We are about to implement some changes to our PicoScope sales pages and would welcome some input.

As you know, we are the ONLY PicoScope automotive specialists.  It's all we do here and everything we provide is supported by PicoScope sales and nothing else.

We have enjoyed growth year after year since we stated all this back near the turn of the century.  This due in great part to all of you loyal Picogroup members supporting us with your repeat business and referrals.  Thank you so much.

We are finding we need to take another look at how we market.  This is due to two main market factors:

1.  Pico opened their US office selling direct to the end users competing on the same turf as their own vendors who built the market here.

2.  Other vendors got more aggressive with their price slashing and marketing.

On point number two, the Amazon mentality drives the market more now than ever where price is the only thing shoppers see and they don't take the time to research their purchases. 

So, we have to be pro active and address this.

We plan to go toe to toe with some of the other vendors out there that like to slash pricing. 

This is something that I have been really conflicted about doing because we have always been about providing the total experience and that is not changing.  What is changing is offering the consumer more choices. 

For those that only care about the cheapest price, we'll give it to them.  But we want to offer the choice in a way that is both in your face and encourages you to look more closely so that you make the choice that is best for you.

The following page is up and functional but not linked into our web site anywhere just yet:

http://www.autonerdz.com/kitchoice.html

We would like your impressions in the poll.  Feel free also to comment in this thread if you have other input.

We are trying to inject a little edgy humor here but don't want to offend folks.  But we do want to make sure they take a double take, slow down, and give due consideration to an important equipment acquisition.

One of the up sides here is that those that are already Picogroup members, who want to get another kit, can do so with us preserving their Picogroup membership and getting a cheaper price, if they don't need another membership.

Tom,

It is a reality today that you always have somebody trying to eat your hard earned lunch.

To that effect you must remain dynamic and prepared to make changes.

Every member of the Picogroup enjoys a special privilege.

I however do have a couple of issues that do concern me.

One is that sometimes I think that our good group members offer too much help and reveal too much about the finer details of scope work, function and tricks in the general board.

Also I think we are a little guilty of offering non Picogroup members too much technical help.

It is my view that access to the minds in the Picogroup is a privilege that has an affordable flagfall, Picogroup members have all seen the merit in paying that flagfall.

We all develop as a consequence of the unbridled freedom to academically discuss our issues on this board.

You have kept a kindly paternal hand on this and have only stepped in where you have seen it get out of hand.

You have an unprecedented group where we are all good to each other and we generally keep to the subject matter.

People hear about or find the general group and start posting, only to receive help from the Pico members.

I think this is help that they should either not receive or pay for.

THE GENERAL GROUP SHOULD ONLY EXIST TO ACT AS A FEEDER TO THE PICOGROUP OR SHOWCASE AUTONERDZ, NOT BE A BACK DOOR TO FREE ACCESS TO PICOGROUP MEMBERS.

I also think the days of the free general group need to be numbered, naturally you wish to showcase the benefits of being a member of the Picogroup, and naturally being in the general group does not give one full access, but I think the time comes where general group members need to put up.

I'm certainly not going to tell you how to run your business but as a person of academic background I can tell you there are no finer minds in the automotive aftermarket than you have attracted here.

(Imagine where we could all go if we had access to car manufacturer engineering documents).

Yes it is competitive, yes people need to see what you have to offer, but the free advice in the general area needs to be restricted.

I for one will not reveal my craft or what I have learnt in this group in the general area.

I urge all Picogroup members to only post significant information within the group.

I also suggest where we do have such information and we can see that the general member may benefit from our knowlege that we suggest he refers it to the Pico group, thus requiring membership.

How long should a general member be able to have access to the general group without making a financial contribution?

Perhaps the stay should have a sunset date before a subscription from a general member is required either to the Picogroup or a lesser subscription to the general group.

I also think that Pico should keep out of the market when it has distributors, Pico is a good company but needs to be aware that Tom in particular is having a global effect on the reputation of the product.

I'm in Australia and when I did my research to me there was no choice.

Yesterday I recieved a call from New Zealand from a friend with an issue with a BMW.

I advised him to purchase a Picoscope from Tom when he first wanted to enter into scope use a few years ago.

So yesterday he was having some issues with a BMW SMG and phoned me a couple of times during the diagnosis, which is still ongoing.

It is an area where I have Picofiles from my own work, which I sent him.

