Most people just can't do it... Professionally!
You know the product... ready-to-assemble (RTA); comes in a box and most people don't even want to put it together. Those who do, are usually doing it wrong, then blame the stores for selling a bad product, considers the product junk or both; either way it’s a bad image for the store and maker of the product. Manufacturers, retailers and on-line dealers will sell more product if they had a source (that they can depend on) who assembles and services these products. There have been many independent professional technicians and national assembly companies who compete for the end customers business. With the independent technician being the real professional and the national assembly company being the entity promising better service because of a corporate structure and tracking programs. Independent professional technicians and national assembly companies have their positives and negatives; but when these two sources come together with an understanding and true collaboration… The manufacturer, retailer, on-line dealer and (most important) the consumer; they all win when RTA products are assembled correctly the first time. There are too many manufacturers, retailers and on-line dealers that are gun-shy with the service providers of the RTA industry. The major reason is greed and little consideration for the technician who is the backbone of the industry. The retail stores rightfully collect a fee for processing a purchased assembly at the time of checkout. I personally think it should be a flat fee but the reason for that later. There is a very valid reason for collecting the fee at checkout… to get the consumer to buy it; it’s that simple! And as stated earlier, most consumers don’t know what they are doing when it comes time for the do-it-yourself scene; so if the store wants to be known as selling good product, it behooves them to sell someone who knows what they are doing when it comes time to put-it-together. Then we have the national assembly companies; who are no more than order takers (I don’t care how much they spent on a tracking software package). Most national assembly companies take as much as sixty percent of what the retailer pays them, leaving the tech forty percent. OK… the national assembly company has over-head like a commercial building, employees, insurance, sales-people, utilities and yes tracking software; so they too need to collect a fair fee to keep their operation profitable. But if they truly want to service the retailer like promised, they need to make sure the technician is paid well for what “they” do. The technician is (most times) not an employee who shows up to a job puts in eight hours of work and goes home. The technicians are usually contractors and they too need to be compensated accordingly.
The whole point here is the bottom line, when that original $96 was collected it seemed like a lot of money until it is broken down in fact that the technician is not always making good money. Many of the techs don't even break it down like a business even though they are one. |
This article was written by Mike Mehrle and is the property of UnitedAssemblers.com any reposting in part or whole without written permission is prohibited by law.
This is all true. I'm have a local assembly company and was doing very well. We were growing , by offering incredible service in our local area. That is all we wanted, just to give the best service in our area. However one by one our accounts were given to big out of town assembly companies and now I have taken a huge pay cut 2 years in a row and make less then half of what I was. I'm finding it hard to make ends meet and it is impossible to get large retailers to even talk to the independent guy these days. I am working for the time being for a national company but will most likely get out of this business when the economy gets back on it's feet. Not to be negative but this business no longer belongs to the small guy who can do the job. It belongs to the large company who can promise everything he cannot provide. That is why they can't keep good techs. My advise is find another job because after 18 years in this business it's to much stress and to hard to make it work.
Reply to this
~
Though I have been in & out of this business for about 13 years, I had never worked consistently for a "national" assembly company like some of the other guys on this network, until now.
I have heard dozens of horror stories (appropriate words for today) over the years about other guys experiences working for larger companies that never seem to get it, never seem to pay right or on time & never seemed to charge the customer enough for the service being provided in the first place! Taking all the factors Mike mentioned into consideration is a very important part of the ingredient. Taking every job that comes across the table is not always worth doing unless you are working for a large retailer, getting work on a regular basis and looking at the big picture.
Assembly Masters has been working with IKEA in California for almost 4 years now. Recently, my company was subject to what some would call a “corporate takeover” as IKEA had decided to use one large logistics company to handle all of their delivery & assembly, like a lot of national retailers eventually do. Don’t get me wrong, I still own my company and market to win direct business for my team, however now instead of working for IKEA directly, we are now required to work for a larger company called Urban Express. The good news is, we are 3 months into our “business” relationship and they have been great! Not only is the payout fair & on time, they have also been very open to advice & suggestions for improvements in pricing, scheduling, etc…
My father had always told me if you want to grow bigger, you can’t do it alone. Of course if my company was big enough to handle what Urban is doing, maybe I would have had the chance to do it on our own. However, since it was not… I am focusing on the “bigger picture” and have positioned my company to be ready for change. Before, we only worked for one IKEA store with a competitor’s business cards sitting right next to ours… now through Urban Assembly, we work with ALL 4 IKEA stores in the area and have locked in an exclusive agreement to handle ALL of the on-site assembly business for the entire area. Not a bad start...
