SCBaldr wrote: ↑Sat May 05, 2018 2:58 am
Having read through this entire thread and the preceding one as well, I can offer a few constructive suggestions.
1. There are things about which even the best business can do nothing. People taking apart knives is one of those things. That said, the majority of people who take apart their knives, reassemble them successfully according to their own bar of acceptability. In other words, while it is a fact that a substantial number of knives get returned in tampered condition and then resold to the next hapless consumer and are then returned to Spyderco which will then have to pay to put the knife back into spec condition, the majority of people who disassemble their knives do not return them. Because of that, they are a silent and invisible majority because Spyderco isn't likely to hear much from these customers, except when they buy new knives.
While this in general may be accurate it is irrelevant except that we do not know the cost to Spyderco for this.
SCBaldr wrote: ↑Sat May 05, 2018 2:58 am
2. In any business, the best thing to do in any situation is to look for actions which will do three things simultaneously. These are: (in no particular order) Create Profit/Revenue, Serve the Customer, and Outperform the Competition. In this case, because we know that no matter what we do, people are going to tinker, it makes sense to take full advantage of this. Its simple. Offer a package for sale to the end user which includes any torx drivers necessary, maybe tweezers, a tiny bottle of oil, and a tiny cleaning brush (all of which should be branded) that all comes in a branded case. Sell it on the website for $30. Maybe it all cost $6 to put together. Then set a free shipping threshold of $50 on the website and at the same time, offer a pair of washers for $4 or something, a pivot for $9, caged bearings for $40 a pair or more. Turn the tinkering into a cash cow.
I suspect it is not as simple as you claim. Anyone can get torx drivers, oil and tweezers. Amazon has them all cheaper than what you suggest. Also, stocking, inventory, maintainenace of an inventory database (has to be purchased or developed in house) and hiring personnel to manage that for a myriad number of diffferent parts for a huge assortment of knives made over, say twenty years, by a number of makers, US and foreign, is not a trivial financial or organizational process. This would likely be a cost center, not a profit making effort.
SCBaldr wrote: ↑Sat May 05, 2018 2:58 am
3. At the same time, have some of your factory people make a series of Youtube videos detailing how to do very basic assembly and disassembly of different types of knives to show these tinkers the proper way of doing things. The reasons that John Q Public can screw things up so easily is simple ignorance, its a simple problem that, thanks to platforms like YouTube is now simple to fix. The people at Blade HQ have a nicely polished YouTube channel and i'm sure would be only too happy to help you out with this if necessary.
Again, you underestimate the magnitude of the issue and over estimate the effectiveness of correcting people’s behavior with YouTube. I’m sure some people would benefit from YouTube tutorials, but others won’t. Or won’t bother to watch. Or watch Joe Klutz screw with his Delica. (I’ve seen that one.)
SCBaldr wrote: ↑Sat May 05, 2018 2:58 am
4. I hear you loud and clear Sal that warranty repair costs are a huge drain and encouraging people to take their knives apart will only feed that beast. There is a really good revenue generating way to beat this and offer much faster turn around on repair at the same time.
Offer to dealers a training program which will they will or will not pay for(your preference, if you want to let regular people pay for it to float the cost so the dealer people can have it for free, that's fine too), which will give that dealer a
factory certified tech. That tech, who now knows everything they need to properly diagnose and service almost any repair, will then handle the bulk of the returns at their dealership. Maybe its a two day course at the factory in Golden for $500 or more if necessary to make it profitable. You also can then sell your dealers all the parts they need to handle the repairs at less than end user website cost. You can also use the program to offer glimpses of upcoming models as a means of indirect free promotion.
Who trains the dealers? Another chunk of manpower funded by Spyderco. What happens when some dealers don’t want to take on warranty and repair work? What about “certified techs” that aren’t any good? Or, how to fill the holes when they quit? You have a “program” that is partially effective so that tinkered with and warranty product still comes back to Spyderco.
The biggest issue with this scheme is that warranty and repair work is pushed away from Spyderco and into organizations and individuals over which Spyderco does not have direct control. Real quality control then becomes much harder to support and in fact will suffer from the inefficiencies of a fractured bureaucracy, poor oversight and shoddy work that will happen. Once Spyderco’s reputation for customer service and quality takes a hit, it will be extremely difficult to recover from it.
SCBaldr wrote: ↑Sat May 05, 2018 2:58 am
5. Also consider offering the Factory Certified Tech course to the public for an upcharge. Even with the added cost, you might just be shocked at how many knife nerds are willing to pay it.
By taking these actions, you can take all but the most intensive repair cases off your warranty workbench and develop not one but two brand new revenue sources which can be very low cost both in time and investment and therefore both be very high R.O.I. This will also allow the process of warranty and non-warranty repair to happen through multiple dealers who can then take care of shipping (which cuts off a huge cost by itself) and cut weeks off the turnaround time for the end user.
As to this assertion, moving warranty and intensive repair cases off to Joe Somebody who may or may not have learned from a “certification course”, or to someone who happens to be filling in for Joe who is off on vacation, is a bad idea. When and if I send in a knife to Spyderco for warranty or repair work, I know that it will be done correctly and I will be treated as an individual end line user, not some customer who bought a Spyderco from Big Blades, Inc. that sells umpteen other brands.
As to your claim that this will generate two brand new low-cost revenue sources, I don’t think this is the case at all. You could support your assertion by putting forward some evidence - numbers, dollars, man-hours, organizational efficiencies, etc.
SCBaldr wrote: ↑Sat May 05, 2018 2:58 am
In short, we can create profit and revenue by opening up new lines of business, we can better serve the customer with quicker turnaround times and foster a much healthier customer perception of factory support, and in so doing can outperform the competition.
P.S. Can I have a job?
From your conclusion it appears that you are operating from a standard business model that drives toward “profit and revenue”. I suspect also that your belief that all this will open new lines of business (selling tools and parts), better serve the customer by pushing Spyderco’s quality repair and warranty activities down to third or fourth parties over which Spyderco will have minimal control. This will not foster a
healthier customer perception of factory support. The support won’t be done at the factory but by some faceless wage earners at various retailers.
I also believe that Spyderco wasn’t founded on or is being run to be bigger, badder and mainly to increase revenue.
As to out performing the competition, that’s already the case and nothing in your suggestions appears to enhance that. Just the contrary.
A final note. My response is not meant in any way to be personal or disrespectful. I too have a serious background in business, large corporations and how they operate, and how they fail. These are merely my opinions based on a long association with business and customer relationships. I hope you take them in the best spirit of criticism.
Thank you.