However I could not read his files because he opted not to go with Tom and went for the cheaper option with a scope of a name I did not commit to my long term memory.

The conversation went like this "Send me your capture files......ahhh fuck you don't use a Picoscope from Tom do you...buggar now I cannot review your work!"

He replied "I know I know I've learn't my lesson and I plan to buy a Picoscope, I made a mistake"

I said" Well you make sure you buy it from Tom" and in reply" Oh yes I will only buy it from Tom".

Another benefit Tom, we are all sending little private messages to each other as well, so the influence that the Picogroup has even trandsends what you will read in the Picogroup.

In addition Tom, I see no issue with you increasing your product range to include other devises and tooling required to diagnose and work on cars, once again I'm not going to specifically dictate but for instance you could sell good quality battery chargers from a company like Durst in Australia.

All in all Tom, you have my total support and I see clearly your strategy.

Tom I think it's brutally honest and i personally like that. I also like the pic. Of the Harley representing  the "Best value". Very cool!!

But anyways what I personally run into the most is "what is a pico" much less where to buy one. Believe me, I spread the word for us, to all that will listen.

In the short amount of time I have been a Pico owner and member of Autonerdz picogroup I find very few people including trainers, field engineers and other Nissan techs that I meet @training centers are not aware of Autonerdz.  Well they are aware after meeting me ;D

I have read in the public area on several occasions "I wish I would have found you guys before I bought my scope from place "x"

  How can we fix that?

I hope this is helpful these are just some of my real world observation

Ward likey!
I remember when I bought mine, I printed off the list of what's included with a couple different options. Then I was scratching things off the list to see what came "extra" with the more expensive option, looking those pieces up item by item to see what they were -
This is much much better. Keep it up!
-Ward- :)

Logic wrote on Feb 20^th, 2015 at 3:06pm:

Another benefit Tom, we are all sending little private messages to each other as well, so the influence that the Picogroup has even trandsends what you will read in the Picogroup.

For example:
http://www.autonerdz.com/cgi/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1423020780/71#71

well done Gentlemen.

Tom,

What you offer is out of this world! The main problem is until you are in the Group there is no way to really know.

Pico has been advertising in national trade publications for awhile, I believe we have spoken about this, which is actually cutting your throat in the market.

I do agree with Logic that there is way too much we provide to non-members not only here but on other forums. This must stop!

I am not a marketing expert in any sense of the term, however anything but the real and true cold hard facts would be my approach.

I understand what you are trying to get across with the unlinked web page, but let me say I tried a similar approach when I began accepting credit cards with a horse & buggie compared to a race car and as a result I actually offended / lost a few customers.

In my opinion, window dressings and glitzy ads will not get the Nerdz advantages across in the short time folks spent on web search.

Maybe a third temporary Nerdz membership to limited areas may let the help the market see what you are really all about?

Pico, the company, has to be made aware of the impact and the end results of their attempt to compete with what you offer.

Just look at what this group has provided to Pico with testing Beta software development and other things I may never know. That surely would not come from their sales here in North America or anywhere else.

Pico is promoting a vendor type of sales strategy rather than a franchise system. Pico is cutting their own throats, at least here in the USA.

I cannot go into a Sears, Home Depot, or Walmart and purchase a Snap On Tool. I must order directly from the company or one of their dealers.

What to do???

Tom,

I was sitting back and watching a documentary on Chris Kyle and wondering my time served in 2003-2004 in Iraq if this amazing AMERICAN was watching my back on the field without me even knowing it.

Chris set a standard. He lead by example and set a standard for himself and others to follow :)

With this being said and not really realizing it because it is built into me after over 20 years service. I have a set of standards I live by. They never go down. They only go UP ;)

I treat myself and my business the same way. I will not lower my standards for no one. If I do, I become like them. This decision I live with and stand behind. It is a do or die situation.

With this being said. I am still in business and going forward. ;)

It is your call to be competitive in your market which is very narrow for the most part. As for me, I live in a city of over 200 repair shops. Competition is great. But what make a business stand out is the quality of work and customer service you offer ;)

I my not be the best diagnostic technician, but I am better than 80% of the businesses in town. Because I care and want to learn. :)

With this being said, I believe you should not lower your standards. I purchase your products because of your service, dedication and loyalty to your customers :)

The Autonerdz group is a special group of individuals dedicated to bettering themselves, the industry and others. They themselves have set a standard to utilize the best equipment and resources to further advance themselves.  :)

With this all being said. I agree with the other posts. But to be truly honest with you. It is your business and only you alone and make the right decision for your business and team :)

Either way you look at it. I know, I will stand behind your decision which ever you may choose. ;)

Thanks for all the comments so far.  We have no intention of lowering our standards.  We just want to draw the price shoppers in and, in the process, educate them about value vs price. 

