Thanks for checking in.....and great stuff. Appreciate it.
First....thankfully, we are not in a position to have to "drum up business" -- and trust me, I'm very grateful for that!
Our mission is to create high quality powersports' accessories at prices people can afford and then to simply "be nice" in an Old School way to everyone who comes across our path. Our sales have tripled over the past few years as we track towards $6 million in sales this year, and has led to strong partnerships with retailers like Cabelas, Acme Tool, Sportsman Guide and nearly 400 powersports' dealerships around the country and internationally. I'm humbled by that and recognize we have a very talented staff and good industry partners.
So what's the president of largeish powersports' business doing here if not "drumming up business?" Well part of our core philosophy is that we will not work with the fancy distributors out there like Parts Unlimited, Tucker Rocky, etc. The 30% mark-up is a marketing cost and can cause companies like ours to cheapen their products in order meet the necessary margins, etc. We'd rather be a grass roots, real live company that, no matter how big we get, interacts with our individual customers on boards like this. We've been doing this for nearly ten years on other powersports' boards. We've had a ton of positive feedback and the occasional scathing critique -- all of which is good for our business as it makes us better. So I will not sit in some fancy corner office away from the ground level of these boards and what people are saying. Shoot, I share a desk in a cubicle with my co-owner while our customer service reps have bigger space.
Now I suppose you could say we are "drumming up business" on this specific board which is why I posted in several threads today after searching this board for 'Viper Winch.' We are new sponsors here and I wanted to see what people were saying while also respectfully showing we are listening and are available. There are a lot of good products to choose from and I won't bash any of our competitors. Fun to see what everyone is saying and this helps us evaluate if it makes sense to participate here or not. The monthly sponsor fees are higher than most boards, so we have to see what we get.
In terms of testing something, we've done this a number of times to mixed results in terms of people following up with us after they get their free product. Our stuff has been evaluated and tested more times than I can count, but I'm always willing! So shoot me a PM and see if we can work something out. The larger winch category for Jeeps is a focus of ours in the next year, so I'd love to work with you on this. We have our new Jeep bumper (made in the USA) coming out in a few months to compliment our 10"-50" SIRIUS and SIRIUS PRO lights and our 8000lb-16500lb VIPERS. Here's a picture of the prototype:
I'd LOVE to have you test this out too when we get them rolling.
Thanks for the feedback. Appreciate it.
