What other blank companies require you to register your blanks? I can only think of MHXs

So that makes me wonder - if a builder gives his client the information to register his MHX blank, what is the liklihood that client will end up on the mailing list for workshops, open houses, catalogs, etc?

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Very Good He will then learn how to build his own and you lost a customer ??

Bill - willierods.com

Correct me if I'm mistaken.
Few fishermen read.
Fewer fill out paperwork.

The registration is a novel idea but is more about marketing than fishermen.
The subscriptions are good. It gives them some pictures to look at.

Eugene Moore

The customer would still have to register for an account before putting the serial number in the registration online. I just take care of it for them, but I'm not worried about anyone learning how to build rods on their own, the more builders there are, the more of a market there will be and that's not a bad thing IMO. You just need to keep your game ahead of your competition and you won't have to worry about not having work.

Im with Eugene.I have 3or 4 of their blanks and have not registered a single one.If it breaks Im not gonna get upset and try to get a free one anyway.Like most people on this board,Im a hobby builder and build a few rods for myself ,and a few friends and give those away.If I did not build my own,odds are I would buy from one of the big box stores and not custom anyway.Same as building rods,I fish for fun not for a living.There is enough info on this board alone to learn to build a rod if that is someones goal so I dont see anything wrong with the possibility of getting a retail catalogue or info from Mudhole if you register a blank.They are a sponsor of this board and all you have to do is click on their link for access to all their parts and info.

Alex brings up a good point and it's one only the people from Mudhole can answer. But, I'd be willing to bet $100 that MH targets any of your customers that register.

Very few if any of my clients know who makes the blanks I use, so the likelihood that they will register their blank/ rod is none. That means that unlike all the other blank manufacturers, the MH warranty is worthless to me. Obviously, this impacts my decision to use MHX blanks. I used a few when they first came out, but I know buy from others with a warranty that is a value to me.

Thomas Cayman - AKA Robert Russell

ROBERT M. RUSSELL
KYLE TX 78640



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2011 08:44PM by Moderator.

Bruce - I'm with you on it all being available easily. But there's a difference in a person proactively going after it and having the seed planted and the idea pushed.

Think about this related to your point on where you buy rods - the database created becomes a gold mine - you've extracted the people who already have an interest in custom rods from the general fishing population at no additional market research cost to you. Now, instead of buying a list of names for $X and having anyone who fishes on it and having to mail out 1 million catalogs, you can send out 50K catalogs, focus on new customer promotions/specials and acquistions - helping you obtain a larger "catch" percentage. This is what marketing effectively is about.

IMO - bigger builders should have lesser concern. They are going to be like Thomas and handle warranty issues themselves, use "unlabeled" blanks regardless of where they get them and promote their own brand image first . Reminds me of the bumper sticker discussion with someone else's logo on it.

The small guys are really the ones who should raise an eyebrow. If you sell 2 rods a month and one of those decides to build his own - you just lost 50% of your sales and potentially created competition in your area.

Not good if you are really wanting/growing a business. If it's really a hobby, who cares right? It's all about perspective - but I got flamed for that one already.

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Batson want you to register as well

Kevin Gross
Many men will spend their whole life wondering if they made a difference. Marines dont have that problem - Ronald Regan

I must be missing something. I buy blanks from MHX ( also Castaway and Amtack ) , so they have to know know who i am as they need to ship it to me. I get a catalog with every delivery with some companies, none with others.
I register the blanks in my name and that is it. I tell the customer about the warranty and that it is transferable. I normally ask where they want the MHX decal put on the rod and i suggest that I tuck the registration decal inside the butt just before i put the foam cap on. Most like that, one said not to bother at all. The warranty is not why they buy from me in the first place, if it was, they would be getting a W & McG from BPS! The few guys who want to also get involved in building i have tried to help and every one of them came back to me after trying it themselves, its not as quick ,cheap and easy as they at first think.

If you're worried about that type of thing - register the blank for your customer. Use his name and your address. Tell him if he has any trouble with the blank, bring it to you and let you handle it. This keeps his business with you and builds a stronger bond with the customer.

.............

"If you're worried about that type of thing - register the blank for your customer. Use his name and your address."

- doing that just put your customer on the list by your own doing! Maybe you phrased it wrong?'

Who knows, come Monday, we'll hear that's not the plan since this is just hypothesizing anyway. Isn't it fun talking about the things that make people uneasy? (I get tired of hearing about thread wraps and epoxy.)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2010 08:48PM by Alex Dziengielewski.

If you put your customer's name on the registration, and use your mailing address, anything sent will arrive in your mailbox, not his.

...............

I gotcha - misread. Might be worth doing to see what kind of mail you get. :)

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Good idea That will work

Bill - willierods.com

Hello All

If you put it in their name and your address and the company knows it (and maybe if they don't) they will run the NAME through the computer (google) and it spits out the guy's real address.
Just a thought.
Have a good day.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

It would take a lot more than just a person's name for someone to obtain their address. Without knowing their location, age, etc., it's not that simple and few companies would have the time to pursue that sort of thing.

................

Alex Dziengielewski Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I gotcha - misread. Might be worth doing to see
> what kind of mail you get. :)

Alex,

So far I haven't gotten any mail other than what I normally get from Mudhole. You may be reading into this a bit too much...or maybe not.

jeremy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2010 03:59PM by Jeremy Wagner.

Jeremy -

You wouldn't if you are already on the mail list... How about your customers? That is the point of creating such a database.

I'm not the only one thinking this is a valid point... but just as normal - plenty of folks care not to speak up, but in reality no need to hop on top because the idea is there.

As for the mail list, repeating addresses could easily be sorted out at the mail house to reduce cost, so Tom's idea, while valid, wouldn't work if cost savings measures are in place. I started thinking about my experience in direct mail and we've typically pulled duplicate addresses with items like fliers, etc.

I noticed it's Monday and we're still on the same path.

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My post wasn't about duplicate addresses. It concerned the fear some have that Mud Hole is going to mail a catalog to your customer. They can't do that if you don't provide them with your customer's address. Thus, their name and your address. It doesn't matter if it's a duplicate of your address or not - they still won't have your customer's address, if that's what you're worried about.

.............

Maybe I'm wrong here (it's happened before) but we all found suppliers somehow, some way and it was fine then but if somebody else finds the same information and does exactly what you did, that's a no-no? I saw a Mud Hole ad in Fl. Sportsman and bought a kit to start with. By this rationale, I should have never bought the kit but found builder in my area and had him build me one or am I misunderstanding the argument?

Hello pot met kettle