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Re: MD Monthly Update
😀
Hi All
June has been all about us keeping our promises to you;
1. We had to make sure the supply chain for spares was both in place and within our control. While that did delay the first issue of van stock, we are now in full swing. Many of the people who have sold appliances have their spares already and by the end of this month all the agents with machines in customers houses will have theirs. We now have a stock pile of non van stock parts in the UK meaning prompt delivery is available for any fault that may occur.
2. The ISE website is now up and running, though the stockist data base needs tidying up. Please check your details are correct and let us know any alterations you rquire. When this exercise is complete we will start selling on line and can start passing orders through to you.
3. The re-written tec mannual is now complete and is being issued as an electronic file to all selling agents.
4. Point of sale is now available for selling agents and retailers, I am personally delivering this (allong with many of the van stocks) if I’ve not visited already expect a phone call in the coming days
5. The re-written user manual is next on our hit list, the content is still being debated internally, when we are happy it is right, we will go to print.
Thanks for your patience, help and support,
Cheers
John
Hi Guys,
I have had a good think and a chat to Sean and Ken on this one, below are my thoughts.
The most important thing ISE has is its channel to market therefore the thought of us cogging the channel with competitor brands does concern me.
However, where the general public requests a product recommendation for a category of product not currently supplied under the ISE brand and we pass them on to a wholesaler or manufacturer we should get a kick back.
I would put in one word of caution on being seen to overtly wholesale, in that it will undermine the impartiality of the UKW site.
My strategy would be to recommend products inculding ISE neutrally, thus channelling requests to selected wholesalers pay us covert commisions rather than opennly entering the jungle of on line appliance retailing.
Having written this it opens a further question,
Should ISE sell on line and pay UKW commision on referals rather than our current thinking of UKW handling the sale?
Cheers
john
Hi Ken,
Ian Kershaw never has a strategy for anything and his decision making often has no logic to it, its based on his instincts.
If he sees a buck to in selling the ISE appliance as a unbranded free standing washing machine he will.
All we can do is insist we I have that all ISE branding is removed.
Even if we moved distributor, Beko would supply him this machine anyway. This is the nature of own label.
I recommend we watch and see what he does. Given our current volumes we are not in the strongest bargaining position with either CDA or Beko.
john
Re: a potential problem with Guarantee cards
hi Mark,
You are right about the potential for holes or abuse in the system, which is why we have spent a lot of time and energy behind the scenes setting up a robust process by which the guarantees are administered.
The certificates we issue and cards we receive are physically matched by us therefore we can easily identify the 5 + 1 from the 5 + 5.
Because we hold a data base of machines supplied to agents cross referenced against cards received the holes are easy to spot.
When then periodically check purchases by agents against cards received. We then speak to the agent to see if they have sold a machine that does not appear on our records or is it in their stock.
I have already done one phone round which put our mind at rest on the ‘lost in the post scenario’. What we discovered was that with the exception of a couple of customers, we had cards for all the machine that had been sold. Where we did not I manually took the customer details on the phone, set it up on the data base and raised the invoice for £60 where appropriate and issued the certificate.
As our objective is to keep strong lines of communication between ourselves and the selling agents, it is easy for us to check or both our records match and retropectively fill any gaps. During the next month I will be visiting as many agents as I physically can delivering point of sale and fliers, during these visits we will do a quick cross check of what they have sold v the cards from their customers.
regards
john
Re: MD Monthly Update
Fair point,
It was the end of my first month working full time on ISE thus the title
Having said that given the great job you’ve done selling ISE machines since day one, you are welcome to take the micky out of me as much as you like
Cheers
John : 😀
Re: Being held to ransom
If moaning was an olympic sport Bill would have the silver medal behind his Mrs.
I have just slipped a response in backing up what you guys have said but adding that prioritisation has to be in line with the likeihood of you needing a part.
My view is we stick to our guns and send out the parts in order of volume, Bill has to wait his turn
John
Re: 2nd Machine
Hi Bill,
Just to underline what has already been said;
The van stocks are a central part of our business plan but they have to be issued in a manner which is financially prudent.
So far we have issued van stocks to the 23 people with the most number of appliances installed, therefore the greatest potential for a problem.
Enough for 26 more are due shortly and will be sent out soon as we pack them. We have placed an order the 26 after that and have money set asside for 190 this year so when you get yours is just a question of timing.
We also have a stock pile of parts in the UK to cope with three failures on any one componant, which we have chose to hold back in case we do get an intervention requiring a part. Therefore if you do have a problem in the short term we can have the necessary part within you within 24 hours.
With the above in mind I would request that you keep selling the machine, the van stock will follow.
