Things Vendors Should Focus on in 2009...

[xxxdirk]

And that is exactly why, Kevin, your company is so highly thought of!

[drfrightner]

Kevin,

I don't agree that it will raise the costs of products to hire an office manager, in fact it will increase the companies bottom line, productivity, and bring the company MORE sales. While you are off making something NO ONE is doing office work, responding to emails, answering phones, nothing. Again it costs money to make money... if you hire more workers its because you have more work, yes your payroll goes up but so does revenue. You can't grow unless you are willing to spend.

As for no vendor is getting rich, I would beg to differ on that point. There are several vendors doing very very very well... and yes others are barely making it, but can you get "RICH" yes 110%, but again depends on how you defind 'RICH'. I know some vendors have bought cars, houses, bigger shops, and all sorts of other fun things. But they earned it, they deserve it, they made products people wanted, they marketed the company, and grew the business.

Kevin I think it was the first time you've ever gone to IAAPA, and as you stated the show paid for itself, but you didn't make a killing...well yet is the key word. You have to build your business within that community and as you do you'll find new markets for your product and your business will grow and you will need more people to manage your company.

Anyone who forgets that without spending money on marketing, or for this arguement sake, an office manager will NEVER as you put it 'GET RICH' because you don't grow your business.

I really hate to say it but many of the people in this industry and especially vedors do not understanding marketing, or how to grow a business, they think its all about the product and its NOT! Vendors many times waste any marketing money they do have on things that do not work, and when you look at their brochures, or websites, or whatever you have to ask yourself what these guys are doing.

I think Transworld needs a seminar just for vendors on how to grow your business into a bigger one... I'd be happy to do that seminar for vendors because I understand how its done because I've done it and then some.

Vendors need seminars, they need to learn the inside ropes on how to market a business, how to grow their business, how to keep their business safe from lawsuits, how to manage inventory and product and or increase productivity!

KEN... as for your comments. Let me say this for the record our company was the FIRST COMPANY EVER to sell air driven animations. We barely knew what we were doing when you look back at the whole thing. But we did it we made violent air driven animations and sold tons of them including the wolf. Many of the wolves broke, and we fixed every single one when we got contacted. I even had people fly to peoples locations to fix them. Its really all about LEARNING from your mistakes and the following year we didn't have those problems anymore, I hired a metal fabrication company to build the frames, frames I might add are still operating to this day NEVER BROKEN! We inovated animations, made them so you could take them apart, used all sorts of HIGH END pistons, accuators, and other things and actually made them SO GOOD that no one could afford them.

All of those animations we made after our first year are still workng today, I get people commenting even today. The cost of the wolf for example went up by $1000.00 but guess what he never broke again...our company builds animations even today and we use berrings, pillow blocks, we use high end valves and everything between to keep the breaking situations LOW! We don't sell animations to the haunt industry anymore because we don't figure haunters will pay for them built in this fashion.

Going back to what Kevin said, if you build things stronger or better yes it will cost more...

Will people pay for it... I WOULD!

I'm tired of things that break the first day... I will be looking at these issues in the future. I will look over how is made, how strong it is and will look less and less at price or I should say how cheap!

I WANT THINGS THAT ARE SAFE and build to LAST!

CHARGE MORE I think people are finally ready to pay for it... either way (TO KEVIN) if vendors deliver an animation that will catch on fire you are on the HOOK for any lawsuits that might happen when people get hurt. If some haunter loses a finger while fixing your animation you will get sued! Count on it!

It doesn't cost but a couple dollars more to print WARNING LABELS, and fire retard the stuff you make. One day, one day this will happen and I'll be sadden by it but will be here to say 'I told you so'.

WARNING STICKERS!

FIRE RETARD YOUR PRODUCTS!

Larry

[Darkangel]

There are vendors who dont answer the phones noweven in the off season! You said you would not want to manage because that would take the fun out and the reason why you started your company but that's exactly what haunters are forced to deal with as well. Haunters started out of love for scaring people, Halloween, creating, all that fun stuff but it turns into a business and you have to be a manager. We lose our Halloween by giving everyone else their Halloween fun, but that's part of the game. If you run a business, you have to be ready to grow if you have a good plan in practice.

There are only a select group of haunters already that even buy from you or Unit 70, most haunters still won't spend big bucks for their haunts. I'm not saying you have to grow to be a huge corporation, just take the orders for people during the off season, answer your phones and emails and create and deliver great products!!

Darkangel

[Spookyfinder]

I'm going to agree with Kevin on this one... now, I'm in NO WAY a haunt vendor but business principles flow over from EVERY industry... and any good business knows how to keep a profit MARGIN! This just means that a fixed percent of profit must be met through the year and kept at that percent, the higher the percent, the better!

Now, if a company like Gore Galore highers more people... that percent drops while the they continue to bring in the same percent of business and the trickle in of new buyers they'd experience every year... Hmmm.... that doesn't justify risking the profit margin.

As Kevin described the "teeter totter" effect of managing a business... then you'd have to agree that if you balance both sides at the same time, you'll still balance out! Oh, is a "teeter totter" a metaphore for check book? ... hahahahaha

So, if a company is to stay in the green and keep a good profit margin... and IF it means turning away clients... so be it. Business is in fact, business! None of us knows what best for ANY vendor except for the owner of said business. -Tyler

[drfrightner]

Tyler,

I don't agree. It makes no business sense what so ever. One person can't do everything, and if vendors hired someone to manage the office they would get more work done in the shop, make more customers happy, we'd see less bitching on these message boards, everything all around the board would be better.

They would not have to raise costs because they could get more work done while at the same time take more orders. It pays for itself 100 times over.

