CBB
Gold Member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2006
- Messages
- 263
- Location
- Just north of the PA line in NY
- Tractor
- JD 5320N Vineyard, 1981 Deere 910, 1980 Kubota B22, 1983 Ford 1710
Steverino: Your account below is correct; however, there is a pervading attitude in business today that ignoring a problem is the best response and I am not so sure that from the business's perspective, this may not be the best response. It almost seems that giving oil to the wheel just makes it last longer and the squeak comes back repeatedly. By not giving it oil, the wheel breaks, is discarded and the replacement wheel gives no problem. In other words, better to discard the customer and start over than to keep the squeaky customer around because once a squeaky customer always a squeaky customer. The sooner you ignore them, the sooner they will find something else to squeak about. I am not saying it is right I am just saying it seems to be an ever-increasing tactic in business. It is the opposite of the K-mart bring it back and we will replace it no questions asked philosophy/ customer is always right thingy.
I have run into being ignored by Dodge, for example. Their tactic worked because I went away--I will never buy a Dodge again but I came to that conclusion and moved on. Once I realized they were going to not do what I considered right, I moved on and picked another battle. They only lost me as a customer. If it had dragged on, I would have continued to talk and talk and squeaked and squeaked and they potentially would have lost more business...basically, all the posts for almost a year now, has been a few bringing the same type of post to the top of the chart about the FEL. It is old. It is like me going to a Dodge website and harping on the fault in my truck. If it starts to go away, I could just start another thread to make sure the squeak was right there at the top of the post. If three or four other posters helped, we could keep it as the top issue forever AND if a GM fan wanted to hurt Dodge, they could "help" to keep the FEL issue alive. So, does Kioti oil the wheel or let it break and fall off? I can see why business is beginning to ignore and let it fall off. They are cutting their losses and it sure beats what has taken place and what is taking place in this Kioti forum (over 3000 views on the latest post). The internet has changed things...that is for sure. Now ignoring is the only way to disempowered the few "new enthusiasts". Gladwell wrote a book called, The Tipping Point that deals with Mavens—or enthusiasts as Steverino calls them. Mavens can be a powerful force until they become a fringe group that is generally ignored—like Ralph Nader, Sustainable Living Communes, etc.
I don’t like it but I understand why Kioti is not responding to certain “enthusiasts” any longer. What the internet has done is given a little power to a few and caused it to be harder to reach a “Tipping Point” where actual meaningful action takes place.
IF, this forum want to actually be meaningful in terms of creating change as opposed to sharing tractor experience, you must create a momentum and that is hard because the internet has fragmented people so much that a common view is almost impossible to achieve. What was thought to empower the people is actually immobilizing them…but, if you want to do something other than squeak then collect a list of people who want to be a member of the FEL Repair Club. Draft a letter and universally start to show solidarity toward Kioti on this subject. Each day a person is assigned to call Kioti and the rotation cycles around and around. Each week each person addresses an envelop and letter to Kioti and asks for an update…that means every person in the club does this and you try to sign on new members and maybe even publish a newsletter…I am just brainstorming here)
The stockholders of ATT recently stopped a CEO from getting a huge golden parachute from the Board approved by exercising their vote. I loved it! But it took organization by a former VP of the company to gather up the proxies of the people whose vote was usually fragmented into meaninglessness.
Unless someone wants to be that VP for this issue, we are nothing more than squeaky wheels to be ignored.
