The Synthetic Warehouse AMSOIL Newsletter
AMSOIL Product Marketing & Tools
Updated version - January, 2014
In This Issue
Basic Inventory Spreadsheet
Oil Analysis converts new EAAU customer
New website tool!
Extra! Extra!
Quick Links
Greetings!
 
Two months have passed since my last newsletter. The AMSOIL store has been busy to say the least. Demand is always changing. While bypass kit sales have slowed down the diesel oils and products for the OTR trucking industry have increased quite well! I even have two regulars who but the Cetane Boost in the 5-gallon pails repeatedly so let me tell you it saves truckers $$ in fuel.

At the end of December I had to place a $13,000 AMSOIL order just to restock regular inventory for 5 weeks and I'm already out of the 2-cycle Interceptor and 5-gallon Twin-Packs of 5W40 Diesel. (My top two sellers of late.) AMSOIL has stepped up the diesel advertising and even won some awards for ad comprehension. If you are a stocking dealer and are working trade shows or have your business listed within the various search types you'll know what I mean. None of the above inventory is for internet sales - all local!

And that's the main subject of this newsletter - Inventory. Attached is a link to a Excel file I made with a suggested "Serious" inventory. More on that below.
I am also going to "try" to start next week a Thursday night conference call. I will alert all dealers on the "dealer training" Facebook page and a brief email though this system with instructions.

Drawing
I am doing the case of XL drawing again for all dealers who had 500 or over commission credits this month. I'll announce the winner just after the 1st of February when I can verify all the commissions from Amsoil's reports.  (What else is there to do in South Dakota Winters - It's been too cold to even ice skate or ski the trails).

An Inventory which works for your customers
  
Don't let them hear you say "I'll have that on my next order"

  

East side of store
Let's face it, when a customer needs a maintenance product for their cars, they want/need it now. They schedule the time they have to do the chore and they don't mind driving across town if they know they can pick something up within their allotted time.

 

We also must be reminded that most of these customers will start looking and needing the product the day they need it.

 

If you can meet their demands, that one act will not only earn you a repeat customer but perhaps three or more word of mouth customers.

 

 

The demand is there. The question is are you able to supply and can you be found via the proper channels?

 

 

I have covered how and where to be listed in these newsletters several times over the years. Just keeping up with the search engine, mapping and social media trends will serve you well.
I hope you find the attached inventory spread sheet helpful.

Using the Spreadsheet
There are two inventory lists. A Basic Count and a Extended Count. In the spreadsheet you will notice a priority list. First, the total list is made up of only about one quarter of what's available so in the big picture the entire list is really a basic inventory although many would think it's a bit much. So that said, I broke up the products based on importance. Priority 1 and 2 are absolutely essential but if budget wouldn't allow for even those two groups you can focus on priority 1's list.

All the filters within the list are also based on my experience. In one year time an average dealer will have a need for at least one of each listed.

The Expanded list is merely what someone at the start of a Direct Jobber level would need to have to meet demand and work efficiently enough to avoid constant shipping costs. So perhaps use that as a goal setter. Naturally some of the items (highlighted in blue) are seasonal or regional such as the lighter grease, marine products and the quantity of motorcycle oils needed on hand.

Some of the more expensive items such as the ATF or Severe Gear need to be taken seriously as they are the ones which will be demanded by your best customers.  I think they are too expensive to have to ship in alone so order them with a couple other cases at least. I plan(ed) all my orders very efficiently before I started using Freight Collect (Pallet shipments). The average ATF customer needs 15 or more quarts so the Twin Pack is what I kept on hand back in the late 90's when I started carrying a basic supply.
Never be without Saber Pro 100:1 (ATP), 0W40 4-stroke (AFF), Commercial 10W30/SAE30 (ASE), and a EABP100 bypass filter. I think I have more customers who only buy one of these at a time but I see them consistently and they have grown my customer base more than the big spenders.

You will have to make up your own mind if you want to carry gallons over quarts or more XL over Signature series. Both now sell equally in my store. The only product you MUST have gallons is the diesel oils. Carrying quarts without first having gallons may backfire. The gallons for the 'car' oils are generally kept for your commercial accounts or if you want to offer convenience. Because I have the inventory I encourage the purchase of a gallon and a quart for common oil changes.

I've discussed the diesel oil choices in the past. I'll mention of my customers having the 2007 and newer turbo diesels I always ask if they have or "still" have the DPF attached (Diesel particulate exhaust filter). If not they can go three times longer w/o oil analysis but I continue to encourage analysis although I didn't include the kits on this list. I don't sell that many. If anything know that either the DME or DEO CJ4 rated oils (5W40 and 15W40) both can be your only product in stock as they will supersede all requirements and are the superior 100% synthetic diesel oil on the market.

If you can't store an inventory like this I urge you to create some downline who will. Eventually someone in your town will and it might as well be your group!

Last, the towns with the biggest inventory problems or customer dissatisfaction are the ones with AMSOIL distribution centers. Dealers assume they can just drive and pick up product as needed but that's the problem all together. I lived it first hand and became quite popular on weekends while nobody else had sufficient supply. NAPA would never survive if they acted that way!