If they still don't get it, oh well.  We tried.  Best case scenario would be that no one purchase the cheapskate kits because they realize that would be stupid.  (except for Picogroup members)


daveyK wrote on Feb 20^th, 2015 at 6:06pm:

Maybe a third temporary Nerdz membership to limited areas may let the help the market see what you are really all about?

That's what the public areas are for. Teasers.  We have had requests for peeks in the Picogroup areas but there is no way we can do that, as the way it is structured, it's all or nothing.  We would be having passwords to the tutorial library, drop site, and everything harvested.

HarleyMike wrote on Feb 20^th, 2015 at 3:24pm:

I also like the pic. Of the Harley representing  the "Best value". Very cool!!

Thanks.  That's my 2014 FLSTC.  Been riding a 1983 FXSB for 30 years.  It was time for an upgrade.    8-)

Looks pretty good Tom.

My only critique is that it's difficult to understand exactly what the price difference is getting you.  I hard a hard time trying to compare the stripped-out kits to the full blown kits.

For example, in the "What's this mean?" literature, it mentions the extra hardware AND the picogroup resources, which is great, but it's hard to look through the "stripped" kits and then switch pages over to the "full blown" kits without forgetting what was in the first kits you looked at.  Like Ward said, you would have to make a little list of all the accessories in a kit and then switch pages and compare to another kit.  Showing a "stripped" kit on the same page as a full blown "welcome to the family" kit may help solve that issue.

So, this being the case, it may be hard to see the difference in VALUE, unless you are the type of person who is would do something like that ... like Ward did ... and like I did ;)

Perhaps a more side-by-side comparison of the options would help other people see exactly what the differences between the kits are.

Make sense?  I hope so.

Also, when I click on the "what's this mean" link, the pop-up with the literature pops up UNDERNEATH my main browser window.  May just be my browser, but it also may still be worth looking into.

By the time I realized what was happening, I already had 3 instances of the literature up :D

yeah yeah, so maybe I'm a little impatient ;D

Tom Roberts wrote on Feb 20^th, 2015 at 7:19pm:

Been riding a 1983 FXSB for 30 years.

Anyone going by the name "Burps at Bears" would know only a Shovel will do . . .


Tom Roberts wrote on Feb 20^th, 2015 at 7:19pm:

Thanks.  That's my 2014 FLSTC

. . . but then at some point you gotta grow up, eh?    [smiley=chopper.gif] :D

I think the more options you offer the more traffic you will get, especially if we satisfied customers continue to spread the word.  And now that we can tell people about your new options maybe a good percentage of them will make the better choice.  One issue I see for you is that the folks that choose the bicycle are still going to call on you even though you have made it clear that your support is not included, only Pico's.  :-/

Davey & Ian, be careful with de facto banning non-Picogroup help.  My guess is that you guys mean to say Pico specific help, as in advanced "buttonology" and technique.  If that's the case, then yeah, that makes perfect sense, but if you're suggesting something along the lines of conveniently forgetting to tell someone to use 1 micro-second intervals when sampling secondary ignition then we're starting to go too far.  :-[  I've invited my fair share of folks to take a peek here, and most of them used the "free" forums to get their feet wet.  Heck, without Mr. Racic, I'd probably still be bouncin' around in the General Public Area myself (if you read this, thanks for the push  :) ).  Part of the excitement of Autonerdz is its vibrant forum, and if you start restricting it I'm afraid it will go the way of Wavehook.com in time :(.   

Tom Roberts wrote on Feb 20^th, 2015 at 7:08pm:

daveyK wrote Today at 2:06am: Maybe a third temporary Nerdz membership to limited areas may let the help the market see what you are really all about? That's what the public areas are for. Teasers.  We have had requests for peeks in the Picogroup areas but there is no way we can do that, as the way it is structured, it's all or nothing.  We would be having passwords to the tutorial library, drop site, and everything harvested.