Best wishes to You and Everlyn
John
Re: email address
Hi Karen
My e-mail address is
Cheers
John
PS if anyone else wants to contact me directly please feel free
Re: Banksie
He has done a top job, I am more for informal rather than formal rewards
a bottle of champange when I go up and see him in a couple of weeks may be an option & not to expensiveRe: Grab ’em by the testimonials!
Hi All
I do read all the forums with interest and take note of what is being said.
I rarely comment as I like to see what people have to say without my influence.
I am also more of a talker than a writer and am always happy to share my views verbally if you wish to give me a call individually on any subject you like.
When committing to writing it forces me to show my hand therefore I tend to be more guarded on areas of strategy, as I am concerned about ‘copy cat’ competitors or people throwing my provisional thoughts back at me if I ultimately choose a different route.
Having said I will happily share my views on testomonials but in the general context of my communication strategy.
Testemonials hold their greatest value as a staff motivation tool as they balance out the normal customer comunictaion which tends to generally be at best critical and at worst hostile. Therefore while they will make us feel good their value in the world outside is limited.
As a marketing tool they have little value as the public are cynicle about the opinions of people they don’t know particularly when they are published second by a company who they perceive as trying to sell them something.
At the moment my top prioity is making sure we keep our promises thus allowing the trade to endorse what we doing, public endorsment is further down the road but on my agenda.
For the next two weeks I am limiting the time I spend on the road in order to supply you with van stock, the website, retail point of sale, leaflets/fliers/leave behinds.
When our infra stucture is then in place, we can move forward from a position of strength rather than trying to play catch up.
After that my focus will change towards consumer awareness of ISE. This is an area where testomonials do have a roll, but not ones from the general public, rather ones from you.
I intend to commence our puplic relations assault. This will entail further work with the trade press including a follow up with ERT, but more importantly I want to work with you getting local press coverage in your areas; ‘local business sign up to fight throw away society ‘xxx from xxx’ says …..
Free editorial or at worst advertorial, drives hits to the site phone calls to us and you. It also achieves the objective of allowing us to put independent endorsments on the website but not tesimonials from a faceless member of the public but credible press articles.
I hope this looks sensible, any questions call me, but think about your own testimonial for ISE and who would you like to read it.
Cheers
John
Re: do we dont we ?
That’s great
I’ll phone Nigel Dilly and start the bidding at £10 per machine rather than talking {e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} I’ll walk away if he wants more than 5{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} £16 per appliance.
Will the outcome later
Cheers
John
Re: Chill……
hi guys,
My first post on the subject of detractors so here goes,
I tend to take the ‘spin doctors position’ on any critisim. The school of it’s better be slagged of rather than ignored.
If anyone challenges the quality of the machine, I would say that it was the best of the numerious machines from numerious factories that were tested by UKW and has been adapted to suit our needs therefore is unique to us. Remember the DNA of a chip is 97{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} the same as a human it is the 3{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of changes which make all the difference.
Secondly, all the people who have seen the machine stripped down agree with our choice or we would not be signing people up at the rate of one per day.
No other comment on machine quality is necessary.
Thirdly, If the detractor believes that the power of the ISE brand is within the tecnical make up of the machine they do not understand the brand. Openness on the pricing, local service and five years peace of mind are far more important to the general public than the tecnical detail.
If any of you want to talk to me for measured responses to dectractors on public forumns I will happily assist, I simplly ignor everything focusing my energy on people who want to support us of which there are many.
There is always room for attack, defense and silence. Selection of which strategy to adopt depends on the output we want.
Cheers
John
Re: Kerb side delivery
Hi kev,
The penalty is less than £45 it’s £30 something plus the £10 for delivery but I think the trial is a good Idea, speak to me before we go ahead so i can speak to Peter Hartly, we need to nail down a confirmed process (and cost) so we are not being charged for CDA cock ups.
I was concerned about the comments on the general forum on deliveries. If we are having delivery problems with CDA please list the specific problem and e-mail it to me, I can not go in too hard on general comments real examples are great.
Exiting CDA is possible but we would have to buy the machines and move them to say Morris Lay, this should be a last resort at this stage.
Lets stock pile the data on their erros, then I will start with a quiet chat and build from there. The home delivery may be a good oportunity for me initiate a possitive meeting with Hartly, then stress the problems with their service.
John
Re: do we dont we ?
I have discussed this subject with you all and now had time to reflect on what I feel the best course of action is.
It’s a straight trade off lower margin for higher volumes. The real quetsion is does the volume increase offset the margin loss? The answer is none of us can say for sure.
In my view circumstances have presented us with an opportunity to test the water by taking on the cornwall guy as a distributor and trying to deal directly in somerset.
By doing this trial we should have fact to use as a backcloth to challenge our collective gut feel.
If this is acceptable let me know and I’ll have the conversation will SW appliances
Cheers
John
