Small business biggest challenge

[Blurock]

Import yourself.

...and export a job!

Never import just for the sake of making a profit. There are many pitfalls and you must have a REALLY trustworthy supplier. One of the downfalls is that you have to pay up front, which wrecks your cash flow. Guarantees are often non existent or if the wrong or faulty goods are sent, you are stuck with it. Language suddenly becomes a problem.

Only import what you really have to, even if the local product is 10% more expensive. At least you can negotiate with the local supplier (NB supplier - not agent). You may also get credit terms which will allow you to pay even after you have sold the goods.

[Blurock]

Now to get in is a crazy mixture of paperwork, getting qualified and financial investment. Not to mention you have to comply with ALL their standards.

There is a big difference between a distributor and an agent. In both cases certain standards have to be met and maintained. Now this is what I expect of my distributor:

If you want to sell my product, you have to carry stock, so that you can supply my customers on demand. By investing in stock, you also show your commitment to the product.

You have to know the product and must be able to give sound advice to our customers. You must also know the products of competitors and market trends in order to apply the correct sales strategies.

What is your business reputation? Will my customers receive good, friendly service? What is the image and appearance of your outlet? Do you subscribe to the same high standards that is expected of the brand? (compare a spaza shop to a franchise outlet and a fancy upmarket restaurant, or a second hand car dealer to a luxury car franchise).

I will not allow you to sell my products from your bakkie or the boot of your car. That does not support the image of the brand and in business image is everything. Why does petrol attendants and franchise waiters wear uniforms? Why are they measured on their service?

We have invested a lot of money on R&D and getting our products to market. I do not want to give a licence to someone who does not have the same commitment and can stuff it up in one moment of madness. If I have a choice, I will rather deal with the established chain who has a reputation and a market presence.

That is why suppliers are strict on their selection of distributors. It all boils down to economics and profits. Does that make sense?

[adrianh]

I agree about importing yourself. When I wanted to buy my first laser I spoke to many people. I decided to purchase a particular machine from a supplier in JHB. His asking price was R160K and he offered to fly down to install the machine. That seemed a bit odd to me given that a laser isn't a particularly complex piece of machinery (to my mind anyway). I got all my ducks in a row and then the guy started to mess me around. Anyhow, I did a bit of research and found that 90% of Chinese machines are actually manufactured by only two or three companies. The little companies then OEM the machines, add their own paintwork and labels and then sell them as their own brands. I found the company that was selling to my prospective supplier and started to speak with them. I was able to land the machine on my doorstep for R70K including upgrades that would have cost a further R30K in SA. Ok, I am in the fortunate position that I have taught myself to be able to assemble, maintain and repair the machine so its ok not to have support. The point that I am trying to make is that there is a lot to be said for importing stuff yourself if you know what you are doing.

[tec0]

You can't blame companies for vetting their resellers. Imagine if Joe's corner garage started selling new BMW's without the appropriate knowledge and knowhow. What you need to realize is that you as the reseller is responsible for creating an environment that is suitable to the supplier because if you can't then somebody else will. Just think about any of the franchise operations, KFC, MacDonalds, Wimpy etc. you can't do as you please, you have to adhere to very very strict rules and standards...they boot you out quick quick if you don't comply.

Bottom line is that it is your responsibility to ensure that you either satisfy their requirements or come to a suitable arrangement with them. So, why don't you take a loan, like we all do and create the required compliance?

Tell you what, if it was that simple I would do it tomorrow. Reality however is, it is not that simple. Funny that you mentioned the car thing. My friend owns a car "new" and he took it for a service and they ended up blowing his engine or so the claim. They billed him for the work and told him to "fix" the car it will cost him more then what the car is worth. He took the car to "some dude" that had a reasonable reputation and he got it working.

True story.

Funny thing is I fix these systems. I don't have the support nor the parts but I manage to get them going with scavenged parts if need be. So the question is why don't they open the door and test and see who can and who can't do the work? Because I can tell you now there "tech support" isn't all that wonderful. Because I am the one getting the call when mister "i am the man" can't fixed...