I agree, but could you just offer the therapy sessions as part of the cheap package? This shouldn't be too hard to set up as the site keeps changing every month

Or offer a pay per phone line help

I'm not sure I would do it. But I am not in your shoes.

The reason you got a reputation of being the best is by being the best. Don't stoop down to their level.
In the repair industry I look down at those bargain places, I see there work later and laugh. I mean sealing over the outside edge of the oil pan to stop it from leaking!
We don't drop our prices to their level.

I don't know the current price comparison with the new 4425(?) But when I purchased my 4423 a year ago, between the free shipping and  no sales tax it was a very close price between Tom and aeswave.

I know it will not make a huge savings for you Tom, but you could drop free shipping to lower the price point a bit.

Like Dereck said it is difficult to compare kits.
A chart or direct links from the basic kit to kit upgraded kit would help the shopping.

One thing you could do would be to set up an Amazon store. Sell through Amazon or ebay, just make sure to plug autonerdz like crazy! Throw links in there. Amazon does the advertising for you and you get clicks here

Tom,

Your query and this discussion prompted me to look at just how Autonerdz members overall perform.

Clearly you will be able to run better statistics than I can however,If I look at how many pages of members recorded there are 138 pages of members with 25 members per page.

There are 250 members who have never made a post
               150 members who have made one post
               120 members who have made two posts
  and only 350 members who have made more than 10 posts.

Whilst I'm not suggesting that this is the be all and end all of analysis but it clearly there have been some 3500 individuals who have had sufficient interest in Autonerdz to register a user name.

Tom, do you see,a value in an email marketing exercise direct to these people who have not converted to a Autonerdz purchase to find out what the issue is with this failure to convert?

I do understand that the reasons will be varied, bit you have a direct marketing list non the less




.

Tom,

Perhaps you could find a way of allowing automotive training schools some type of access to the Pico group only during a class on a smart board or the like so that students will become familiar with Picoscope and Autonerdz.

That way we can all be protected but the students can be made aware and get a taste.

Perhaps also the Picogroup through our S.I. list provide a diagnostic module for colleges.

Tom,

Have you thought about putting a youtube video up?

I reviewed your kits and agree with everyone one how hard it is to do a comparison. If, I were new to the market and looking at buying a Pico(Which I was at one time). I found it confusing at first. Maybe this can be part of your standard to bump the market ;)

A lot of people are visual in reacting. If they see a still picture or written item of something they WOW, but if you show them ACTION in a video or and audio with excitement, you have now captured their attention ;)

Lay some SHOCK & AWE on them :D

I have been looking at mixing up my website for my business. Been talking with my IT on new ways without cloudy. I am thinking of doing a few youtube skits to get people to think more and catch their attention ;)

Yes, I called you and you broke it down for me. That is part of the game is to get people to call. But what if, you did a couple youtubes to demonstrate the value in each kit?

Example being, the first video you show the lesser equipped kit and you then go to a vehicle and try to diagnose it. You say wait. I can't even do a RC test with out and amp clamp, or connect my low amp probe to fuse holder to check the current draw or I am trying to diagnose a COP but only have one X10 but would like to compare it at the same time with another cylinder ;)

Then do a youtube of a more complete kit and showing how this kit has more to offer and how they will get more value because of the accessories and less limitations ;)

I know when doing research on any equipment I plan to purchase. One, I do quick search on the forums. Two, I do a Google for reading, which sometimes with all the goonie googoo it doesn't make full sense to me. Third, I look for youtubes of the product and fourth, I call and talk to friends who may or may not have it :)

Also, Ian brought up a good point on basic numbers with the forum. I would say there are only 20-25 active users for the forum. So, when selling a kit which includes the membership they may not fully understand its value.

I know being technically a member for 7 yrs now. I have not been active till within the last year. I never knew the true value in the site. Also, as with most forum which are public. A lot of times people get ridiculed for trying to learn or understand something of value to them.

This is not the case here in the private forum. everyone is serious about their profession. But the issue is, how do you go about involving and showing value?

Maybe with everyone's input from all over the globe, experiences, views, age & wisdom you can derive a plan to capture your niche in the market even MORE :)

Every business has loyal followers. The main issue is to keep your current loyal followers while increasing your customer base to become the loyal followers as well. :)

Yes, some pop on from time to time and show some activity. What seems to be the most active is the general discussion and CSI in the members.