Yes, they take their cut & are are having their growing pains, however instead of me being on the phone all day quoting customers, I now have a growing team handling all the calls… and there are A LOT of calls! Also, we now get 4 times the business opportunity across 3 counties with all four IKEA stores… and in California that is millions of people and thousands of potential customers!
Bottom line is, besides death & taxes as they say, the only other thing you can guarantee is change; and you can change with it or change will happen without you. Since they are not going away any time soon.. It’s good to know there is a “national” assembly company like Urban Express that, so far… seems to get it. I will provide future updates as this venture matures and I am always open to anyone who has questions about marketing you business locally...
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." - Will Rogers
"We put it together... so you don't have to!" - http://www.AssemblyMasters.net
Reply to this
These postings, though very informative don't do enough justice for the smaller group of techs trying to make a living in this industry. Most all postings seems to paint a picture as to why we aren't able to compete with the big guys.
I converse with a few of the other members in this group and always give them sound advice if needed. Being a "seasoned" veteran in this industry worth over 30 years under my belt I see the same ole....same ole whining and crying of why we lose accounts to the big guys !!!!
Well guys....have you ever thought about looking the other way???? Think about it for a second.....how did these companies get to be as big as they are now???? Not one company started with 100 stores opening on the same day...or even 50 for that matter. A majority of them started out one by one and then grew on that to become where they are today.
One of our biggests success in this industry is we think "outside the box"....1 store at a time. We concentrate on smaller chains of stores...as well as "family owned" businessess. You'd be very surprised at how much more business your services get in return for helping their small business succeed as well.
You have to remember how the retailers got started to begin with. I have smaller accounts that I have had since I began back in 1979 even with management changes and "National companies" coming in as well.
Look at the full pictures with retailers as they are not always in one group. As with any retailer there are "divisions". Though one division may use the national company.....the other may not. For instance, Office Depot, though we don't service the stores individually in our market area, we service the ODBS..Office Depot Business Service division for the past 15 years and most of the "commercial" side of their company in our market area. Also, with that information we also do work at the store level as a back up assembler when needed as the National companies tend to drop the ball in serviceing the stores and the retailer has to have it done in a timely manner. Thus, we service the stores as a back up means to them. Theres so much more to learn, but I'll post more in another topic soon.
Reply to this
Paul is partially right.
The techs that are new to this business or that have only a few years under their belt, need to look for advice from people like Paul; but, like Paul said himself… you need to think outside the box.
My take is purely factual… there are areas that have stores that will use the local contractor. Most that do… their corporate offices will fire the store manager if they get caught. That is why it is hard for the independent to get the stores; the managers just don’t want to lose their jobs.
But trying to get the stores is not thinking outside the box. Thinking outside the box is being an active subscriber to the United Assemblers network, having a great website, learning how to run Google ads, attending local networking events, setting up accounts on at least these social media venues: Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and yes… this blog.
Just follow my lead here with this post. By entering the http://UnitedAssemblers.com website address with http:// and doing the same thing to your website with your blog posts, it will increase your link popularity through a website that is content rich in “your” industry… “OURS” and this blog.
Thinking outside the box by spinning your wheels and waiting on the national chains to give you business… You are actually waiting to go out of business.
I have said it before and I will say it again… There is nothing wrong with working for a national company as long as “you” don’t allow them to take advantage of you. You will be more successful if you get to know your limits and learn everything possible to be the most efficient at what you do.
When working for “most” of the national assembly companies, you have your own business… period. The problem is many of you don’t look at it as your own business and have a certain dependence on the company you wait on for work orders. Then when you get a job and it nets you a substandard amount you are not happy and I wouldn’t be either. But if you learn everything the veterans of this industry try to teach you and generate your own business outside the national company you contract with, you will do better than fine because a trickle of income is better than no income.
You are your own worst competition! If you do nothing to generate your own work … of course the national companies win, but then again do they? If the national company does not allow you to generate your own business they are breaking all kinds of laws because as a contractor, you are not an employee and have more rights than the employee to earn a living. If any national company does not allow you to generate your own business, “QUIT” because you are going nowhere.
Procrastination is not an option! Do these things today and excel at what you do. Keep up-to-date and in-the-know by attending our webinars.
Reply to this
~
This was very helpful information, most independent contractor are very afraid to think out of the box.
Reply to this
Anyone working with this company?
They are the Home audio installer for walmart and sam's club.
www.newcorpinstalls.com
Reply to this
~
Never heard of this company but as with most other ventures....they are more than likely linked through a 3rd party venture such as Servicemajic....Handyman...etc. I have been doing tv installations for several years now and have done quite well in this new market. we don't do all the jobs that are requested as some folks can get really technical with their installation of items.
We do basic installation and will even do consulting with the customer to see what their needs are and whether or not we can do the job.
~
Reply to this