Manpower,
We have more than 100 dealers WW...that's 250-300 people on the road which is 4-5 times more than the whole of Leaf. I cover 3 countries and see customers 2-4 times a week. My dealers each see customers 5-6 times a week.
As great as the internet might be (it IS), the most important part of the pre-sale, sale and after-sale cycle is the one-on-one relationship with someone that if needed can jump in the car and come see you on-site.
Sometimes there are cases that take 10 minutes to resolve on-site which could take weeks to figure out from remote, no matter how fantastic the Internet is.
Many photographers are tech savvy but many more are not and these people require hands-on service from someone close.
Yair
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I always acknowledged that and never said you need to get rid of all dealers, there really are those that deliver added value. Manufacturers can do without the shitty dealers that are out there. If you encounter one as an end-user or if you can do without one there are no options available (yet)! How many of your dealers are really committed?
The one-on-one relationship you mention can perfectly co-exist with the more direct relationship between Manufacturer and end-user.
Just an example.
As you say there are many tech savvy photographers, I believe I am one of them. Why can't these have an online purchase facility directly on the Leaf Website? I know which model I would want (if I don't, I figure it out myself). If I need support I log on to the forum and know there are always people there that help me out. I have no problem to help out others in return (I have seen there are a lot more people that think exactly the same way). It would not take you guys that many manpower to get this going. If the product is really broken you can send it back to a provided address (which is exactly what happens currently with virtually everything you buy).
Another thing. On the Leaf forum I have seen the same questions pass from time to time. There still is no knowledge base where someone has taken the effort to categorize the types of problems you can encounter and their respective solutions.
A marketing thing. On every forum people are registered with their names & email addresses and most of the time with their products and serial numbers. Almost nothing is done with this. This is data (not information because it is not streamlined and used) that is not used but could be used. Why not send everybody a personalized message what their options are when there is a change (product, software, support, etc) (I get the Leaf Forum digest so there is a start). But why did I not get an email from Hasselblad telling me, 'He Ray, you can trade in your 384 for x amount to the new blabla or blabla, if you want to send Mr. X an email he is waiting for you.' These types of things can even be automated so it doesn't have to cost you a lot of manpower.
More options and ideas will cost you money
The people that want or need the extra attention can get it from dedicated dealers which will have more time because they don't have to deal with smart asses like myself.
