On Saturday, March 6, American Tackle Pro Staff member Matt Sewell participated in a Fishing seminar in south Florida at a local tackle shop. During this seminar he gave the Microwave Challenge with his custom Microwave Rods. To prove his point with the Challenge and how confident he is in the Microwaves, Matt picked a G-Loomis rod off the shop owners rack that had the same specs as his custom rod and gave the Challenge. Matt sold 12 Microwave rods to the participants and 20 more to the shop owner!! Matt was able to sell 32 rods in just under an hour by taking each participant through the Challenge and allowing them to feel for themselves.

I offer my assistance to anyone interested in giving the Challenge. Please contact me and I can personally assist you in setting up your own Challenge and increasing your sales potential.

Ben Stein
American Tackle

All right.....way o go Matt!

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Super Tight Lines......Don

Is it just me or is this starting to feel like spam?
I"m all for sponsors presenting new technology, providing updated results, new use cases, special offers, etc but all I'm seeing is hype for rod builders to check out the marketing presentation.

Here are some post titles from the last month: I know if they were coming to my inbox they would get filtered into the junk folder.

"The Challenge strikes AGAIN!"
"microwave Challenge"
"Tackle Trade World, about the Microwave Challenge"
"Incredible Update on T. Allen's Microwave Rods from the Tampa Expo"
"Microwave Challenge continues to WOW"

Maybe it's just me?

You're not forced to read any topics here that don't interest you.

Sponsors pay a fee to be able to advertise here and the MicroWave guide is a lot more than mere "hype." What's being offered here is a program to help rod builders sell more rods with the help of the company that markets the product. Having product manufacturers create demand for their product is a good thing for everyone involved, particularly when they can do it with a product that delivers as promised.

I spend so much time listening to the woes of rod builders who say they can't sell rods, can't find cost effective means of advertising, etc., etc., etc., and then when such an opportunity appears, many of them won't bother to take advantage of it. I'm still having a hard time understanding this.

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

Rick, instead of looking at it like that I think you should look at it as a great product that is a custom rod builder exclusive and what can be done if you show case it. It is showing that if you are not using it,you are missing out on lots of sales.

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Super Tight Lines......Don

Hi Rick,

It only feels like spam if you launch the topic.

Ben is a breath of fresh air around our office. His exuberance is genuine and contagious......for most. He is excited for his customers and wants to share the wealth. There is a natural life cycle of excitement for anything new and it wears off eventually and so won't these posts. But we are still in the honeymoon phase of this phenomenal new product and there is a tendency to want to share it with everyone. Ben has been inundated with testimonials that bears out what he has been preaching for months.

I don't think we can drive home the point enough that this system will revolutionize the way the public looks at spinning rods. We have reports of folks buying rod building kits for the first time to build their own MW rods because they can't seem to find any in their locale and they want to get in on it. When is the last time a custom rod guy went to a show and sold 91 of anything? When is the last time someone went into a dealer and sold 32 of anything for an hours work? More should know what the potential is here before this system is saturated in the marketplace.

Ben is encouraging everyone to get in on the action. There is a lot of skepticism out there and the only way to overcome it is to get people to see the success of others. I don't see anything wrong with that.

We do not want to alienate you or anyone else of course so we will talk about your post and reach our own conclusions. We have been on this board forever with very little static so it is not a privilege we abuse. A personal email to Ben voicing your problem would have been a better way to handle this. Joe ATC

To the Amtak guys....what would be nice is advance notice of when and where the next challenge will take place. I'm in "south florida" and I knew nothing of the event.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

I could be wrong (which seems to be the story of my life)...but...

Russell, I "think" the challenge is initiated by builders like you. It's not something American Tackle does as a company. It sounds like there was a seminar going on and the challenge was a part of it.

Selling 32 rods at a single clip is pretty sweet. I'm all for spam like that! LoL

Russ, Jay is right about builders doing the challenge and getting it out there. You are invited to come to Michigan to the Michigan Rod Builders Round Up on April 6th if you would like to take the challenge.

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Super Tight Lines......Don

If it gets you sales - makes you money - and IT WORKS nothing wrong with that

Bill - willierods.com

I was right for once.

Imma go make a note in my "I was right" notebook. Crap...I have to go buy one of those...

It was a very last minute thing. I was there delivering some rods one afternoon, and the owner at the shop was doing a little fishing seminar at his shop that night. He asked me if I would talk about rods, and rod construction for a few minutes. I basically just went over the differences in some different guide trains, and had a Microwave rod ready to cast against a GLoomis Greenwater. The Greenwater used a size 30 stripper, so you could see, and feel a noticeable difference. It is a very good guide system, and people like it.

I was right for once.

Jay - First time ?? LOL

Bill - willierods.com

Well done getting those sales I have a challenge going on tomorrow at a comp down here. All my prostaff guys up and down the coast hold these challenges every week mostly at comps, clubs and a lot of boat ramps.

The challenge just sells rods simple as that.

Cheers

Mark Newcombe
Old Bar NSW
Australia
markscustomfishing.com
American Tackle Pro-Staff

Good Day,
Question about Microwave System "strength"?:
I'm primarily a salt water angler and amiture rod builder. In the fall in the Northeast we fish the offshore canyons for tuna. Sometimes during the day when tuna fishing is slow we jump around the lobster pots casting bucktails at the highfliers for mahi. I use a 17-30lb spinning rod with a 5000 series Shimano Stradic reel. I usually throw a 1 1/2 or 2oz bucktail on 30lb braid. I would love to try the Microwave System. My concern is that the system is advertised as being designed for rods up to 20lb line strength and that the single foot guides would not hold up. Does anyone have any experience with "heavier" applications than the advertised rating? At this point I wouldn't mind being the guinea pig. I might be able to test it on some fluke soon but, I don't want to wait for tuna season.
Thanks,
Jon

Hi Jon,
Make a new post with that question and you'll get plenty of answers. The microwave guide itself is pretty strong but it's high framed and the leverage would be fairly high. Whether the 5's would stand up to 30lb line over a period is debatable. I just tried to bend a 5 and it took a lot of effort so you might be ok. The frames are low so that will help with them. Also your leader knots could be a problem. I'm sure plenty of guys would like you to be a guinea pig. I'm going to use some with 20lb braid in a few months but won't have any info for quite a while.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Issues with smaller guides and leader knots come from not compromising. Learning to tie slimmer profiled connections, or using wind-on systems is often quoted. Reducing leader length so the knot is almost in the running guides on the cast improves things greatly.

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. I think I'll try a new post. Even better...I'll try the system. Seems like a worth while gamble.
Thanks again.
Jon