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I come up with a great idea, I know it’s not too often but I had one of them pifany things tonight!
This Unifit thing has been bursting my arse since yesterday as I just can’t reconcile the benefits against the potential costs in my head and it strikes me that we’re doing them a huge favour for nadda. That’s fine, if it were an independent repairer, no problem with it then, but morally I have an issue with just “giving it away”.
So, it’s been rumbling around in my head for a day and then I think I may have struck gold on th esubject, I’ll now share the cure…
What if we ask the guy to pay £1000 per anum into the subs funds?
No I’m not crazy Kevin.
If we do that and we tell Homespares/Unifit to keep it quiet we pull off a little political coup d’etat in many ways. And, as with things the way I like them, there’s no downside to it.
The guys get more work.
The subs get some more funds.
We get to make political hay whilst the sun shines.
We also open doors to others to do the same. But in the end you have to remember that we can’t actually stop anyone from linking to that page at all, what we can do is ensure that everyone benefits.
It also massively, massively deflects any critisisms that could be levelled towards the fact that we make money in other areas, such as P&G.
You may or may not see what I’m driving at here, but by fuck, even by my own admission it’s just a sheer class plan with massive benefits for everyone, I can even sell this I reckon to John Farnworth very easily indeed.
Okay, WE don’t make money out this persay right now, but fuck me, it’s so simple and may well make life so much easier down the road aways.
Comments?
K.
(NOTE: White Russians, fucking superb, pass the Kahula & Smirnoff! :lol:)
Re: On Ocassion…
I am not totally convinced as i can see that there might be repercussions by the parts suppliers who are actually buying space from us.
If another soap manufacturer tried the same thing you would probably blow them out of the water.
As you all know i am no web buff and therefore not too hot on net etequete an all that.
So if it ois something that is accepted practice between websites then far better that we at least get something for the members
Sean
Re: On Ocassion…
Well…
The way I look at it is that they’d be selling the parts anyway, the link is of benefit and adds credence to the concept. But why shouldn’t the subs benefit from it, apart from anything else it gives still more reason to sign on to the concept if nothing else.
There’s no piont in UKW Ltd trying to gain from it to any great degree and the benefit that, in effect, giving the revenue away could do is massive by comparison to the short term advertising gain.
The linking in is an accepted and perfectly welcome protocol on th enet, but if we can gain from it and so can Homespares by a “deal” brokered on behalf of the guys then that to me is a result.
K.
Re: On Ocassion…
Sorry mate, but the idea of giving the Subscribers £1,000 on top of what we do already is daft.
We all put lots of effort into this and £1,000 will nicely cover our costs at Sibson, go towards computers for Nursery St, even pay for the Coffe machine! 😆
I have no problem with charging for our services as long as we benefit, the P&G resources are not infinite and we should not give income away.
The rest of the post, I do have reservations. I for one will not accept a call to “go and fit” a part supplied by this company, direct to a customer. They will have received a “retail” price for the part, maximising their profit whilst we may find ourselves in the position of making a visit where we can’t complete the call 1st visit.
The reasons for not completing:
Appliance is in bits because of the antics of a DIY er.
Wrong part.
Broken/damaged part.
Part fitted reveals further faults.
Whilst we take this risk with our own customers they are at least “our customers” and we are in control of the situation and not a 3rd party to the whole deal.
Seems to be that Unifit gain and we potentially are the only possible losers.
Remember that their “retail” price will more than cover them for return postage ect where it goes wrong and clauses like “the part must not be used/fitted” will cover their arse, not ours.Overall I’m not sold on this one.
I think it moves away from the Repairer doing the job and retaining control, which we all moan about when a Manufacturer/SP or insurance company do exactly that.
However if Unifit would like to refer their “private sale” lock stock and barrel to our Repairs@ system and compete for our repairers business with regards to spares sales then I’m OK with that.
They can compete with the other suppliers and create lower spare prices for us all, and pay for the advertising just like “masterpart” do now.
Thier way gives them an advantage over other suppliers and puts us as the Bad boys, with our membership being far to smart to not see the comments I’ve outlined above.Kevin
Re: On Ocassion…
Yeah, yeah… see I just knew you’d say that.
In effect they could link in like that without even asking us and, other than me or Dave picking it up from the referrers we’d never know unless someone told us abut it. Really we can hardly ask anyone to pay us to promote UKW can we?
