7/17/01

"Hello, Goodbye! Got something to say, forget it, I don't want to hear it."

OK, fine, don't want to hear from me then I'll tell it to the world, right here.

This is for the manufacturers (which is all of them) who don't want to hear from the folks who repair your product. Confidence in your product begins with the shop repair people. When a tech grumbles about product quality and the consumer hears it, how do you think that consumer will feel about your product. One would think you'd want to hear from those techs in the field, want their input and thoughts. But you don't, do you, and don't lie to yourself or anyone else and say you do. Hello Goodbye.

There is but one manufacture rep I can count on to come back into the shop and talk to us about the product he represents. One! That is our local Briggs rep. All of the others are only concerned with talking with management who are the folks buying product. All they are concerned with are sales. But how do you expect to increase sales, when those techs you won't talk to, have concerns with your products quality, and aren't afraid to pass along that feeling to consumers?

Most of these reps have a long way to travel to reach us here in Vegas. A lot of driving time and they won't spend 5 minutes talking to the guys in the repair shop. Maybe those reps are spending too much time at the Craps table when they visit Vegas, or is it just the manufacturers policy to crap on the techs?

If you read Funny Little Men, the first, you may recall I referred to a factory rep as a "Hot Shot". His position is something like a "District Manager" or some B.S. Anyway, I guess this guy tries to get around to all the shops in his district once a year. Well, that is a big chore no doubt, there's a lot of Briggs dealers for him to get to. But he spent a good hour or more with management, and didn't even wave Hello Goodbye to the guys in the repair shop on his way in or out. 2000 miles from home and not even the finger. OK, maybe he read "Funny Little Men" and he's P.O.'d at me, or hasn't yet extracted his foot from mouth for which I wrote that piece about. Well, he was warned. When I first started my little site some 3 or 4 years ago I wrote him about permission to use B&S logos on my page. When informed that was out of the question I wrote back that I was disappointed, and as a result, instead of glossing over items that were wrong I might just as well lay it on the line and let the chips fall where they belong. So if you got your feeling hurt, Hello Goodbye.

It's not that I have something to say everytime a rep comes to the shop, but it would be nice to know the manufacturer cares enough to listen and a way for that rep to channel those concerns back to the factory. Even that one local rep I can count on has no viable way of passing along input that means anything. If the input does make it back to the factory, no one ever knows it, or knows how it was handled. As manufacturers you need to set up a system so the techs in the field know their concerns are being heard, you need to have a way for the techs to find out how their concerns are being handled. An answer, a response, something to let us know you are listening, if you are.

But that will never happen if your reps won't talk to the techs in the first place. Maybe just a wave from the parking lot, that's about all the contact most of your reps have with techs these days. Hello Goodbye.
LMRM; Bob