C. Charles Hahn said:
If we're going to have a debate about the merits of OPT's direction for its product portfolio and professional coatings program, lets at least look at all of the angles instead of just dwelling on a single point of contention...
I for one honestly don't care as much about the increase in product cost (by adding the cost of the warranty, it DOES increase product cost over the bulk, no matter how else you spin it) as much as I care about the way Optimum handles its installer network. At the very least I think the installers were owed a full-disclosure "heads up" about what was coming far enough in advance to prepare for it; not just with our internal processes and cost structuring, but also for any customers already in the pipeline set up for jobs to be completed. It's bad business, IMO, to drop a sudden change in a situation like this. Making immediate changes to a general consumer product is one thing, but a pro-only product that requires its purchasers/users to validate their credentials to even qualify for it is quite another.
I grew up around a family business which largely served as a manufacturer's representative selling and distributing product for a few different companies (and it catered largely to the automotive and manufacturing industries). The standard practice was always for the manufacturers to give a few weeks' notice when model or pricing changes were coming through the pipeline so preparations could be made. They realized that their representatives (us) had businesses to run too and could not afford to constantly eat the cost difference each time an interim period was encountered, or a model was discontinued, etc.
Optimum on the other hand has demonstrated a pattern of making abrupt adjustments to either pricing, program structure, or both. Quite frankly it has left me on edge wondering which shoe is going to drop next; and it affects my ability to fully trust a company I effectively represent(ed) by stocking and installing their product(s) and perpetuating whatever at-large marketing they decide to do.
On top of that, I am one of those guys that Scotty singles out as being a problem because I "hardly sell anything" of Opti-Coat compared to the volume Optimum wants installers to be selling (which apparently means I can't possibly be providing high quality or installing it properly when I do work with it). Frankly I just haven't seen that much of a call for the product here in my area -- 80% or more of the OCP customers I have had traveled a minimum of 45 minutes to get here because I am the northern-most installer in the State of Michigan. I've even had folks as far away as Cadillac and Traverse City come to me for it. However, now that there are stringent minimums in place I will no longer qualify to be an installer even if I wanted to be, making it even more inconvenient for those looking to have this specific coating applied to their vehicles.
Given that even those who are staunchly supportive of Optimum's decisions admit openly that the warranty isn't a real selling point for them, the only logical conclusion one can reasonably come to is that Optimum's eventual intent is to have OCP sold through dealerships, either directly or through a third party installer. Face it, the majority of OCP's brand image has been built on the backs of installers who take the time to do extensive prep work before application, and that is what general consumers currently see and associate with the service. Once high volume operations start cranking out dealer cars with it, it's a near guarantee that corners are going to be getting cut, and average service quality will start to decline. That business model and the image it eventually projects (e.g, "Oh, he's using that same Xzillon crap the dealer slaps on cars,") simply isn't a good fit for some, hence the reluctance to continue being associated with it regardless of the short-term profit potential. Sure, the product will still continue to be good and have its merits, but the brand image will decline since a good number of consumers see something at this price point as an all-encompassing service, not just an LSP.
At the end of the day, had communication with the installer network been handled more effectively all along, much of the complaints regarding these other factors (cost increase included) would likely have been mitigated.