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  1. #1
    Mike The Guz's Avatar
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    Changing of the guard at Optimum

    Optimum appears to be going through a restructuring. First Yvan and now Dann Williams. There are a few others that have left their team as well.
    Competition Ready Team 1929 Bentley
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  2. #2

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    Any insight on why people are leaving or what`s going on? I hope their products aren`t affected.
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  3. #3

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    Pie in the sky, but it sure would be nice if they lowered their price on some of their items especially Opti-Coat.
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  4. #4
    Mike The Guz's Avatar
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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    Not sure why people are leaving.

    Yvan was supposedly retiring but then Lake Country pulled him in. He’s pretty active for them on social media and is now pushing training classes. So it looks like he is not retired.

    Dann hasn’t shared what he will be doing but he had other aspirations he is chasing and left in good terms.

    The others are probably jumping ship because of these two guys.
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  5. #5
    Dan's Avatar
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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    I know I left their camp when the Opticoat vs Glosscoat thing happened. :-D Glad I did, I love McKee`s.
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  6. #6

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    I like Optimum Polymer Technology (OPT) products and I find their price and performance are a good value (at least for me). BUT, as a hobbyist, I not exactly keeping them in business, either.
    Like Dan above said, there are a lot of car care product manufacturers out there and it offers both professional and hobbyist detailers choices and options as to what to use, and, hence, were to spend their detailing product dollars.

    What exactly did Dann Williams DO at Optimum and why is this such earth-shattering news to the detailing community at large? It makes it sound like Optimum`s "personnel restructuring" is signalling its business collapse.
    GB detailer

  7. #7
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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    Quote Originally Posted by bcgreen View Post
    Pie in the sky, but it sure would be nice if they lowered their price on some of their items especially Opti-Coat.
    Repackaging some items wouldn’t hurt either. I have about 5cc’s of Opti-lens protecting my garage ceiling.
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  8. #8

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    This is about the usual. Dr. G isn`t a sales and marketing guy, he`s a lab geek. I remember a video he did with Mike Phillips some years ago and Mike asked him a question about how to apply the product and the answer was "that`s why I have you detailers, Mike" (or something like that).

    Dr. G never had a full time sales and marketing person, he always relied on pro detailers that had their own businesses to rep for him...Anthony Orosco, Chris Thomas, and Yvan and Dann started like that too...but then they both seemed to go full time with Optimum. It always seemed like Dr. G was swayed by these semi-official "employees" into doing things like dropping OC 2.0, etc.

    I`m not sure if Yvan "retiring" was a way for Optimum to save face, or if that`s just what he told Dr. G he was doing when LC offered him that job. I know Dr. G run a very lean company, but maybe it`s time for him to bring someone on board in the sales/marketing area who isn`t located remotely from Memphis running another company. I know he has a guy who runs the PPF part of the business, unless he`s gone too.
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  9. #9

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    With new coating companies like SPS, SB3, Gyeon etc... making the onboarding process for new installers pretty straightforward, I was a bit turned off by some of their requirements. I hope for their sake, that part changes.

  10. #10

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    Quote Originally Posted by Billy Baldone View Post
    With new coating companies like SPS, SB3, Gyeon etc... making the onboarding process for new installers pretty straightforward, I was a bit turned off by some of their requirements. I hope for their sake, that part changes.
    Yeah, there was a lot of backlash from part-time pros here on the forum like Rasky when Optimum imposed stricter requirements like minimum buys that effectively forced them out of the program. Perhaps it was simply an attempt to have a more structured and professional industry by only having full-time installers, in kind of the same way the IDA has been trying to add structure and professionalism to the industry in general.
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  11. #11

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    I’m all for structure. But the minimum buys was kind of ````ty.
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  12. #12

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    Quote Originally Posted by Billy Baldone View Post
    I’m all for structure. But the minimum buys was kind of ````ty.
    I`m not disagreeing, I`m just playing devil`s advocate and suggesting that perhaps Optimum`s longer/larger view was that most people get their car repaired at a garage or a dealership, not at someone`s house or from a mobile service, so if they are getting a warrantied coating applied to their paint maybe they should be getting it at "detailing shop", so they were trying to encourage that.

    As we all know from this forum, many of these part-time guys (Rasky, Zach, Richy, I`m sure I`m forgetting some) do phenomenal work, so it was unfortunate that they got discriminated against by Optimum.

  13. #13

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    no doubt with ivan not around they have soom big shoes to fill

  14. #14
    Rasky's Auto Detailing RaskyR1's Avatar
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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    Quote Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy View Post
    Yeah, there was a lot of backlash from part-time pros here on the forum like Rasky when Optimum imposed stricter requirements like minimum buys that effectively forced them out of the program. Perhaps it was simply an attempt to have a more structured and professional industry by only having full-time installers, in kind of the same way the IDA has been trying to add structure and professionalism to the industry in general.
    That never forced me out of the program. I left on my own after the 3rd price increase in less than 2 years. Meeting the minimum is pretty easy, even doing 2-4 cars a month.
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  15. #15

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    Re: Changing of the guard at Optimum

    Quote Originally Posted by RaskyR1 View Post
    That never forced me out of the program. I left on my own after the 3rd price increase in less than 2 years. Meeting the minimum is pretty easy, even doing 2-4 cars a month.
    Oh, sorry...my memory isn`t what it used to be
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