third Party Installations [RE-wrenches]
Kirk Herander
kirk at vtsolar.com
Tue Nov 6 15:30:09 PST 2001
>Trace/Xanthrax changed their pricing structure in part to weed out the
>dotcommers, because they had observed that the do-it-yourselfers had a way
>higher rate of problem calls. They made it more difficult for those who
>failed to give support and service to compete with the low-volume,
>high-support Wrenches.
But has Trace's policy been successful? I am still pissed about this, and I
should let it go, but ...... their price structure changes have cost me 8%
over the last two years. That's $280 on an SW4024. There has been no
noticable increase in low-ball pricing. I still see web sites and get flyers
in the mail offering the 4024 for 32% off list. It's us installers most
likely to have rent, employees, liability insurance, and other overhead to
pay. I have trouble picturing how higher Trace dealer pricing helps the
installer. Even if sell inverters only at list, I'm losing $280 on each sale
compared to previous pricing. Sooner or later it won't be worth it to stay
in business if this trend continues, regardless of volume.
I do agree that adaptation is necessary to survive and stay sane. And
generally ignoring low-ballers and those who chose to buy from them is a
good idea, if your business is at the point where you don't have to take
whatever comes your way. I have a HVAC contracting friend who convinced me
also to raise my labor rates, not just to increase revenue but also make it
easier to seperate the serious from the brain-pickers and window shoppers.
BTW, I recently received a dealer price list from a certain distributor.
They have a several-tiered wholesale policy, the best pricing and lowest
volume requirements going to dealer / installers. Makes sense to me.
Kirk
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