Cheap Parts

[Garry Lobaugh]

I wanted to share this gem written by one of our top dealers and a person so gifted that he may have missed his calling: ( Garry)

The Doctor is In
Written by Andy Seeseman

“I’m looking for the free help, please.”

They don’t say this, but if I could read minds, it would be in Times New Roman, bold, underlined, and in size 48 letters.

Most of us in “the business” deal with this issue every day. We grind it out, twenty-five weekends a year at our local races trying to make a living in this crazy sport we love. We have customers that pit near us, ask us questions, elicit our help, and in return, we get their parts business. Those are called “shop guys”. That’s how it works.

Then, there is the other group. The ones that only come by when their stuff doesn’t run because there is a dead cat in their carb, they just piled it into the barriers and can’t get their axle out or need tires changed in two minutes because their race is up next.

Then they bring their tires over in a box.

We gladly change them and ask where they got the tires, when they know we bring 5 cases to every race. “I order from www.partsfromanotherstate.com, they give me great service.” I guess our definitions of service differ. Bright white packing peanuts, a box on the porch and a $3 discount don’t define service for me. Saving your ass at a club race when your heat is two minutes away is closer to mine.

So, I charge them a few bucks, or make them bring me lunch or a 12-pack of my favorite beverage. Yeah, I know, a few of us can change tires in less than a minute, but that’s not the point. If you buy the tires from us, we don’t charge to change them. Why? Because we made a little profit on the deal and know that tires can be pain in the ass. Its only fair. But, the flip side of the coin is if you need my help and you don’t support my business, I am going to charge you for my time.

Its akin to having two family doctors. One that you see when you have the sniffles or a sprained pinky, the other one gets your business for the diarrhea, the puss leaking wound or the internal bleeding. When asked why you have the first doctor when the second one can seemingly handle all of your issues, your reply is simple, “his co-pay is $1 cheaper.” There is a racer at the local club that asks at least 24 questions a day. He is part of the other group. In fact, I think he may be their leader and have some sort of title. “What jet should I run, what gear should I have, my kart is pushing, what should I do?” He is in our pit at least once an hour. Yet, when I looked his record up in the computer, we hadn’t sold him a gear, a chain, a spark plug or a set of brake pads in more than a year and a half.

We smile weakly, give him a minute of our time and then he saunters back to his pit and bitches to the rest of the group about me and the “shop guys” and that they are sponsored and get all of the good stuff. Hey folks, we don’t sponsor them, they sponsor us. They get the good stuff because they pay for it. In return, they get to slowly suck the karting knowledge from our brains, one gear, chain and tire at a time. I can afford to be at this event because these guys are there. They support me, I support them. Some of the profit I make from the stuff they buy goes towards truck fuel, employee wages, pit passes, or the biggest expense, my lunch. The rest of it goes towards all of that frivolous stuff, like rent, utilities and insurance.

I don’t fault the guy from www.partsfromanotherstate.com, he is trying to make a living, too. As he sits at home on Sundays, playing in piles of packing peanuts and laughing maniacally about the suckers at the races, I am slogging it out, helping my “shop guys” and his customers, the other group. Oddly enough, I like what I do, I couldn’t do his job. I enjoy the smell of two stroke exhaust and helping that 12 year old kid better reach his or her potential. I love karting and am glad that I can earn a meager living doing something that I am passionate about. If I wanted to get high on packing tape glue and suffer from cardboard cuts, I would go to work at a UPS store.

I guess there will always be “shop guys” and the other group. You get what you pay for, some understand it, some don’t. The hope is that we can change the world, one member of the other group at a time. Although, maybe I will start my own online store. It will be for people in other states to order from. If I do it though, it won’t be for karting parts, it will be for something that everyone needs and will be around forever.

I’ve got it! www.zerodownmortgagesfromanotherstate.com

This is going to be big…

[Marc Miller]

*applause*

From those of us that are on-call 24-hours a day, willingly picking up the phone to answer a question for a customer, I applaud this prose.

Well done Andy. Each dealer should send this out to their customers :)

[Dale Seeley]

The ironic thing is that the people who need to read this, 'the other group', will never make it past the first three sentences before losing interest...