I wonder what would it take to get more members active and post more case studies. Is it family life, time difference, lack of personal interaction which keeps people from being active on the forum

Tom,

Perhaps the non Picogroup members should need to go through a information page on log in to remind them that there is a cost to running this site and that purchasing a scope from you is playing it fair.

I think that if a General group member has nearly 500 posts here and he is using a snap on scope....that is not fair and reasonable to you.


You have stirred my pot Tom !!

What about putting together quarterly email blasts with a snippet/teaser from the forum, maybe a CSI, and sending it out to the forum members to try and get some of the less active members interested? Or even non members by posting it on the web somewhere outside of the picogroup area

crackerclicker wrote on Feb 20^th, 2015 at 8:36pm:

Davey & Ian, be careful with de facto banning non-Picogroup help.  My guess is that you guys mean to say Pico specific help, as in advanced "buttonology" and technique.  If that's the case, then yeah, that makes perfect sense, but if you're suggesting something along the lines of conveniently forgetting to tell someone to use 1 micro-second intervals when sampling secondary ignition then we're starting to go too far.

Hi Larry,
I am conflicted with this.

If I help someone that is not a Picogroup member and tell them need 1µs sample rate for secondary am I then to tell them what setting they need, the correct buttons to push, or tell them to contact their vendor for that info  [smiley=idunno.gif]

Or if someone asks if this thing has jumped timing, I would NOT give them a reference waveform from here or explain how to use the CKP to determine that?
So I how could I help them without giving away knowledge and info I gained as a member of the Picogroup?

Hi Tom,

Is there a way you could help shoppers compare Pico model specs all at one place and what is included in the different kits?

Maybe something like a spread sheet that opens in a separate tab / window that what is included or not part of the kits in a glance. Maybe a check box type or if one kit has 2 ding-dongs and that kit has 4 ding-dongs a number box?

The "What does this mean" shows me the benefits and advantages of what you provide with the sale however doesn't really show me why.

just my humble opinions  [smiley=scared0016.gif]

I simply think there's a fine line between being helpful and being an elitist  :-/.

crackerclicker wrote on Feb 21^st, 2015 at 10:21am:

I simply think there's a fine line between being helpful and being an elitist  .

Larry,

It is not a matter of being elitist, it is a commercial matter and Tom's livelihood. And ours for that matter
I have many phone calls a day from other workshops asking me how to repair BMWs.

Why? because they know I have the answer, they know that I can most usually diagnose it for them over the phone.

I have learned to limit that now and get them to subcontract the work to me.

I'm not forthcoming anymore, it was taking too much of my time with the endless calls.

I'm not trying to make an argument with you but my position,is probably elitist,and rightfully so, as is you position in the Picogroup, you have purchased wisely and meet the criteria to be in the elite Picogroup.

Does that mean that you should offer your help and knowledge to every person who registers in the general group, possibly people who such up every free resource thy can on the net.

I share a lot of information with the Picogroup only because it is the Picogroup, and I hope that I can encourage my fellow Picogroup members to be both the elite scope users but also elite repairers.

This is not a communist state and the commercial and elitist considerations are valid.

Tom is clearly,concerned about his commercial position, we had better be also, there is no such thing as a free ride.

I want to make sure we're on the same page.  You're saying if someone using a Snappy scope in the General Public Area asks for some pointers in troubleshooting a problem we should tell them we can't help until they buy a Pico?  Yeah, that'll be good for the image of both Autonerdz and Pico (sarcasm). 

Your putting words in my mouth my good,friend,

I'm just discussing out some of the realities and perspectives.

Do you think, and I'm genuinely seeking you,opinion here, that a person should,come here on a permanent basis,obtain help and never make a financial,contribution?

Should a customer come to our workshops,and take our work for free,
if a customer comes to your workshop and keeps asking you how to diagnose and repair his car but always does his own work leaving you without any remuneration, is that acceptable to you?
This is Tom's work and I would think we all care about his interests

Clearly I do not have all the answers,to this,and it is a matter for Tom really, he may evolve his philosophy based upon our debate, but I'm not keen to help someone if,that person does not contribute to Autonerdz by simply buying product.

Also do not forget that this is the Autonerdz Pico site, not the Snap on site, perhaps Snap on could help pay Tom's costs.

Don't think I'm looking for an argument with you, I'm not, I really do have concerns about contributions.

How do you feel about it?

