Change Perception of Rebuilt Products By Scott Fureman “One person told me that getting a rebuilt was not the answer because they only cleaned the contacts when he used to work in a rebuilding shop.” That comment, excerpted from the iATN electrical forum on June 27, seems to be a common sentiment, sec- ond only to “.. installed (fill in a num- ber) rebuilt units. Installed new unit from dealer and the problem seems to be fixed. I must have gotten bad re- builds.” Why is our industry taking such a beating? We can sit back and comfort each other with the ideas that “cheap imports” are taking away our market share, or that the big chains have all the business. Perhaps we should look within the industry for the problem, and hence the solution. First, who invited the imports to the party? We did decades ago when we began beating each other and our vendors for never-ending lower prices. Due in part to the high standard of liv- ing we in North America demand and deserve and the resulting high labor rates, the manufacturers and vendors were forced to go overseas for pro- duction. After decades of placing their products into the market through middlemen and increasing quality with our feedback and technical assistance, the manufacturers have entered the market directly. They were smart enough to let our vendors develop their brand recogni- tion and acceptance and then moved in later to provide product at even lower prices. The only way to combat this effect now is to vote with your wallet and refuse to buy/sell/use these products. A couple of things have happened that will make that difficult. Many of the domestic manufactur- ers have dropped these lines because they could not compete. The manu- facturers that remain usually sell the product at significantly higher prices than the imports. Unless you can slash costs elsewhere or are willing to live with lowered gross profits, this moral stance will come at a cost. Why do the big chains seem to have a large share of the market? Have you visited a chain location lately? They are always well laid out, brightly lit and clean. Have you taken an unbiased look at your facility lately? Does the appearance of your shop properly portray your per- ceived professionalism and percetved professional skills? Most of your cus- tomers do not have a good enough understanding of your job to deter- mine your company’s ability, there- fore they rely on their perception to determine that they are getting their money’s worth. Take a look at some of the suc- cessful service stations in your area. For the most part, repair garages and service stations have come a long way from the dark grease pits of a few years ago. They now try to in- spire their customers with the per- ception of professionalism, cleanli- ness and organization. Like our niche of the market, their business has not gotten any easier, but they have learned to change. Also like our niche those individuals and organizations that would not change have disap- peared from the scene, blaming their fate on everything except their own stubborn desire to hold on to the past. One way to correct your customer’s perceptions may be to SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 2000 hold an open house. Invite several key accounts as well as accounts you have been courting. Offer a tour of your fa- cility followed by refreshments and a short “technical/sales”’ seminar. If your customer base is primarily retail you can still have a tour and seminar, it is just more difficult to get word out. Per- haps you can borrow a trick from Ra- dio Shack. When you buy anything from them they try to get your mailing address for future direct mailing. When dealing with walk-in trade this may be away to get word out about new prod- ucts, services and your new annual open house. Times are changing. Gone are the days when you could hang a sign on the door and deal with a handshake. If your company is going to prosper in the new economy you will have to edu- cate the customer and show him why your company’s product is better than what he can get somewhere else. This may require taking your company to the next level, but then what’s the al- ternative? Scott Fureman is manager of technical services, Purfex/Paragon Electrical Distribu- tors, Spring City, PA. Page 1 of 1