Re: Forum User\'s Group.
Hi guys -
I am encouraged by this discussion. From a business angle - there must be value to all parties involved, and there must be sufficient leverage on the part of the User's Group in order to make changes possible. For example, if there are enough User Group members (let's call them PTUGs - Power-Trac User Group) to consummate a purchase (e.g. let's say we have 5000 members, and 40% of the membership decides they would commit to purchasing a 50" bagging finish mower if priced at $1000 - this would be $1000*2000 = $2M opportunity for PT), then we can definitely help drive what PT does. This would be good for us, good for PT.
As far as logistics are concerned, my experience with User Groups is that they are usually run by the members themselves (possibly with dues to help offset cost of a website, etc.) with heavy input from the corporation (i.e. PT). User Groups do the following:
* Share user experiences and help (much like this forum)
* Decide on group purchases - coordinate group buys
* Hold in-person (or in our case, perhaps virtual) conferences to discuss future product directions, give feedback to PT, etc.
* act in many of the ways that have been suggested (warrantee issues, bulletins, etc.)
* We would recruit from PT's customer list, and sign up new people as they become users - this requires coordination with PT, for sure.
I know that for the corporations I have worked with, they take user's groups very seriously, especially if the group communicates enough so that it affects PT's business (usually very positively - they know when they build something or design something - they have a free source of primary market research). My understanding of formal user's groups is that they have charters and act like a club - they may be incorporated as non-profits, and actually have bank accounts, and such. It takes a bit of work.
My experiences have been pretty positive, however.
I think the concept of simply talking to a few people at PT isn't going to cut it. We need to have enough organic size (i.e. enough members cobbled together to make it substantive for PT) and clout for it to be worth PT's time. There may need to be sufficient effort on our part to make this worthwhile, to where it represents a significant percentage of PT's user base.
I believe a first step is to quantify and count how many perspective members we can get together, and see what this means to PT. From talking to Kristie, they sell a few dozens of machines a year. We can probably take a stab at the installed user base in this way. The question is - how can we contact them, and then coalese them together. The internet is a good start.
I think it is worth thinking about a bit more. Keep those ideas coming.
Sincerely,
Rob
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