Position and Hold
by Bob Jones
Director Sales & Customer ServiceFrom time to time I receive calls from dealers concerned about prices advertised by other S-TEC Dealers. The most often asked questions are:
"Does S-TEC favor some dealers with a special price?"
"Do some dealers get a volume discount?"
"How can they advertise a price that is almost my cost from S-TEC?"
"How can I compete with the prices they are advertising?"
I would like to address these and other price issues and offer some suggestions and questions you can ask the customer when you are confronted with this type of competition.
S-TEC does not favor any dealer with special prices over other dealers. The net price is the same to all dealers, whether domestic or international. There are no volume discounts, no year end bonuses or rebates and S-TEC does not have dealer quotas.
Advertising, including prices, is designed to do one thing - create interest and encourage the customer to get in touch with you. A contact by fax, phone or in person is a contact, which will give you the opportunity to make a sale. You can't make a sale unless you have access to the customer!
Most of the "LOWEST PRICES AVAILABLE" ads have a lot of fine print. "D.G. or other heading system optional", "Does not include installation", "Installation kit extra", "Taxes and shipping charges not included", "Prices subject to FAA form and documentation fees" are just a few examples of the fine print you'll find if you study the ads in today's aviation publications.
S-TEC does not impose a "Minimum advertised pricing" restriction on our dealers for our products. In over 18 years we have simply not found it to be necessary.
Some dealers advertise systems at a few dollars above their cost, then make up the difference when quoting the installed price. The resultant price is often List Price installed or even higher.
Another pricing advantage often employed by many dealers is the fact that there are alternatives in directional gyros, other than those sold by S-TEC, that will work with S-TEC Autopilots. Take a look at the "Schematic, Heading System Interconnect Detail" drawing provided with S-TEC installation manuals. There are over twelve alternatives available, several of which cost less than one third the price of a new S-TEC D.G.
In some cases, S-TEC dealers are offering these to their customers to lower the overall price of the System quote - You can too! Call your favorite instrument overhaul shop and get a price and warranty. You might even find an S-TEC part number at some shops.
Most of the avionics shops will do autopilot installations for the List Price plus the installation kit plus sales tax. It does get a little "skinny" if you are selling just a system 40 without a D.G. option, but if you take into consideration that you may be establishing a relationship with a customer that will be back for other work and avionics purchases the investment may be worthwhile.
When talking to a potential customer be sure to get the complete story on the competitive quote. If the customer is having other avionics installed at the same time, the competing dealer may lower his quoted autopilot price because it will be recovered elsewhere in the total package.
A couple of valuable questions might be: Are you being asked to quote on the total package or just the autopilot? Is the customer being quoted a new system? If price is a major issue, S-TEC does offer Yellow Tag Systems, when available, at a 10 % additional discount. These are systems and components that are returned to S-TEC as part of our upgrade sales program through the dealers. These systems carry a warranty the same as the new S-TEC warranty. While they are not always available, you can ask when you call.
Another point needs to be covered. It is our stated policy "If you buy and sell S-TEC systems you must install them." We do not allow over the counter sales of our products except in the case of kit airplanes or warbird aircraft.
In summary, S-TEC offers equal sales opportunities for every dealer in our entire dealer network. In addition to the parity in pricing to all dealers, our quoted delivery time is the same 5 working days to all domestic dealers and 7 working days for all international dealers. We are also proud to offer the same great customer service response whether you sell only one or several of our systems a year.
In closing, all S-TEC dealers have the same opportunities and restrictions. So, it's your move! - If S-TEC can help, give us a call.
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