accufitgolf The home hobby guys were doubling their cost.
We both know that to be untrue. Actual "hobby guys" wanted nothing more than to tinker, have fun, take care of their buddies, neighbors and cover their next case of beer or round of golf. It had nothing at all to do with making money.
accufitgolf Those of us with standalone/retail shops had to triple our costs to make money.
If that was the case, perhaps a cost analysis of business operations was in order. Actually, all of us in the component biz had VERY generous wholesale programs for customers who actually supported us. The brutal reality is this, At the peak of SMT during the component craze, I had just over 5600 active customers worldwide. I had a multi-level huge discount program available to everyone. Over 5600 "clubmakers" be they "professional" or "hobby guys", only TEN, yes, TEN placed orders where they would carry any levels of inventory in their shops. TEN. The rest, ALL the rest were "just in time" ordering and couldn't take advantage of the deep discounts available to them if they simply would order a handful of pieces when they called. So, it really never was about profit margin. It was only about taking care of the guy that stumbled through the door at the time.
accufitgolf There were standalone shops selling the fit. Those of us with fitting aids like SporTek machines, Bengston Swing Analyzers, etc. were doing quite well at it at and at 2/3rds the cost of OEM's to the customer.
And there is my point. Waiting for the customer to appreciate your service and knowledge and to get excited to throw an extra couple hundred bucks at you because of that? But you keep referring to how , with all that stuff you could STILL be at 2/3 the price of OEM back in the late 90's. Selling is a VERB. The customer can't do it for you.
accufitgolf As the Internet expanded and people became aware of our material cost, we began to lose that edge. Like customers saying you get $100.00 to fit me and put me in say a Grafalloy ProLite at $100.00 when your cost for that shaft is $35.00.
That's simply not your customer. The internet made all of us work harder.
accufitgolf The fitting aspect became harder to sell.
Yup. Oh well. We have to adapt or die. It would have been easy to put in a Value Add to your product as well. It is very easy to do today.
accufitgolf Like it or not, what won on the PGA Tour on Sunday, became the wanted name on Monday even when an inferior product/fit.
That is true. People tend to want what they saw. But it seems like you might have told them what you just told us here..... That is was an "inferior product/fit".
FROM YOUR FIRST POST - (Based upon your last comment about people wanting what they see)
accufitgolf I disliked doing business with long drive wannabes (they wanted everything cheap and were going to make me famous as their clubmaker....LOL) so I avoided them and those component companies that hung their hats on long drives.
Steve Almo and I know very well how difficult it was to work with most of the longdrivers. Trust me. hahaha, But as I said, at that time, the sport was hot, they wanted our stuff and used our stuff. I traveled the world, sponsored events, the brand won all of them, won awards on Tour, the Tour your own customers saw, was written up in over 70 national and international magazines. Was on TV etc. For a teeny tiny component company. Stuff that you could buy for a huge discount. Stuff that you actually use to make money for your customers, but your quote above shunned the sport. Paddling upstream is difficult.
accufitgolf I say the biggest killer of the independent, standalone club fitter/clubmaker was the Internet.
So, using your own words..... was the death blow, the "hobby guys" or the internet that killed the industry? Or could it be something a little closer to home?
Component companies are still thriving. They have adapted.