In the end they’re going to sell the spares anyway as, like most smaller spares distributors, they’re struggling and looking for new markets. So them and probably others will want to sell direct to the public which is a direct result of the likes of CDSL having more power with spares. Clever marketing but by using CDSL for so much the trade has created a rod for its own back in many ways.
That aside, the thing we’re looking at here is do we make mothing from it as I don’t think that we can charge for the link, period. Or do we play the “moral” card and get something for the troops?
As for your argument regarding the fitting of spares where a customer has bought them and attempted a repair, well that could happen now, it would not take Unifit or any other spares doing this to have that scenario take place.
There is no “control” involved here really, it’s a free resource that we’re talking about in a free situation. Welcome to the internet.
K.
Re: On Ocassion…
Its not free. UKW is an expensive site and has costs. We have turned UKW into the only website that works in our trade with incredible potential, therefore we should carefully consider who we endorse and the consquences of our actions. Whilst we can not charge for a link an endosement from us IS worth money. True, many benefit from the site at no cost and thats fair enough. However why should Unifit get credance to the selling of spares by advertising a fitting service, which will increase the calls where it goes wrong, for our members.
I think this has as many cons as pros, where it goes wrong will be remembered most and splashed all over our pages without doubt. Where it goes ok, won’t.
This is not UKW providing any work to the guys, its Unifit making profit and using another medium to sell their wares. So without our sanction this can happen ( there’s no moral card to play) and the guys can make their own minds up whether they do or don’t do it. I for one will not support Unifit to sell spares in my area by being their part fitter, I can see further than that, the writing might be on the wall but I’m not helping with the spelling.
If we are hoping to expand our own parts sales and provide valuable income to UKW we have to use our repairs@ ourselves and not let Unifit pinch the scheme. Whilst you can not stop Unifit promoting the Repairs@, linking to the page, I don’t think we should sanction it before we are ready to use it ourselves and promote ourselves, with the benefits that brings to members.
By supporting Unifit we allow the errosion of our own spares sales to commence before we even start.
All of them as you say are looking for new markets, so are we. Remember that Domo technica is about new markets for us, we should wait before we help others too profit from our work.
If you want to dismiss what I think with “yeah yeah” comments why ask for comment in the first place?
Kevin
Re: On Ocassion…
We also have to look at it from the point that we are looking to be a player in that same market ourselves and when the new site frontage is up we will be trying our dammedest to sell spares direct to the public.
Our strong advantage at the moment is the fact that we, along with our moderators and members are trying to give as much advice and assistance as possible on what parts people need and how to fit them. If we feel it is too comlicated for the d.i.y.er we also advise them to go to Repais @
So I feel that the vast majority of people will look at our shop first for their spares, out of common decency and we need to give Dave every advantage we can to allow him to succeed.
At least we are only selling retail for now these guys have mainly been wholesales up to this point in time.
Plenty of our own trade have gone to the wall over the last few years and I always try to reseve my tears for me own.
The plain and simple fact is that we are (or soon will be) in a position to do the jewson lot so why give any advantage away.
I know you always try to look at the bigger picture but we have to hang on to every advantage we have.
JMHO
Sean
Re: On Ocassion…
But UKW is free, Unifit or anyone else can already request a link, for free.
The guys can link in, for free.
Retailers can link in, for free.
Unifit or anyone else could simply put the link in place and that’ll be that. There’s bugger all that we can do about it.
Unifit, or anyone else, can simply sell spares to the public as per Eletrolux anyway as there’s no legislation in place to say otherwise. we may as well capture what we can as not, don’t you think? We may also as well make what we can from it whilst we’re about that, but this is not a revenue stream from Unifit or anyone else I don’t understand why you can’t see that, it’s simple.
Unifit want to promote Repairs@, they needed some way to direct customers with spares that are recommended “engineer fitted” and Repairs@ offers the ideal way to do that. In effect they are promoting US not the other way around, therefore taking any money off them for that is nothing short of miraculous in the first instance regardless of where it goes.
You also have to think that a lot of people will see that tag and perhaps just opt to use Repairs@ rather than buying the part in the first place as that could be a risk, both in that they may not be able to fit it and that it may be incorrect. However I do acknowledge your concerns on that front, I just can’t see a way to combat them with any great effect.