 

 P.S. - I am not an Excel wiz to any extent so if you want to polish it up for me I would gladly upload it over this one!! :)

 

 

 

Forgotten car of the month: 1960 Chevrolet El Camino

 

 

 

 

 


Contaminants Found in Oil Sample

I recently reviewed an oil sample from a 1996 Dodge diesel with the 5.0 Cummins. The local customer had significant wear occurring w/ other contaminants mainly silicone. OAI (Oil Analyzers) suggested checking the air intake system which we did and found it to contain a K&N air filter!!
These do not help your motor!! Cummins has issued technical service bulletins on these urging owners to avoid their use (oil wetted gauze). AMSOIL use to have a demonstrator exposing the amount of dirt which passes through these. I also did some research years ago showing that for any single package, 50% are labeled for racing purposes only.

Anyway we switched the air filter to an AMSOIL EAAU model and the customer re-sampled the oil after some mileage and guess what?? Problem solved!





Websites Made Easy - Yes - even easier than we reported before!   

In this business you can only get so far without a website. You need a website to at least have a landing page for local are searches such as the Google local listings or to be taken seriously by local account prospects. You want your name and location to appear on the map when someone searches "AMSOIL" in your area. If you have a website linked to it that will enhance your listing.
Well now no excuses! It's easy and fun - really!

Meet Adobe Muse!

I've talked about tools such as Adobe Dreamweaver, wordpress, hiring someone, etc but this tool really makes it all easy and as a bonus it works with all the Adobe products such as Dreamweaver but there's not much to this program. It's gonna put a lot of web development firms out of business!!

Here's a link to the overview and a informative started tutorial. Doug (dealer who works with me in the store) tried out the tutorials and built a template with  menu, headers and a couple pages in just a couple hours. This is my answer to developing single product sites in the near future!

Adobe Muse CC <--- Link to Creative Cloud/Muse Package

How To Get Started With Adobe Muse CC - 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do
Getting Started With Adobe Muse CC - 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do

So there you have it! This little snippet of information may make this my most valuable newsletter to date! I hope you get to evaluate this as there is potential to make your site start earning click-through revenue in a matter of weeks.

UPDATE:
Here's a site Doug Greenfield made using Muse. Performance-Improver.com At the point of the delivery of this newsletter this represents about 20 hours of learning and work! Not bad eh?

 

Extras
I have a list of useful handouts and files which I will also post to the secure dealer page on my Aggrand site. These handouts are just remade PDFs I took from the Tech article in the dealer magazine and fused them with a credibility message "From the President's Desk". Customers respect you for hand outs, data sheets, coffee mugs as long as it's done in moderation.

#1 Fuel Efficiency / Strong Future
#2 Zinc Protection / AMSOIL Loyalty
#3 Engine Flush / Market Challenges
#4 Engine Wear / Oil Failure
#5 Engine Technologies / Compressors
#6 E15 News / What Makes AMSOIL Different

Diesel Fuel Fundamentals (Home Study Guide #7)

I suggest using these handouts to fill a G85, G2695 or staple to a G3148.






T1 Certification Link - Why and how you become certified.

Occasionally I'll get a call asking why their dealership dropped off from the T1 Certification list or map (dealer locator). Please review the qualification requirements in the above link. It is designed to ensure that a customer will reach a dealer who is working their business from day to day and is in touch with their customers, AMSOIL updates and has a slight inventory. You may not get many or any at all leads (I get only 3 or 4 per year) but you should get many calls from the dealer locator. I don't think the requirements are anywhere as strict as they should be because on a consistent basis a customer calls who tells me they called six or more dealers on one map list and none answered, called back or even had a voice mail indicating it was a AMSOIL business. They'll never make it!

So for that reason I will be starting a weekly conference call. I want to do Thursday nights but what I may do is just put out a notification through this newsletter system the night before or if it's a slow day, I may give an impromptu notice. The bottom line is I want to increase communications to all downline dealers in the group and make this more fun!!

There are direct jobbers making $45K to $70K monthly on commissions. Many of them reached their goals using different methods and some did it over decades while others made it their goal to keep up with technology so we will talk about that and hopefully some of you are experts in that field. I will try to have some marketing guests on as well as some car performance gurus.



Lastly - don't forget to thank your online customers. Send a newsletter or email to an old customer. It's one less customer you'll have to regenerate.

Dealer Shipping Rebate Schedule:
1-300 pounds = $0.10/lb
301 - 400 pounds = $0.20/lb
401 - 600 pounds = $0.17/lb
601 - 800 pounds = $0.11/lb
801 - 1600 pounds = $0.07/lb
1601 pounds and up = $0.03/lb
Above 300 pounds consider Freight Collect. $60 to $90 flat rates for full skids anywhere but rural areas. AMSOIL lowers heaver freight starting February.
Send copy of invoice w/ order # to address below.

 

Ches Cain
AMSOIL Direct Jobber  

Wannabe Road Course Driver/Owner

Old Obscure Car Nut

And AMSOIL retail store project manager 

www.syntheticwarehouse.com
www.liquidorganicfertilizer.com 

4610 W. 12th St Ste. 1

Sioux Falls, SD 57107 

1-800-579-0580
605-274-2580   

Mobile/Text: 605-521-0742 

 

Join my AMSOIL Training Facebook page for up to the minute updates, offers and presentations.  

   

P.S. Please excuse me if you get two copies of this. I'm also correcting several old emails at this time! And forward to your downline!!