Now, before you say, "this belongs in the 'off-topic' forum, read first.
As we all know, there is a culture of "trial by internet" that attends this medium (not Slowtwitch.com, but the internet in general). There is less often seen trial by internet where the "victim" gets exonerated.
As most of you know, we teach people from all over the world how to fit their customers to their bicycles. Ours is arguably the most popular bike fit school worldwide, and is certainly so by an order of magnitude when it comes to "timed racing."
We've got a packed room of subjects from all over the U.S. showing up Monday morning upcoming, bright and early, for three days of bike learnin'. Problem is, the "workshop" in which this "workshop" takes place has gone cold. Literally. The HVAC system, specifically the furnace that will heat this workshop, blew a circuit board this week.
Modine makes this furnace, called a Hot Dawg (how's that for U.S. branding?). Its distributors are out of this circuit board (my electrician checked). So, Modine, a company of more than 8000 employees, found someone, who found someone, who found someone, who's going to have this unit sent from its main factory back East, next day air, to me, and I'll have this unit day after tomorrow. They made all the internal phone calls, they did all the arranging. I explained that I'd be happy to pay freight, and for the new board, but I have so far not been asked for any payment information.
None of this happened because I own an online magazine. I neglected to tell them this. They don't know me from Adam. All they know is that I need a functioning furnace by Monday morning 9AM or I'll have a cold room and I'll need a lot of blankets. They reacted to the emergency, not to the person who had the emergency.
This sort of Midwestern ethic is why, of the three vehicles my wife and I own, all three were bought new and they all came from Detroit. Modine's main business is as a supplier to these car companies. I hope I have many Modine parts in my diesel truck, my fuddy duddy sedan, and my wife's Jeep.
Modine's company is much bigger than mine, but my online "mouth," so to speak, with our 200,000 monthly unique visitors and 6 million monthly pages served, is much bigger than Modine's. So I thought I'd use that mouth to tell people why the bikes you're riding will be fit underneath you by retailers who'll pay more attention to their lessons next week.
I've been all over the World, done business all over the World, and built and run factories much smaller, but qualitatively like, those run by Modine. My years in industry have shown me that you can find this sort of over-the-top service in other countries, but it's exceptional when you do. It's rather commonplace to find this kind of service in America, and that's why I buy American whenever I can. It's not because I'm patriotic, really, it's because of the value that attends this sort of after-the-sale service.
I have long felt that America's secret weapon is service. What I found in my time as a manufacturer is that, when you sell a product, you get a customer. Ironically, it's not until that product malfunctions that you have the opportunity to build a loyal customer. Service is what separates the good from the great.
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
As we all know, there is a culture of "trial by internet" that attends this medium (not Slowtwitch.com, but the internet in general). There is less often seen trial by internet where the "victim" gets exonerated.
As most of you know, we teach people from all over the world how to fit their customers to their bicycles. Ours is arguably the most popular bike fit school worldwide, and is certainly so by an order of magnitude when it comes to "timed racing."
We've got a packed room of subjects from all over the U.S. showing up Monday morning upcoming, bright and early, for three days of bike learnin'. Problem is, the "workshop" in which this "workshop" takes place has gone cold. Literally. The HVAC system, specifically the furnace that will heat this workshop, blew a circuit board this week.
Modine makes this furnace, called a Hot Dawg (how's that for U.S. branding?). Its distributors are out of this circuit board (my electrician checked). So, Modine, a company of more than 8000 employees, found someone, who found someone, who found someone, who's going to have this unit sent from its main factory back East, next day air, to me, and I'll have this unit day after tomorrow. They made all the internal phone calls, they did all the arranging. I explained that I'd be happy to pay freight, and for the new board, but I have so far not been asked for any payment information.
None of this happened because I own an online magazine. I neglected to tell them this. They don't know me from Adam. All they know is that I need a functioning furnace by Monday morning 9AM or I'll have a cold room and I'll need a lot of blankets. They reacted to the emergency, not to the person who had the emergency.
This sort of Midwestern ethic is why, of the three vehicles my wife and I own, all three were bought new and they all came from Detroit. Modine's main business is as a supplier to these car companies. I hope I have many Modine parts in my diesel truck, my fuddy duddy sedan, and my wife's Jeep.
Modine's company is much bigger than mine, but my online "mouth," so to speak, with our 200,000 monthly unique visitors and 6 million monthly pages served, is much bigger than Modine's. So I thought I'd use that mouth to tell people why the bikes you're riding will be fit underneath you by retailers who'll pay more attention to their lessons next week.
I've been all over the World, done business all over the World, and built and run factories much smaller, but qualitatively like, those run by Modine. My years in industry have shown me that you can find this sort of over-the-top service in other countries, but it's exceptional when you do. It's rather commonplace to find this kind of service in America, and that's why I buy American whenever I can. It's not because I'm patriotic, really, it's because of the value that attends this sort of after-the-sale service.
I have long felt that America's secret weapon is service. What I found in my time as a manufacturer is that, when you sell a product, you get a customer. Ironically, it's not until that product malfunctions that you have the opportunity to build a loyal customer. Service is what separates the good from the great.
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
I took this picture in 2004. All three guys are naturalized citizens, coming from Antigua, St. Vincent and a country in Africa. All great workers, all living the American Dream! (a little side note: That big beautiful American flag was torn in half by the wind the day after George Bush was re-elected)