I just do not feel entirely comfortable taking money from them to do this simply to direct calls towards Repairs@. That said, on the other hand, had we not invested the time into Repairs@ and built up the database it wouold not have been there in the first place so there is an argument to be had there. Also remember that if they go down this path, they’re going to try to get as many people as they can to sign onto the Repairs@ system as they can, which in turn helps us increase cover and also will help massively with the washer project I think.
But I think laterally and here’s the train of thought if we do what I proposed…
We gain massive kudos with the subs and the rest of the trade.
We blow DASA’s latest hair-brained schemes out the water before they even start.
We offer yet another subscriber benefit.
It lets us promote the subs still further and makes it more attractive.
We can ask the subs for some cash to develop Repairs@ further.
We cannot be accused of trying to horde the cash.
And that’s mostly it I think.
However, what I would say is that should Unifit or anyone else want their logo to appear on UKW then yes, we should charge for that and that’s a commercial agreement with us, UK Whitegoods Ltd, not with the subs. That would not be a free ride for anyone as that’s where we make our money from advertising.
As for the spares sales thing, don’t worry about that as in cyberspace things work just a bit differently from the norm. Where we have more quality links in the search engines recognise this and, in fact, by placing these links all over the place, all that the likes of Unifit are doing is feeding the further growth of UKW as we’re not providing recipricol links and therefore we will, by default, rank higher in the search engines.
Since most people will look at the top results only, this gives us a further edge on that front as well and, obvioulsy, they’re too dumb or ignorant of traffic and site ranking to know that. And this is where UKW wins big time, not for the measly £1000, that’s not at issue as personally I couldn’t give a flying f**k where that goes, what does bother me is that we get the most from the situation, the money is not what I’m arguing the toss about. But my way there’s no downsides for anyone and all that happens is that UKW get promoted still further online and through the Homespares reps that are on the road, so we win on several fronts, not just one for £1000.
And the “yeah, yeah” was meant in jest you old twat, stop being so serious just cause someone mentions money! 😆
K.
Re: On Ocassion…
You wrote…..
But I think laterally and here’s the train of thought if we do what I proposed…We gain massive kudos with the subs and the rest of the trade.
**HOW?? If we are not a requirement and Unifit can do this without us then how do we benefit? If they are promoting us and not the other way round, exactly how do subs benefit?We blow DASA’s latest hair-brained schemes out the water before they even start.
**Dasa, enough said.We offer yet another subscriber benefit.
** What benefit? To be in the repairs@ does not require subscribing.It lets us promote the subs still further and makes it more attractive.
** Again how?We can ask the subs for some cash to develop Repairs@ further.
** Again why would the subs pay, to benefit those who don’t subscribe?We cannot be accused of trying to horde the cash.
** What cash, 1st you were going to ask for £1,000 and then point out the links are free, so exactly why will they want to pay £1,000 over to UKW.As I see it, you will have no option but to endorse this with a “UKW seal of approval” if you expect the Repairs@ people to accept “part fitting” for a company in Bolton (or wherever they are). That means we are party to the loss of spares sales through their own doors/offices. It might be more work but its not the type of work we should encourage, it allows a market advantage to Unifit, who in other circumstances may not be able to sell the spares so far away from their home base without Repairs@. Whilst we have to accept that they will be trying to sell the spares anyway, as will other suppliers, we don’t have to help them do it, in prefference to ourselves.
We have always said that the real promotion of repairs@ will be through our own trainers, so from September we will be making, in roads, to fulfilling that goal.
Kevin
Re: On Ocassion…
That’s exactly it Kev, they are promoting us! Thay’re going to sell the damn spares anyway so that’s a moot point. The punters that are going to have a go are going to have a go anyway, irrespective of whether you want the work or not. In other words, there’s bugger all that we can do with this really, so why not chance our arm a bit, it’s worked so far?
If I can convince JF to pay something into the subs then it just makes the subs more attractive and people will start to wonder just WTF we’re up to with that, good, let ’em guess. What we use it for is entirely irrelevant, I was only throwing in an example there.
The benefit comes to the subs when the module gets developed and the calls weighted in their favour, this is more long term than just taking the cash.
What I meant was that being a subscriber looks a lot more attractive when they know that there’s a big pot of money there to help them.
As for the subs paying to make Repairs@ better, why not? Once it’s weighted in their favour the better it is the better for them surely? Or do you think that UKW should continue to pay for it for others benefit entirely? At some stage I think that the subs should pay for some of it to help and if that gets more people onboard then all to the good I say. Don’t get too hung up on the subs money being used for those that do not subscribe as, if they don’t, they may well do if they can see a reason to be a part of it, which is the massive rock on which DASA perished, there was no benefit to the subscriber or member if you like.