Logic wrote on Feb 21^st, 2015 at 2:47pm:

How do you feel about it?

I try to address some of the other points later.  But as for the sharing and help that goes on in the public areas, I think it's great.  The public areas have been a good feeder for us and many do sooner or later come around to step up their game and get a Pico and all that goes with it.

I don't mind a few teasers as long as we don't give a way the store.  Good content and community in the public section keeps folks coming back for more.  I'm fine with that and actually encourage it.  Sure, some will never catch on and that's OK too.  They may mention the great free resource they have found to their friends.   ;)

You can't win 'em all.  But the forums are the single biggest driver of new blood to us and I would not want to anything to put the brakes on that. 

Once other scope users get a real taste of what their life could be like by downloading and looking at Pico files and learning some of the things they could do then that helps them move toward us when they are ready.  We can wait.  Sometimes it tales a while for them to get there.  A little polite encouragement can help too.  They get an opportunity to see the level of professionalism that you all display publicly and some just have to have the rest of the pie.   ;)

I would never want to be rude or pushy though.  Not my style anyway and that can serve to be counterproductive. 

Tom Roberts wrote on Feb 21^st, 2015 at 4:14pm:

The public areas have been a good feeder for us and many do sooner or later come around to step up their game and get a Pico and all that goes with it.

I started out on the public side of the forum, with a Snap-On scope ;)

Just sayin ... :)

It's awfully hard to convince someone that they need something if they don't know what the "something" is.  Giving people an idea of what goes on behind the curtain, be it through teasers, trail memberships, or the public forum, goes a long way to teaching someone what you have to offer.

I'm same as Derreck. started out with nothing and found this site. always wanted a scope (pico) but was quite ignorant about it. no one had used a scope or owned one that I knew of. Hung out in the public area soaking everything in. This was when Preston was really active. That guy is really aces. Helped explain a lot and made the learning enjoyable. Saved up a bought a kit from Tom. I remember replying to his email with my login for the private area. told him it would be epic. I spent an entire week, all my spare time. read every single thread. was hooked.

I believe if you want to be the best you need to surround yourself with the best. I never once looked anywhere else for a picoscope. never priced shopped. the moment I found the site I knew this was it. the professionalism of Tom and Brian is amazing. along with all the forum members.

I understand where Logic is coming from. We have invested in the Autonerdz idea. the blood,sweat and tears that the members have given should be kept in the private forum. But I'm being a hypocrite when I say that, considering what the public forum has done for me. I see both sides and have to say I don't know where I stand. the one thing that does set me off is when I see it on iATN. but unfortunately you cant keep everything in a bubble.

as far as the pico store. looks good. whenever I compare products I like to have all the features listed to be the same. so for example if you have 2 kits and one has 10 items and then other has 15. make the list of the first 10 to be the same order. this makes it easy to compare. hope that makes sense.

I will forever be an Autonerd and always recommend this place to anyone I talk about scopes.

Logic wrote on Feb 21^st, 2015 at 12:06pm:

It is not a matter of being elitist, it is a commercial matter and Tom's livelihood. And ours for that matter I have many phone calls a day from other workshops asking me how to repair BMWs. Why? because they know I have the answer, they know that I can most usually diagnose it for them over the phone. I have learned to limit that now and get them to subcontract the work to me. I'm not forthcoming anymore, it was taking too much of my time with the endless calls. I'm not trying to make an argument with you but my position,is probably elitist,and rightfully so, as is you position in the Picogroup, you have purchased wisely and meet the criteria to be in the elite Picogroup. Does that mean that you should offer your help and knowledge to every person who registers in the general group, possibly people who such up every free resource thy can on the net. I share a lot of information with the Picogroup only because it is the Picogroup, and I hope that I can encourage my fellow Picogroup members to be both the elite scope users but also elite repairers. This is not a communist state and the commercial and elitist considerations are valid. Tom is clearly,concerned about his commercial position, we had better be also, there is no such thing as a free ride.

I used to give away the farm... When I stopped doing that, I started getting calls to get paid to find out what's wrong. I openly share with those who also share.

---

crackerclicker wrote on Feb 21^st, 2015 at 2:16pm:

I want to make sure we're on the same page.  You're saying if someone using a Snappy scope in the General Public Area asks for some pointers in troubleshooting a problem we should tell them we can't help until they buy a Pico?  Yeah, that'll be good for the image of both Autonerdz and Pico (sarcasm).

