parties.
To truly win at an interaction is to project yourself into the mind of your receiver to have a better understanding of how they’re interpreting your message.
Communication is also what she studied. Her degree from Rutgers University is a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies, with a minor in English. The earliest sales role on her profile is a cold-calling job.
Cold Calls, Then a 300-Mile Territory
From January 2003, Christine was a Communication Consultant at ATX Networks Corp., in telecommunication security solutions. The work was cold calling and networking, and visiting executives to set up appointments. She was Top Rookie in 2004, and her profile records that in March of that year she brought in more revenue at Tier 1 level than any tenured salesperson at Tier 3.
In April 2005 she joined Quarles, Inc., an East Coast fuel and energy provider, as Territory Manager, and stayed 11 years. The territory covered 300 miles, and the profile lists how she worked it: cold calling, networking, on-site visits. She inherited the Baltimore territory, was named MVP two years in a row, and added 71,000 gallons to a territory her profile describes as already mature. Her next move was from fuel to repair.
Eight Years in Truck and Fleet Service
In August 2016 Christine became Sales Manager at ARS Truck & Fleet Service in New Castle County, Delaware, which services and repairs commercial trucks and fleets both in its own shop and on location. From June 2019 she held the same title at Delaware Truck Refinishers, a body and collision repair business that ARS acquired that year. ARS issued her its Golden Wrench Award in 2019. She held both roles until February 2025. Through all of it, she says, the industry itself kept changing.
Understanding the Client
“The fleet industry is always changing with the move toward compressed natural gas and electric vehicles,” Christine says. On the electric side, zero-emission trucks made up 4.14 percent of all U.S. truck deployments from July through December 2025, up from 1.32 percent in the first half of that year, according to CALSTART’s June 2026 market update.
Her own answer to the change is about the customer. “I believe the key is really understanding your client, their needs & being able to adjust what you deliver to bring value in an ever-changing market,” she says.
Her profile names Amazon, Verizon, Chiquita, DelDOT, DART and Old Dominion among the 2,000+, and describes her as a contributing member of nine networking organizations. “I’ve always found purpose in learning about what makes businesses successful,” she says. The partnerships deepen, in her account, through networking organizations, personal visits, phone calls “and creatively online.”
I’ve always found purpose in learning about what makes businesses successful.
The online part is public. She has 4,726 followers on LinkedIn, where a post about a business networking event near Philadelphia began: “I love inspirational women that make their goal to help others connect.”
It’s imperative to always refine customer service skills among employees in your business. We want to make the client feel appreciated, valued and prioritized every day.
When the question turns from clients to what steadies her, her answer is short.
The Center of Her Business and Her Life
“God has always been the center of my business & my life,” Christine says. “Making the daily decision to lean on Him has had the biggest impact on my life.” She adds: “I believe inviting the Spirit within you to help incorporate Him throughout your day is a guaranteed path to success.”
She writes about this to the same network that sees her posts about trucks. In one post she asked how often during the day people ask for God’s help, in the morning, through the workday, when a relationship is difficult, and how often they thank Him. Then she answered for herself, and wrote:
One thing I’ve definitely learned in this life is I can’t do it on my own. I need God more than I need anything. I need Him in every moment & I work hard on my awareness of that inner need.
Her profile lists volunteer work as a teacher with the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and with Eating At The King’s Table, where she assembled blessing bags for the homeless. The company she works for changed last year.
Where Christine Is Now
FleetPride acquired ARS in 2025, and Christine has been with FleetPride since January of that year. Her recent posts are about the company’s mobile service and the moments people need it. One sets the scene: “Your company vehicle is broken down on a Saturday in Philadelphia while you’re on vacation. Who you gonna call?” Another lists what the service comes with: “upgraded new trucks, unmatched technology, stellar communication, & detailed safety training.”
The people she wants to hear from are named in a question from another post: “Who’s tired of vehicle downtime?” For anyone waiting on a vehicle and working out who is picking them up, her advice is two words: “Don’t settle.”
Who’s tired of vehicle downtime?
Asked about her goals for the rest of 2026, Christine answered with the company’s. “FleetPride is committed to delivering solutions and value that drive our customers’ success,” she says, and she lists what it holds to: safety, people, integrity, customer focus and operational excellence. Safety comes first on her list: “Safety is first in everything we do, for our people, customers, and communities.”
Outside work, a recent birthday post carried a line of its own: “age is definitely a mindset.”
Asked what she wants to build for the next generation of women entering fleet and sales, she says: “I always feel empowered around strong, positive women.” For those women, she adds: “Find a great mentor in your industry. Learn from those who have already mastered your craft. Keep a positive attitude & celebrate your wins! Don’t let anyone get you down, just keep moving forward!” Her answer ends with three instructions: “Work hard, love fiercely & find your strength in God!”
The Playbook
Five Lines from Christine’s Diary
- “In what tone are you speaking & is your preferred outcome benefiting just you or both parties?”
- “It’s time to elevate your fleet service provider.”
- “Asking God for help isn’t weakness it’s strength.”
- “We are meant to help, encourage & support each other.”
- “Live every day like it’s your last!!!”