Also please remember that UKW was here to help the trade, not just a select few in it, another of DASA’s failings.
You’re also not understanding the nature of the internet, if the punter sees us with all the help and information available, largely from the aforementioned membership, then they are more likely to buy from us as the backup that they’ll recieve is far, far superior. Any idiot out there can see that now, it’s just that our shop is, well, pants really when stacked up against other ecommerce sites. That’s down to the fact that neither myself or Dave have had time to make it any better and that we don’t, or didn’t, have the resources to do it either.
Unifit or anyone else can sell spares online anyway, just go searching as there’s loads of online shops out there now selling allsorts, including stuff that they shouldn’t be really. Hell, even Electrolux is at it now. That’s not the point and the bit, like me the other day, that you’re not getting past. It’s my ball and I’m not playing will not work in this situation.
Repairs@ was never designed to generate funding, it can, but it wasn’t designed with that in mind. But I’d far rather build it up and get it being used far more before going down that path other than looking for an overall sponsor for it, but then that’s going to cost anyone a hell of a lot more than we’re talking about here. And, that’s UKW Ltd money, not the subs or anyone else’s.
Yoou are totally correct, the real promotion for Repairs@ lies with the trainers for the foreseeable future but the way we make money from it lies with sponsorship deals and endorsement which is not what we’re talking about here. What we are talking about is really Homespares “gifting” some funding to the subs just to promote us, like I said a little coup if we can pull it off and nothing like anyone has ever seen before.
K.
Re: On Ocassion…
Fraid I do understand the internet way of selling.
Unifit or anyone else for that matter will increase their sales if they can support the sale with a local company who is part of a community such as ours.
That means Unifit are trading of our backs, for free, not for me. Do whatever you like but I won’t support the errosion of my own or UKW spares sales in this way.When UKW wants to sell with the support of Repairs@ I will be there, but not for Unifit, CDSL, or anyone else.
Kevin
So, tell me then, how do you know where the call came from? In many instances the punter won’t have bought the part so that’s a non-starter as a measure of it.
But for me, here’s what at issue;
The spares boys want to sell to the public and are looking for a way to make it politically okay to do so. Thereby they don’t risk alienating their current clientele, the core trade customers. However you look at this, be it Wash Vac or Unifit, Homespares or Seme, they’re all at it in one way or another. So I can’t get that you’d reject the job on the basis that the punter had already bought a part, after all you accept a reduced rate service call and spares markup for any insurer work you do already.
But then, this goes to the point at which you say “no more”, I reached that a long time ago, but I’m a realist and I know that this is going to happen either with or without our support. I don’t like it one bit in fact I F’ing hate the notion, but there’s feck all we can do about it now. By supporting the bigger players the trade has hung itself on this count, forcing the smaller suppliers to look at retail sales in order to survive.
So, what do we do, just let them put the link there and say nothing of it? To me, that’s what you’re saying that we do.
K.
Re: On Ocassion…
If this could be turned to our advantage with a lot more work at normal private call labour rates. it could help balance the equation.
plus I dont think that we have taken on board the fact that we would’nt have to guarantee the customers own part now would we.
So if the customer orders the wrong part, as the invariably do then we get paid twice and even better, on the second visit we might even get to supply the spare.
Bear with me here Kev, cos the more thought i give it the better it sounds
If we could really thrash this one out and kick it around a little more we might be able to move the idea further.
If there could be a financial advantage to the membership then why stop at unifit why not E-SPARE who are the single biggest supplier of spares direct to the public in the land.
If there is a viable way to develope this idea then it only makes sense to go with the biggest. Just think of the advantage we could be to them if they could also supply a fitting service. At the end of the day that is all we are to the likes of CDSL,MFI, etc.,etc, right now anyway.
You only have to ask Dave about the chat we had with the guy from masterpart at Grantham when you pair were playin that get pissed quick game with the D&G lads
He told us that E-SPARES returns where absolutely phenominal and that the spares manufacturers who supplied them had to live with it because of the volume of business that E-spares were givin them.
Dont get me wrong i’m still not sure, but we have to fully explore all possibilities no matter how rediculous it sounds at first hearing.
Sean
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