[Ryen Miller]

genius

[BenchRacer]

Haha good read. But i think thats how it works in service and sales in general. Whats that old saying (If your good at something dont give it away for free period). Using that method you only need people to bite once and if your sales and service is truly superior than others word of mouth will spread in your favor. There will always be people walking up to people asking for help and most will puff there chests up trying to save face. And from what i have seen most of them really could use a hand. I vote for keeping the karts on the track and keeping the ego's at home. If you think it's bad now get ready for a whole lot more of it in this market. Kt100's are starting to come back in my area why? Because there the cheapest thing going. Keep the two smokers alive help when you can charge when you have to.

[Raceway Motorsports]

Thanks Andy,
I thought I was the only one who faces this every time I go to the track.
I will give you one to add, I had a dad say "Rick only helps his customers, what an ***, I will never buy from him"

RS

[william keyes]

Hmmm,

Dealers conducting water cooler talk out in the open...Obama would call this transperancy. Sales professionals would call this embarassing and potentially costly. You see you take a chance that a good customer may have a question but fears that he is the *** you speak of. He does not know if he has spent enough to avoid being that *** you speak of. Is there a $$ scoresheet we can check to see if we qualify?

Save this for Sunday night around a cooler of beer after we have all left.

[Dale Seeley]

ummm... william, the dealer was descibed as the ass, not the customer. I think you'll find that all of the dealers are more than happy to help you in hopes that you'll return the favor by buying the part you borrowed from them to make the final.

[william keyes]

ahhh.... Dale, Freudian slip, with all the complaining I sub-consciously thought you all thought the customer was an ass. You see, to you detriment, it is working already. I know I am not the only one who took a step back when I read the post. You have to decide whether this type of open conversation is helpful to growing your business (assuming you are trying to grow your business) or not.

[Garry Lobaugh]

O.K. guys, you are stirring up the community. Time out! Please.

Both of you are good customers of MRP. Dale is not a shop. Bill is a good guy. So, let's examine my intent of reporting Andy's discussion.

All kart shops appear to have been victum of this issue. Probably what had Andy stirred up at the time was an on line discount shop who does not pay taxes and does not attend the local tracks with support to the customers.

I feel the pain the that Andy describes. It is my view that in order to make the business grow, we need tracks, we need on site support dealers, and we need customers who are willing to look beyond the smoke and mirrors of an inflated retail price published on the internet that shows a slashed saved price to the customer. That customer then must pay the freight for shipment and has no support at the track where they need it most.

Let me know if I'm off track. But thanks for your comments. I think this thread might have gone a bit off track.

[Marc Jordan]

Lets face it we have all been Joe the Karter at some point. Buying equipment (not always Birel) and trying to figure it out, and trying to get help and advice from the 'One Eyed Man' You know... the one who is King in valley of the blind.

Dealing with the public makes people synical. Ask any law enforcement officer.

What I have found from selling to the public for many years is, I have to sell my product to make money. Every sale I lose, someone else gains. This makes my competation stronger and me weaker.

If 'joe the karter' is driving a Birel, or Monza, someone bought it new at one point in time, and probily sold it to buy newer model. Also, any freeline part that has broke has been replaced with freeline and Birel ultimatily make the sale.
As far as discount parts are concerned (especialy tires) I have a limited amount of money I have to spend on this sport. If I can save money on tires from out of state, I will buy them out of state. I will however mount them myself. Another factor is when buying from a high volume tire supplier is, the tires are always fresh, and have not been sitting in a shop for 6-9 months.

When it comes to parts for my sons 2 birels, I buy freeline. My next kart (soon, and for me) will be a Birel.

I have found people to be loyal if someone treats them right.

The sale will come however, it may not happen when you think it should. If they are not buying Birel, they are buying somthing else......"A little good faith and advice goes a long way"


Written on behalf of
'joe the karter'

[Garry Lobaugh]

Marc, you make good points for sure. I reprinted the article of Andy's and really should have posted it on our dealer forum. ( my mistake) Obviously there was a "flash point" that stimulated such genius. I can tell you that the tax issue on products in California vs a person who sells on the web can be a discussion point that all shops face.

Certainly, we welcome any questions and input here on the forum and hopefully you have found them to be respectful and open information. Certainly everyone of our dealers try to assist in this cause as well as our own technical staff out of the MRP Distribution center.

Let us know if there is a problem and we will certainly try to find a solution. Every Birel dealer appreciates your business. I know that we all must take the first step to "hug our customers" with warmth and information.

[duminyricky]

This is a very interesting read. It is nice to know that there are insights such as this being shared to other users.