- Joined
- Mar 20, 2016
- Messages
- 13,431
^ You will have to ask yourself this question or questions: what benefits are there in choosing a dealer / distributor specifically for CPK and then weigh the pros and cons:
- is there a cash-flow advantage? Ordinarily yes because as a dealer you will have to commit to purchasing a number of units but this will have an affect on CPK's business model. Nathan has always sold directly with the exception of Fort Henry which used to get some CPKs in limited numbers and then went ahead and marked up (I have nothing against this). A dealer will expect a discount when committing to purchase in bulk and will have some sort of agreement with the manufacturer on their mark-up percentages. The problem here is that Nathan also sells directly and no dealer will entertain the idea of selling a merchandise which the manufacture also sells directly at lower prices. Dealers by and large will eschew pricing discrepancies and inconsistencies. The only remedy that I can think of would be for Nathan to offer a few "basic" models to a potential dealer, models which he will agree not to sell directly. I don't know to what degree this method will cause Nathan a mental conflict being that he has always believed in good and honest pricing from the maker to the end-user for his well engineered tools.
- will there be a name recognition advantage and exposure? Well yes and maybe! CPK is a niche knife-maker; the brand influencer are our own NinJo, Bennieboo and Dan Keffeler who is also a collaborator plus they have Lorien who is a contributor. So far, CPK has niche written all over it but it can go more main stream if they sign up with a well-know dealer. There are pros and cons!
- advantages in streamlining the process? Nathan had been a machinist long before he became a knife-maker and he has already stated that one of the big reasons as to why he has not gotten himself in trouble is because he has a lot of experience in managing expectations in the manufacturing, production and delivery processes. The ONLY possible advantage I see with adding another link (a dealer) is the alleviation of the administrative pressure on NinJo who seems to be the only "bookkeeper" in CPK's current hierarchy. There are far easier and less "costly" solutions to this than coupling up with dealers.
If it was up to me, I would just consider hiring a non-machinist at this stage who can be trained to handle the admin side, someone who also has website development and maintenance skills to both assist NinJo in addition to bring up CPK's social-media and online presence to better modernities.
- is there a cash-flow advantage? Ordinarily yes because as a dealer you will have to commit to purchasing a number of units but this will have an affect on CPK's business model. Nathan has always sold directly with the exception of Fort Henry which used to get some CPKs in limited numbers and then went ahead and marked up (I have nothing against this). A dealer will expect a discount when committing to purchase in bulk and will have some sort of agreement with the manufacturer on their mark-up percentages. The problem here is that Nathan also sells directly and no dealer will entertain the idea of selling a merchandise which the manufacture also sells directly at lower prices. Dealers by and large will eschew pricing discrepancies and inconsistencies. The only remedy that I can think of would be for Nathan to offer a few "basic" models to a potential dealer, models which he will agree not to sell directly. I don't know to what degree this method will cause Nathan a mental conflict being that he has always believed in good and honest pricing from the maker to the end-user for his well engineered tools.
- will there be a name recognition advantage and exposure? Well yes and maybe! CPK is a niche knife-maker; the brand influencer are our own NinJo, Bennieboo and Dan Keffeler who is also a collaborator plus they have Lorien who is a contributor. So far, CPK has niche written all over it but it can go more main stream if they sign up with a well-know dealer. There are pros and cons!
- advantages in streamlining the process? Nathan had been a machinist long before he became a knife-maker and he has already stated that one of the big reasons as to why he has not gotten himself in trouble is because he has a lot of experience in managing expectations in the manufacturing, production and delivery processes. The ONLY possible advantage I see with adding another link (a dealer) is the alleviation of the administrative pressure on NinJo who seems to be the only "bookkeeper" in CPK's current hierarchy. There are far easier and less "costly" solutions to this than coupling up with dealers.
If it was up to me, I would just consider hiring a non-machinist at this stage who can be trained to handle the admin side, someone who also has website development and maintenance skills to both assist NinJo in addition to bring up CPK's social-media and online presence to better modernities.
