A way to educate?

[mbryson]

I think it is easier to get dealers to agree to a plan if they can see the final product. Is it worth the gamble to produce a poster/flyer dispenser and then go visit dealers and try to get them hung?

There's really no gamble except for NanoMan's labor. You can produce a poster/flyer as a 'proof' and present them and then print them. Color printing ain't the cheapest and gets cheaper for however many copies you have the printer run off (looking at a per sheet cost).

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I think it is easier to get dealers to agree to a plan if they can see the final product. Is it worth the gamble to produce a poster/flyer dispenser and then go visit dealers and try to get them hung?

True, but we don't need to get them to firmly agree to anything, rather just give us an indication of wether or not they see any prospect of the idea. If they have major qualms with it from day one, no sense investing any time and money into it...

 

[scoutabout]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

 

[mbryson]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

 

[Skylinerider]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

What is this all about? People are discussing how to get things done. You can go on all day about this cause and when people start talking about it, you write this?

A few months ago I asked if there was some kind of pamphlet that was available to hand out, or a PDF that I could print out and give to people and all I got told was to tell them about the website. People need material in their hands to remember what you spoke about. Most all people forget conversations during the day, then when they get home they think "now what was that website?? Oh, well too bad."

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Not to speak for Steve, but I assume his "blah" comment was not based on the conversation or its merits, but rather the fact that sooooo many of these coversations never leave the internet. I too get frusterated that everyone wants to make suggestions, donate ideas... but nobody can actually put some legwork into this.

Not a single BOD meeting goes by that somebody doesn't present an awesome idea, something that would be seriously beneficial to the U4, but there is never any follow through nor implementation. We need manpower... plain and simple...

Somebody pickup the ringer and get on the phone with a couple dealerships and pick their brains on the idea. If it seems to fly... lets get some graphics rolling for the poster and a short, simple presentation and the next U4 BOD meeting so we can approve some green for the project.

I'll reiterate...

All great ideas... but the underlying problem is manpower and implementation. If any of you (such as Houndoc) would like to come up with a simple plan/goal sheet for a dealership program... You (or I can do it if you can't make it to the next BOD meeting) can present it to the BOD and see if we can drum up some support for the project. At a minimum I think some sort of poster, plaque? etc hanging on the wall at the dealerships would be a start?

Otherwise we will just put this back in the "great idea" vault and wait until somebody picks up the project.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...A few months ago I asked if there was some kind of pamphlet that was available to hand out, or a PDF that I could print out and give to people and all I got told was to tell them about the website. People need material in their hands to remember what you spoke about. Most all people forget conversations during the day, then when they get home they think "now what was that website?? Oh, well too bad."

We've had trifold pamplets in the past, there are still some available but they are out dated and we would like to get something updated. This is something we are working on and I certainly think it should be a priority, Steve can chime in on the progress but I think it got sidelined a bit as the NPLD event took up alot of our resources. Steve?

 

[Skylinerider]

Not to speak for Steve, but I assume his "blah" comment was not based on the conversation or its merits, but rather the fact that sooooo many of these coversations never leave the internet. I too get frusterated that everyone wants to make suggestions, donate ideas... but nobody can actually put some legwork into this.

Not a single BOD meeting goes by that somebody doesn't present an awesome idea, something that would be seriously beneficial to the U4, but there is never any follow through nor implementation. We need manpower... plain and simple...

Somebody pickup the ringer and get on the phone with a couple dealerships and pick their brains on the idea. If it seems to fly... lets get some graphics rolling for the poster and a short, simple presentation and the next U4 BOD meeting so we can approve some green for the project.

I'll reiterate...



Otherwise we will just put this back in the "great idea" vault and wait until somebody picks up the project.

The thing about leg work is if you don't have anything to show these people then they will say the same thing, and that is it's a great idea, but until they see something tangible they won't commit. I know it's all talk right now, maybe someone with some graphic software can make something to show at the next meeting.

Like I said I know it's all talk right now, but the word needs to get out somehow.

 

[scoutabout]

Not to speak for Steve, but I assume his "blah" comment was not based on the conversation or its merits, but rather the fact that sooooo many of these coversations never leave the internet.

Bingo bango. And you can always speak for me! It sounds much better when you say it, and you don't get flamed by the hate-steve boys club.



This is a very worthy concept. This idea has come up in at least four threads in the last six months, and has been discussed at U4WDA meetings for years. Yet, I still see the exact same people at all the meetings. Unfortunately, we need help IRL.