[adrianh]

Tell you what, if it was that simple I would do it tomorrow. Reality however is, it is not that simple. Funny that you mentioned the car thing. My friend owns a car "new" and he took it for a service and they ended up blowing his engine or so the claim. They billed him for the work and told him to "fix" the car it will cost him more then what the car is worth. He took the car to "some dude" that had a reasonable reputation and he got it working.

True story.

Funny thing is I fix these systems. I don't have the support nor the parts but I manage to get them going with scavenged parts if need be. So the question is why don't they open the door and test and see who can and who can't do the work? Because I can tell you now there "tech support" isn't all that wonderful. Because I am the one getting the call when mister "i am the man" can't fixed...

so tec, let me ask you something just ss a matter of interest, you seem to know so much about modern cars and you seem to think that they can be easily fixed.

Do you own diagnostic scan tool?
Do you know how to use it?
Do you know what ODBII is?
Do you know what K-line communicati0n is?
Do you know what L-line communication is?
Do you know what CAN-BUS is?
Do you know how to fault find any of those commuication busses?

Ok,we still haven't touched the car, we've just spoken about diagnostic tools.

If you think for one moment that you can go near a modern car without a scan tool and a fair bit of knowledge about the stuff that I just spoke about you are mistaken. The days of a mechanic and an auto electrician fixing a car are long gone. I wouldn't let abackyard mechacnic near my car unless he owns t1his stuff and knows how to use it.

tec0, you seriously need a reality check. Go to you local proper car workshop and watch them diagnose faults using scan tools like the Launch x431 or the Bosch KTS340 and then come and tell us about fixing cars.

Most cars can be diagnosed using those tools, the only issues are that you cannot reset the odo's and you cannot reprogam keys on some because the key programmers need to connect to the factory in Germany.

So, if you get off you butt and get an education and learn how to use the appropriate tools then you could also work in a workshop and repair cars. But if you think thst you are going to do anything of real value without any form of training then you ar mostaken

[HR Solutions]

A clever man this.

[tec0]

so tec, let me ask you something just ss a matter of interest, you seem to know so much about modern cars and you seem to think that they can be easily fixed.

Do you own diagnostic scan tool?
Do you know how to use it?
Do you know what ODBII is?
Do you know what K-line communicati0n is?
Do you know what L-line communication is?
Do you know what CAN-BUS is?
Do you know how to fault find any of those commuication busses?

Ok,we still haven't touched the car, we've just spoken about diagnostic tools.

If you think for one moment that you can go near a modern car without a scan tool and a fair bit of knowledge about the stuff that I just spoke about you are mistaken. The days of a mechanic and an auto electrician fixing a car are long gone. I wouldn't let abackyard mechacnic near my car unless he owns t1his stuff and knows how to use it.

tec0, you seriously need a reality check. Go to you local proper car workshop and watch them diagnose faults using scan tools like the Launch x431 or the Bosch KTS340 and then come and tell us about fixing cars.

Most cars can be diagnosed using those tools, the only issues are that you cannot reset the odo's and you cannot reprogam keys on some because the key programmers need to connect to the factory in Germany.

So, if you get off you butt and get an education and learn how to use the appropriate tools then you could also work in a workshop and repair cars. But if you think thst you are going to do anything of real value without any form of training then you ar mostaken

Yea I saw those people in action with all there tools and probes. They didn't fix the car in the end of the day. I worked on systems far more complicated but never got the training because it was too expensive Again true story...

[Dave A]

If you think for one moment that you can go near a modern car without a scan tool and a fair bit of knowledge about the stuff that I just spoke about you are mistaken. The days of a mechanic and an auto electrician fixing a car are long gone. I wouldn't let abackyard mechacnic near my car unless he owns t1his stuff and knows how to use it.

When it comes to the electronics misbehaving, perhaps fair comment. But I've found the moment the problem involves something mechanical, the agents with their smart electronic diagnostic tools have repeatedly proved to be a poor second to a well trained, experienced and diligent motor mechanic.