Troubleshooting a problem is no problem if I can look at your capture and see that XYZ is bad, questionable, or ask for a capture of this, that, or the other.

I try to draw the line at teaching someone how to use a scope. The line is pretty fuzzy, so I try to stay well back from it...  :-/

Just my $0.02



Logic, I wonder how many of those members in the shadows are lurkers? I don't post much in the technical sections because I don't have anything to really share...but I've learned quite a bit.


Tom, I'm going to agree with a diagnostic video on Youtube once in a while. Just simple scope operations, with a follow on about how more than ever, scopes will be needed for diagnostics in the future, and the benefit of a Pico purchase from Nerdz. How many scopes and Verus' has Danner sold, I wonder?

Matt H wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2015 at 7:08pm:

I wonder how many of those members in the shadows are lurkers? I don't post much in the technical sections because I don't have anything to really share...but I've learned quite a bit.

Always good when somebody pins a term on the spirit of a discussion.

"Lurkers"

My first reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurker

Well that says it all

Good work.

On another subject we all have something that we can share, even if we just go and have a play.

The secret of our group is to engauge, discuss experiment and try, look at Abndanger in the last week, he will come away with a lot at the end of his Dodge Journey (sorry could not help that), but so will we in helping him with his understanding.

When somebody puts in like he does he has my support and willing help, but yes in my view it has to be mutual.

I support Tom, respect him greatly, that is no secret, and I will post material simply because of Tom. However outside that there has to be a decent relationship between us as there does need to be something in it for all of us.....not just for the Lurkers..

The only caution I would share is that no matter how much you tell someone they are not going to have the support, access to forums and the "Real" value, they are going to claim later that Autonerdz wouldn't give them support after the sale.... It is just human nature, they know, but they will only hear and see the low price, versus the higher price.

I see this in customers who want to bring their own parts, I would tell them there is no warranty, but when the part failed, they would tell every one who had ears that we would not stand behind our work, so I no longer offer service to people who bring their parts ;)

I can also guarantee you will get negative reviews posted because they will have buyers remorse for not getting the complete package and blame Autonerdz for their own stupidity.

Having said that, I understand you are in a global market and also have a real good customer base that will defend you and share our experience with the "good" prospects out there.  :D
 
Good Luck :)

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions.  We will take them all under consideration.

At this point, we are delaying implementation of this kit choice page.  The link in the first post has been redirected back to our main Autonerdz custom kits page.. For now.  So the poll is over.

One of the side effects I was hoping for but not expecting, by letting this out there in our private area before we launched it, was to light a fire about an ongoing problem we have with vendors slashing prices.  Seems that this has had the desired effect and changes may be in the pipeline that will help solve the problem.

Thanks for help.   ;)

Matt H wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2015 at 7:08pm:

I wonder how many of those members in the shadows are lurkers? I don't post much in the technical sections because I don't have anything to really share...but I've learned quite a bit.

Always good when somebody pins a term on the spirit of a discussion.

"Lurkers"

My first reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurker

Well that says it all

Good work.

On another subject we all have something that we can share, even if we just go and have a play.

The secret of our group is to engauge, discuss experiment and try, look at Abndanger in the last week, he will come away with a lot at the end of his Dodge Journey (sorry could not help that), but so will we in helping him with his understanding.

When somebody puts in like he does he has my support and willing help, but yes in my view it has to be mutual.

I support Tom, respect him greatly, that is no secret, and I will post material simply because of Tom. However outside that there has to be a decent relationship between us as there does need to be something in it for all of us.....not just for the Lurkers..

Matt H wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2015 at 7:08pm:

Tom, I'm going to agree with a diagnostic video on Youtube once in a while. Just simple scope operations, with a follow on about how more than ever, scopes will be needed for diagnostics in the future, and the benefit of a Pico purchase from Nerdz. How many scopes and Verus' has Danner sold, I wonder?

He practically sold mine. I had no idea how useful a scope was until I came across his videos, and since he was using a picoscope it became part of my purchasing research.

I think the differentiation between basic pico kits and Autonerdz kits is presented quite clearly and non-offensive on the webpage, but obviously it's not possible to evaluate the difference until you have access. To me it just seemed that the price premium was very small considering the extra hardware, so I didn't see any good reason to go for a kit without full support.