Yes, getting a brochure into the hands of every new 4x4 owner would be very beneficial to U4WDA. I think it ranks below at least three other activities of greater benefit that need manpower.

All of this is academic until additional manpower is available.

 

[scoutabout]

The thing about leg work is if you don't have anything to show these people then they will say the same thing, and that is it's a great idea, but until they see something tangible they won't commit. I know it's all talk right now, maybe someone with some graphic software can make something to show at the next meeting.

We need leaders who can take initiative. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to create and manage a project like this. We don't need an artist or designer (we've got those), we don't need people to print stuff at home (we've got a budget for brochures), we need labor hours to lighten the load on the people who can complete a project like this.

 

[Houndoc]

I do not have the skills to do the design. Artistic I am not.

However, if someone is willing to do a design and U4WDA can print them (I personally think it is worth the risk of the priniting cost) I can manage a list of dealers and who will service them.

A dozen people visiting 2-3 dealers each month or so and the project is a go.

I will see if I can make it to the board meeting, but with several other organizations under my watch, it is tough.

 

[1993yj]

Your correct... we are paying somewhere around $2.25 per issue by the time we print and mail it to each member.

I am not a member of U4WDA, yet, but to me, it would be worth it to have the newsletter just posted on the website each month, where I could print it out myself if I wanted, and put that $2.25 to more beneficial purposes.

We need leaders who can take initiative. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to create and manage a project like this. We don't need an artist or designer (we've got those), we don't need people to print stuff at home (we've got a budget for brochures), we need labor hours to lighten the load on the people who can complete a project like this.

However, if someone is willing to do a design and U4WDA can print them (I personally think it is worth the risk of the priniting cost) I can manage a list of dealers and who will service them.

A dozen people visiting 2-3 dealers each month or so and the project is a go.

I will see if I can make it to the board meeting, but with several other organizations under my watch, it is tough.

If one person would volunteer to take a dealership, and they could be divided up that way, and someone was in charge of the project and could follow up with individuals on their dealership, then maybe it would work.

Or are we thinking about this all wrong. Would it be more effective (or even feasible?) to get these phamplets coming from the auto maker? This may be a bigger issue than we could tackle ourselves, I wouldn't even know where to start there, maybe with the Tread Lightly compaign? Anyhow, just thinking it would be the most effective and require zero man hours from us if the auto makers took the idea over. I know that Chrysler is trying to look more "green", so maybe it wouldn't be too hard of a sell.

 

[Houndoc]

Can Kurt or Steve run the idea past the board at the next meeting (unless I can make it) ? If they are willing to do the printing and design, I will take the lead and organize the distribution side.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Can Kurt or Steve run the idea past the board at the next meeting (unless I can make it) ? If they are willing to do the printing and design, I will take the lead and organize the distribution side.

No need to run the idea by them... its been run by dozens of times over the years, they concensus is always yes. The caveat is finding someone to do it. Running it by the BOD isn't going to get the printing and design done unfortunately. Once we have that and a commitment from dealers that they will even entertain the idea, then we can get the BOD to approve some $$$, which will be no problem.

 

[Houndoc]

So, will anyone step to the plate and draft a design?

 

[Seth]

I have one done. I will show it to Kurt on the 26th.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I have one done. I will show it to Kurt on the 26th.

I'll make some room on the agenda so we can get this going...

 

[Houndoc]

I have one done. I will show it to Kurt on the 26th.

Great. Once a draft is made, perhaps a couple of us can hit a few dealers to see the general response. If it is positive, we print and then I can try to co-ordinate the distribusion to various dealerships.

 

[andy d]

did anything happen with this at the last meeting? I just talked to the service manager at Land Rover American Fork. He said that fliers are fine, he would be happy to have them at the service counter. he also said the poster would probably be ok as long as it isn't big and flashy and there isn't a big picture of a JEEP on it. I really like the idea of putting the Compass in the waiting room. I work at land rover and there are 5 (i think) major dealerships in A.F., I would be happy to stop by all 5 once a month to update or replace fliers or magazines. I will come to the meeting on the 30th to become a member and to volunteer my services.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Seth has some drafts of fliers he is working on, thusfar they look great but Seth needs help for the actual content. Until we get some more help they progress will be slow going as we are all involved in other projects right now.

I'd like to see it done by the end of the year, but as I mentioned, there are already alot of "in progress" project tying up the same resources.