And it seems the "non-agent" market is adjusting to the diagnostic equipment hurdle (which I agree is very real). I learned over the weekend that some rather savvy individual in Durban has assembled the electronic diagnostic tools to handle all sorts of vehicles. When a motor mechanic hits a snag that needs electronic diagnosis, they go to him to do the necessary. Works like a charm for all concerned, apparently.

Which I guess takes us back to the main thrust of this particular thread -

Overall, markets adjust to the prevalent conditions. To survive, businesses need to adjust themselves too.
It's a case of find a way, or fail.

[adrianh]

Yes, there is certainly a need for skilled mechanics, you cannot use a computer to diagnose a bent tie-rod or a piston with worn journal bearings, it takes experience and a good ear. The problem is that a lot of issues that a mechanic could resolve in the olden days using a timing light and a screwdriver simply can no longer be resolved that way. Modern cars have electronically controlled fuel injection systems which include mass flow sensors, knock sensors and sensors within the catalytic convertors. The electronics have rom maps that are used to determine optimum fuel flow rates given all those parameters. There is simply no way to work out what is going wrong with such a system unless you are able to monitor the sensors in real time. Timing is no longer set by twisting the distributor because cars don't have distributors any more. The ignition module uses a sensor to determine at what angle the crankshaft is and then pulses individual coils. You see, its these kind of issues that make it practically impossible for a traditional mechanic to work on modern cars without appropriate diagnostic tools. Take an auto-electrician for example: There was a time when each button switched power directly through itself (like the window up down button) this is also hardly ever the case these days. The window buttons on the drivers side, you know, the four or 5 buttons that are sometimes placed there for remote control, simply have 4 low power wires connected to the module 0V +12V CAN-H & CAN-L. So the traditional auto electrician is unable to repair a faulty window problem unless he can easily fault find using the diagnostic tools. That is why so many components are just swopped out, people keep swopping bits until the problem goes away.

After market diagnostic tools have been around for years. Bosch makes a range of tools and so do many others. There is a company in Cape Town that supplies an amazing tool for VW called VAG-COM. It is a module that plugs into a laptop with a bit of clever software. The problem with the diagnostic tools is that each manufacturer makes lots of function proprietary and they also change them all the time. You not only have to know what the error codes are, you also need to know what it means for a specific year model. The way after market suppliers figure this out is by tapping the diagnostic bus of a OEM tool on the particular make and model. Then it is a long slog to work out the unknown commands and codes. Manufacturers are very clever, they run various protocols at various bus speeds just to confuse the issue. There are cars today that have surpassed CAN-BUS and now use fibre optic MOST-BUS. The reason being that cars need high speed communications throughout their various control systems.

An interesting signal is called the "crash signal". Cars fitted with airbags have a sensor fitted in the lower middle of the car. The sensor is really a 3 axis accelerometer. (Some cars are also fitted with yaw and roll sensors) This is how the appropriate airbags are told to inflate. Cars can even determine whether they are going into a roll by interpolating the lateral and horizontal acceleration information (That is how a drop top Merc 500SL knows to pop the roll bar up before the car is actually upside down) Anyhow, when the car detect a sudden deceleration the crash signal is sent across its main control bus causing lots of things to happen at once; on really upmarket cars it is like a fast action shutdown; seat belt tensioners fire, head restraints position themselves correctly, the steering wheel is withdrawn, the motor is turned off, fuel supply is shut off, doors are unlocked, appropriate airbags are deployed and on some cars even the radio is turned off and the hazard lights turned on. Although I often rant about the price of cars, the technology within them is absolutely astounding.

There will always be a need for a guy holding a spanner in the one hand, the only difference is that he now holds a sophisticated and very expensive diagnostic tool in the other.

The term "diagnostic tool" is not totally correct - the same tool is also used to change setting within the cars electronics - one should really refer to it as a diagnostic/adjustment tool

[RCerva]

Hi. Most of my client I ask 80% deposit. Balance with completion. If they don't like it they can go to someone else that is prepared to wait for their money. I do automation jobs for factories and big guys like Mpact i would rather leave for someone else. Some of their branches pay, but some of them you wait for months. One invoice now nearly a year. So even big clients are just not worth it.