ETI's marketing strategy is a trend-setter

[Catchlight]

Many Canadian Escapees, and likely some Americans, have heard the radio series "Under the Influence" on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), hosted by legendary advertising man Terry O'Reilly.

This Saturday, Feb. 29, O'Reilly will focus on the success a growing number of companies are having by letting their customers customize their orders, rather than just accept a standardized "one size fits nobody" product. As we all know, the folks at Escape are experts at that marketing model, and have built a loyal, well-informed community of customers who help attract other buyers.

Tomorrow's episode, "Have It Your Way: How Mass Customization Is Changing Marketing" should be well worth a listen, and perhaps O'Reilly will come up with a wrinkle or two that Escape could use. More likely, though, the marketing master could learn from ETI's success.

Here's a preview:
Have It Your Way:<br /> How Mass Customization Is Changing Marketing. | Under The Influence with Terry O'Reilly | CBC Radio

Here's when the show airs: Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. (12:00 p.m. NT), and again on Mondays at 11:30 a.m. (3:30 p.m. NT).

CBC is also available on satellite channel SiriusXM 169: SiriusXM | CBC Radio

Here's the main web page for the "Under the Influence":
Home | Under The Influence with Terry O'Reilly | CBC Radio

Previous episodes are downloadable as podcasts here:
Podcasts | Under The Influence with Terry O'Reilly | CBC Radio

The 30-minute shows are all interesting, and provide great entertainment on a long road trip or a rainy night in a campground.

Happy listening!

[dave macrae]

I would imagine that ETI not using a dealer network must be pretty unushual as well. I would say that with a 6-9 month waiting period for their product that they may just be doing something right. Cutting out the middle man who is alot of cases want a large part of the profit and do little to help your brand at best seems rather smart. Most rv dealers are poorly run with very poor quality sales people, so to eliminate them from the loop seems smart. Around here most rv sales people are ones who got fired from car dealers, and thats not saying much

[burrab2002]

Before purchaseing a escape we shopped at our local rv dealer. We told them exactly what we were looking for. I think they decided what they wanted to sell us, not what we wanted to buy. After 2 1/2 hours and 20 trailers I was confused, tired and wanted nothing to do with buying a trailer from them. Buying an escape has been fun even though I am spending twice as much as I would have at our local rv dealer. Sometime its not the money but getting what you want.

[thoer]

Do any of the fiberglass "egg" manufacturers use dealers? I know Scamp does not.

[santacruzer]

Fortunately, ETI has the production capacity, at the moment, to do business this way. Let demand for the product soar, however, and they will be faced with a dilemma not uncommon to growing businesses; do we want to grow to meet demand? if so, how should we change our business model? What are the trade-offs? Can we keep the company as customer-service oriented? There are challenges to success!!

[LeonW]

[QUOTE=burrab2002;45353 Sometime its not the money but getting what you want.[/QUOTE]

I agree. We looked at Scamps and Casitas before we bought our 17b. And spent some time looking at other kinds of trailers. But it didn't take us long to decide we liked the eggs. And, of the fiberglass manufacturers, Escape is the most willing to customize. That was what really convinced us to head to Chilliwack, even though it is a long ways away.

[burrab2002]

Leon, seeing an escape was kind of like seeing my wife for the first time. I had to do a double take. The Escape was no comparison to any trailer I had looked at before.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by thoer

Do any of the fiberglass "egg" manufacturers use dealers? I know Scamp does not.

ETI did initially, before going to direct-only.

Team Trillium Trailers (the Outback manufacturer) has sold through dealers; I don't know if they still do.

Bigfoot sells through dealers, and so did the previous incarnation of Bigfoot.

As far as I know, Evelamds (Scamp), Casita, Parkliner, and Lil Snoozy sell only direct.

TrilliumRV was selling direct, but now has Great West Van both building and selling the product; I believe the same dealers sell the trailers as the vans.

I don't know about Oliver, Eggcamper, or anyone else out there.

[Donna D.]

Hahahahahaha

[kstock11]

If you want to read about sucessful companies like ETI, read Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles. It is no longer enough to just have satisfied customers, to be really sucessful, you must strive for raving fans. When you read this forum, you know that Reace and Tammy get it!

[cpaharley2008]

I don't know about Oliver, Eggcamper, or anyone else out there.
both of these do not use distributors, just referrals. BigFoot and Trillium are the only 2 I'm aware of that may use distributors. But I also think they sell their products to the distributors, unlike automobiles where they are on display and on loan to the dealer vs a distributor until sold. Most automobile dealers use "Floor Plan" loans to finance their inventory, normally via the manufacturer. There is a interest rate charged and incentives on the oldest model in stock, normally done at the end of a month to meet quotas.