I have run into being ignored by Dodge, for example. Their tactic worked because I went away--I will never buy a Dodge again but I came to that conclusion and moved on. Once I realized they were going to not do what I considered right, I moved on and picked another battle. They only lost me as a customer. If it had dragged on, I would have continued to talk and talk and squeaked and squeaked and they potentially would have lost more business...basically, all the posts for almost a year now, has been a few bringing the same type of post to the top of the chart about the FEL. It is old. It is like me going to a Dodge website and harping on the fault in my truck. If it starts to go away, I could just start another thread to make sure the squeak was right there at the top of the post. If three or four other posters helped, we could keep it as the top issue forever AND if a GM fan wanted to hurt Dodge, they could "help" to keep the FEL issue alive. So, does Kioti oil the wheel or let it break and fall off? I can see why business is beginning to ignore and let it fall off. They are cutting their losses and it sure beats what has taken place and what is taking place in this Kioti forum (over 3000 views on the latest post). The internet has changed things...that is for sure. Now ignoring is the only way to disempowered the few "new enthusiasts". Gladwell wrote a book called, The Tipping Point that deals with Mavens—or enthusiasts as Steverino calls them. Mavens can be a powerful force until they become a fringe group that is generally ignored—like Ralph Nader, Sustainable Living Communes, etc.
I don’t like it but I understand why Kioti is not responding to certain “enthusiasts” any longer. What the internet has done is given a little power to a few and caused it to be harder to reach a “Tipping Point” where actual meaningful action takes place.
IF, this forum want to actually be meaningful in terms of creating change as opposed to sharing tractor experience, you must create a momentum and that is hard because the internet has fragmented people so much that a common view is almost impossible to achieve. What was thought to empower the people is actually immobilizing them…but, if you want to do something other than squeak then collect a list of people who want to be a member of the FEL Repair Club. Draft a letter and universally start to show solidarity toward Kioti on this subject. Each day a person is assigned to call Kioti and the rotation cycles around and around. Each week each person addresses an envelop and letter to Kioti and asks for an update…that means every person in the club does this and you try to sign on new members and maybe even publish a newsletter…I am just brainstorming here)
The stockholders of ATT recently stopped a CEO from getting a huge golden parachute from the Board approved by exercising their vote. I loved it! But it took organization by a former VP of the company to gather up the proxies of the people whose vote was usually fragmented into meaninglessness.
Unless someone wants to be that VP for this issue, we are nothing more than squeaky wheels to be ignored.
Steverino said:Here is a follow up on IslandTractors business school 101 case studies; I would include in the syllabus the Apple vs. IBM desktop competition in the early 1980’s. A time when desktop computing first appeared and Apple had adeptly employed General Sherman’s Civil War adage of “getting there first with the most”. At the onset they had a huge leg-up on IBM. Without digressing into too much detail I will simply state that it was generally recognized that Apple had better hardware, better software (more stable), and a better user interface than IBM. Apple also through shrewd marketing techniques, had greater market exposure by giving away computers to schools and other learning institutions, ensuring familiarity with their products and free training for the corporations that would eventually hire those students. So what happened, why isn’t Apple the de facto computing standard throughout the world? Now I know Apple has not disappeared and does have a niche market and somewhat of a cult following, but how could they be the easy forerunner with a superior product and fall so far behind? The answer: “ENTHUSIASTS”. Enthusiasts flocked to IBM and IBM clones because of the open architecture IBM offered. Open architecture simply stated allowed third parties to produce peripherals and software for IBM computers marketed directly to the general public. Apple didn’t. So in implementing these marketing maneuvers, IBM had third parties at no cost to them, bringing forth hardware and software that complimented and enhanced their basic machine and operating system. Now, the enthusiasts were able to tinker with these machines and that in turn increased their popularity multifold. Shortly the variety of equipment and software that became available for IBM based machines overwhelmed Apple. The rest as they say is history. Having been involved in desktop computing at the dawn of the industry as an enthusiast, I was one of the early defectors. I lost complete interest in Apple and spent all my time and money on IBM compatible equipment and software. The computer enthusiast in my opinion was the primary driving force for general acceptance of industry in choosing IBM over Apple. Many of the enthusiasts that I knew and associated with in those times became the computer geeks that were hired by industry to manage their computing needs and subsequently influenced the decision making processes.
So the moral of the story is “Don’t S---W with the enthusiasts”.
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