Again it costs money to make money, once vendors with all the problems understand this they will have less people ripping on them all the time and vendors will make product faster and make more money.

I think its HIGH TIME we start to turn this industry around and make everyone operate on a higher and more professional level. Sometimes cough medicine doesn't taste good but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take it.

Larry

[Darkangel]

Nightgore do you run your own business and have business experience to back up what Kevin said?

The point was if they hired more people, he could take in more orders, hence they'd make more money even after paying for their employees. No matter how much $ you have you could still use more. Once you get used to the same profit amount annually, as you spend more on things it becomes less of a profit so you need to generate more business.

Once you get your haunt up and running and you see a product you want and get refused, you'll understand!


Darkangel

[Spookyfinder]

DarkAngel,

I think what Tyler was trying to say is that no one except the owner of a company knows how to run their business and we should not be telling them how to do so. I have 26 years of retail experience on a national level and yes, I have been rejected from a vendor before! But what can I do? NOTHING! I can't bitch and moan about it because nothing will change... business is business.

Maybe Gore Galore (Kevin, right?) likes where his business is at right now. It is possible to become "too big"... even for small businesses.

Just a thought. -Eddie

PS: I realize that this is my FIRST post on the Hauntworld... I'm trying to get Tyler to help me create an account, but for now I'll use his from time-to-time.

[Gore Galore]

Ok,
this seems to be getting in an arguing match.

Everyone is making valid points, but not all points are relating to the same issue.

Very simply:
All vendors should answer their phones and respond to emails in a quick fashion period. It doesn't matter if you have to hire someone to do it or not.
As I said before. Just simply NOT answering the phone losses business.
So, I push everyday this point with Vendors. It is part of our Corporate philosophy "Gore Galore" and the HHVA philosophy. There is no arguing against this point.

But concerning growing a business you have to do it slowly or else it gets out of control.

Products should be built better, safer and buyers should be happy to pay for that.
I think most are. If you are not then products will continue to be made low in quality and you will continue to be disappointed in those products.

And I still look forward to hearing what products you as Haunters need.
Please keep putting your 2 cents into this topic.

[Darkangel]

Hey Eddie,

Trying to pull a fast one on me I see!

Does Tyler have the same experience as you? I ask that because he made the comment.

[Darkangel]

Kevin,

Do you have a list of the vendorswho are mebers of the HHVA?

Thanks,
Darkangel

[Spookyfinder]

Darkangel,

No he does not... but I'm helping it with that. Granted, even though he's just 21, he's a very intelligent person and an even faster learner. We'll talk about different business philosophies from time to time and I'll even ask what he'd do in a given situation. At the same time he's helping me with the "haunting" stuff... I'm new to this industry, so he's showing me stuff he has experience in like painting, construction, design, knowing the vendors, scare technique... etc. etc.

Even showing me how to use this message board! So far so good... I'm crossing my fingers! -Eddie

[Tater]

Does Tyler have a split personality?

[Darkangel]

Welcome Eddie.

Darkangel

[drfrightner]

Kevin,

I dont' know of ONE vendor who fire retards anything or I do not know of ONE vendor who puts a warning label on any products... NOT ONE!

As you go forward with this vendor thing you should focus on what is important and not what isn't... seal of approval not important.

Safety imporant!

Warning labels important!

Educating vendors how to increase their revenue, productivity, learning more about the people who buy the products (and this includes you as well) is important.

You need people who understand these issues to head them up not a vendor who doesn't understand how to do these things. Things need to be approached from a business point of view not from a 'I LOVE DOING THIS' point of view because you will fail.

Additionally Kevin, a business should not be grown slow when you have an opportunity you must seize it... part of growing a business is yes taking it slow but at the same time having a plan in case what you create blows up and everyone wants it. What do you do? You need to know what to do not what not to do. I've been thru all of this and then some and well then back again.

There are all sorts of ways to improve your product, having the ability to sell more and even work less if you can learn how to do it... it can be done!

At what stage do you put the gear in first, second or fifth gear?

If someone has a product they should be prepared to sell more than their wildest dreams, and the should hammer the pedal and go for gold, but they need a plan to do it and part of the plan is to be hire an office manager and things of this nature.

Here is the bottom line ... vendors need to do more to help themselves and that takes education, good business knowledge, and they need to explore new markets and find ways to grow their business, all things that don't jive with turning down business. You say no one is getting 'RICH' I say because those people are either NOT making products people want to buy, they have clueless how to market their products, they do not understand business, or they simply don't listen to the people who actually would buy their products...HAUNT OWNERS!

Vendors should realize who has the information they seek, and do more to get it, and do more listening than talking so they know what to build, how to build it, what price they can sell it for and how to make stuff last.

When you accomplish all of this "RICH" you will become!

Larry

[Gore Galore]

Dark Angel,
We don't have a list yet. We just recently started collecting for membership, and are waiting to have memberships paid before we publish the list. But many members have the HHVA logo on their websites if that helps any.


Larry,
All good points.

I have forwarded this thread to the group.
I will also think more about the topics discussed.


And Yes, Gore Galore fire retards its products that have fabric on them. But I really can't speak for other companies.
and I think this IS something all vendors should consider doing, and marketing that fact.
So, I will bring this to the attention of the group.
Yes, it increases expenses. But the safety factor far out weighs the expense. Fire retardant goes a long way.

And NO I don't think any vendor puts a safety label on anything.
You remember the animation "Nefarious". The subcontractor lost fingers. The contracting company wasn't insured. And now the company is defunct.
It just goes to show you can't be tooooo careful.



So, thank you very much for your input.