Hi All,

I consider this group to be the most knowledgable about vendors and distribution sources. I am trying to create a new business, exclusively around remote controls with added value via programming and some innovative methods of programming for clients.

I am trying to find distributors in my market and frankly, it has not been easy.

Do you have any advice for me? I am in Northern California. I would like to carry Philips, Marantz, RTI, UTI and a few others. My goal is to create a local base of clients (within 100 miles to agree with many of the distributors requirements) as well as possibly selling some remotes via the internet, including next-generation methods to provide "virtual programming" for them, so when they get their remotes, they are almost ready to go, with some fine tuning after they get them.

I am frustrated with my initial conversations with one local (large) distributor who has too many policy requirements, especially around using the internet as a sales focus.

Is there a way I can meet their requirements as well as make a decent sale forecast for myself?

Many Thanks in advance for your thoughts and ideas.

Dave D'Arche

Many of the suppliers we use SERIOUSLY frown on setting up e-tail or mail order. Since you are planning to be an added value seller, with banner ads and service, you should probably contact the manufacturer to see if they will recommend a specific route.

I know that Pronto only officially authorized a few online sellers in the early days, and the efforts of those sellers were mostly centered on this site.

RTI may be a tough line to add, they really prefer to sell through the custom installation market.

http://www.selectres.com/

They will meet your needs. We started up in Nor Cal and they are pretty good guys up there.

Thanks for the Link. I have had discussions with them already and I believe we could work with them in my local market. I even shared my business plan with them but they are having a lot of heartburn with selling on the internet.

Any other ideas?

Thx Dave

Dave,
Manufacturers are the ones not appreciating your selling on the net, not distributors. The distributors would just as soon pump out as many pieces as they can.

If you are truly a businessman and not just a trunk slammer, you see the benefit in not having products on the internet. If you buy it for $100 and need to sell it for $150 to make a living, you need a company that supports you keeping your price at $150. If it's available all over the net for $105, then you may not sell too many at $150. Plus, any potential clients think you are trying to rip them off when they can get it for $105. Worse yet, if you think (erroneously) that you can sell it for $110 and make a living, it gets worse for everyone else.

Most businessmen just want a living and to feed their families. We are not interested in stealing from or ripping people off. Within that context, there is a level of profit that is REQUIRED to be met if we are to continue. A businessman works accordingly. A trunk slammer only says, "I buy it for $100 so if I make $10 (or $20, or $30) on it that sounds like enough".

So do yourself and other bona fide businessmen a favor. If you want protected brands that allow you to do business better, fight to keep them protected, don't try to sneak around and do what the manufacturer expressly asks you not to do.

Best wishes and success to you.

Hear, hear, Tommy C...couldn't have said it better myself.
tjg

Guys, do you think we can stop giving out professional resources on a public forum, please!!!!!

Yeah JBJ, what are you thinking??....
We are trying to adopt a policy of blanking out the names, and you post a LINK!!

Besides A**D branches are against supplying remotes or anything else for the net sales.

It looks like you may have a Pronto deal, or at least you are committed to Prontos with the programming services and accessories you offer now... the fact that I see your banner here promoting programming srevices lets me know that you are more serious than most of the guys trying to buy wholesale claiming to do this.

If you want to commit to URC in the same fashion, call Hank or Lars directly and discuss it with them. They have a couple sellers on board that do the same basic thing (and are the top contributors on the URC pages of this forum), but they may choose to let you do your thing as well as long as you add value and don't just chop price.

I don't have any problem with Mike or Damon doing their thing, as I know they protect the pricing and deal in a straightforward manner.
If you can prove to Hank & Lars at URC that your plan is to do the same, I think you can move forward with this.

Dave:

Please don't take this as a personal attack as I don't know you and will assume you are trying to do the right thing or you wouldn't even be asking around here, BUT... If you are going to buy from my same suppliers (I am in the Bay Area) and then turn the product on the net where it isn't supposed to be, I am going to work VERY hard against you.

Having said that, this model can work with remotes if done right. Take a look at Mike at SurfRemote. It has taken him years of trust building with the vendors though so do your homework and be prepared for the long haul.

Here's a thought though - don't compete with dealers in your area, have them sub you! Demonstrate to me why and how I shouldn't be programming the remotes for my systems sold, but rather should pay you to do it. Trust me, the margin in these things as products alone is not all that exciting. The programming revenue is what you want.... If I had someone that I could hand over programming too that I was convinced wasn't undermining my business elsewhere, I would seriously consider it. Food for thought anyway.

Excellent comments, folks! I am serious about this business and I want to do it in the right way. I am leaving my high-tech corporate sales job and doing this full time very soon. So, I do have some skin in the game and have no intention of being a "trunk-slammer". (Interesting term...lol)

So far, my initial business plan was not really supported by our Norcal distributor, becuse of the internet segment. Good for him and good for the industry. So, I see myself modifying my business plan to sell the good stuff locally in Norcal, to meet their requirements and adding as much value as I can.

I may take a some Prontos from other (less caring) distributors onto the internet but I will also add value with my specialty private label products, as well as programming assitance and/or complete programming.

I am certainly interested in befriending those of you here who need programming services on Pronto and Marantz. I do have a special "virtual" approach that does work all over the US and the customer sat is quite high.

I even specialize in those nasty "remediation" jobs that no one else wants, such as when a client swaps out their old Sat box for a Tivo and wants someone to fix their remote. I find good money in this work, mostly because no one else wants it. I can do it remotely all of the US, with reasonable pricing and good customer sat.

So, if you guys need a "remediation" expert, please let me know how I can help.

Many thanks for your comments..

Dave

If these guys look like they might work out for you, here's an idea: promote them from distributor to partner. Not officially, but...

They have had problems with internet sales? Offer to supply them invoices documenting your internet sales. They are distributors, so they won't be going after your mailing list!

Perhaps even making that offer might open them up to working with you a bit more. You know, If you build it they will come, go the distance, and mostly, with this internet stuff, ease their pain.

Rick: Thanks for you comment. It's nice to know that others realize we're trying to do the right thing and play by the rules. That's not always as easy as it sounds, since there is a lot of "competition" that is being opened up and causing brands and pricing to erode right from beneath us all.

I understand the issues of price fixing, cartels, and other problematic business situations that can cause significant damage to everyone outside the manufacturer circle. This generally does not exist with remotes and manufacturers, since none of them really work that way. Sure, a lot of trunk-slammers will claim that "MAP" is price fixing, BUT since most of us have the opportunity to make more than 5% (unlike other segments), we can ultimately sell for whatever we want - without advertising it and essentially making dealer cost publicly available. So we aren't forced to sell for $10 above cost, just to say "yes, we offer that product", much like the way the video game industry operates.

Based on the prices that I've seen online, it would appear that some of these offending parties may be distributors, due to the prices they are selling at. Just by taking into account the costs involved with operating on eBay, processing credit cards, etc., they would be making negative profits, unless they had that level of pricing from the start. Others may just be installers who are attempting to supplement their income by sprinkling products around online and accepting $20 here and there.

Either way...it's an issue we'll have to deal with as best we can.



Thank you,
Damon DG
= = = = =
Control Systems Consulting, Sales & Remote Programming