Replies to This Discussion

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by CaptJeff Saylor on February 18, 2011 at 21:01

good scenerio Hog!!

 

i have recently decided to go full time with knife making, and so i have considered these things as well!

 

i feel i need to do more marketing. i need to get the CJS Knives name out there. i need to do more networking, socializing and find the pulse of the industry. i am trying to find new ways to market my product and new avenues that i havent journeyed down before.

 

i am looking into getting my knives into retail stores, and possibly an internet store as well. i have allready explored the traveling Gun and Knife shows, and they are good, but only come around every couple months or so.

 

i feel that my website is good, and i keep it up to date as much as possible. since i designed it i can make any changes i want which i do quite often.

 

so for me i would say, "talk to the customers,  ie. Marketing"

 

www.cjsknives.com

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by D ale on February 19, 2011 at 0:26

You better be talking to everybody Hog.

 

And as much as the design engineer's HATE it .. get em in a rm with marketing boys .... and be ready to referee !!!!

 

And those team members that can always be relied upon for .... yeah, butt ... we can't ... that's gonna cost .... KICK EM OUT .. assign em to that mundane shipping headache problem on the back dock ...... at least until the real team finds a solution.

 

And durn straight better keep making the old standby's .. something has to fund R&D.

 

... and family businesseseseseseseses ... Arrrrrgh !!!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on February 19, 2011 at 9:40

Great stuff Jeff and that's what I'm going for here. Put yourself in those shoes, you have to pull through what do you do...I am glad it made you think of your situation!

CaptJeff Saylor said:

good scenerio Hog!!

 

i have recently decided to go full time with knife making, and so i have considered these things as well!

 

i feel i need to do more marketing. i need to get the CJS Knives name out there. i need to do more networking, socializing and find the pulse of the industry. i am trying to find new ways to market my product and new avenues that i havent journeyed down before.

 

i am looking into getting my knives into retail stores, and possibly an internet store as well. i have allready explored the traveling Gun and Knife shows, and they are good, but only come around every couple months or so.

 

i feel that my website is good, and i keep it up to date as much as possible. since i designed it i can make any changes i want which i do quite often.

 

so for me i would say, "talk to the customers,  ie. Marketing"

 

www.cjsknives.com

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on February 19, 2011 at 9:44

I really don't know what exactly they go through(well I do kind of), but even though we are having some fun with this model  it calls to mind what they are up against. Wait'll we get the factory in Asia geared up!

Dale said:

You better be talking to everybody Hog.

 

And as much as the design engineer's HATE it .. get em in a rm with marketing boys .... and be ready to referee !!!!

 

And those team members that can always be relied upon for .... yeah, butt ... we can't ... that's gonna cost .... KICK EM OUT .. assign em to that mundane shipping headache problem on the back dock ...... at least until the real team finds a solution.

 

And durn straight better keep making the old standby's .. something has to fund R&D.

 

... and family businesseseseseseseses ... Arrrrrgh !!!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Halicon on February 19, 2011 at 11:16

Is this your own business position or a hypothetical one?

 

For a CEO to run any promising company he has to be A) a dick B) sometimes be an even bigger dick and C) be completely ruthless.

 

When it comes to an answer to how to "revitalize" a dying company there really is no answer. Most people tend to go the path they are familiar with, that's all I can give as an answer. There are as many solutions out there as there are people.

 

Don brings up many good points, family business is a big no-no especially for larger companies, huge headache. The guys that you simply can't do without actually hurts the company in the long haul, so give them the sack and look for competent personnel who doesn't praise themselves as superior to his co-workers.

Or if they are too tied down to the company, again like Don says, reassign them to shipping so your expenses are reduced.

 

But this question is honestly a bit silly, like asking to a kid "how large do you believe the ocean is?". It takes a special type of personality and attitude to be a successful as a CEO of a major corporation and it is absolutely nothing that is so simple that you can pull in one thread and it all fixes itself and you go from loosing money to earning.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on February 19, 2011 at 12:22

This is purely a hypothetical scenario. And really the question is aimed at not measuring the personality of the CEO but intended to take a closer look at where a production/tactical knife company gets its ideas. They have to get ideas from somewhere and sometimes they need to be successful.

Halicon said:

Is this your own business position or a hypothetical one?

 

For a CEO to run any promising company he has to be A) a dick B) sometimes be an even bigger dick and C) be completely ruthless.

 

When it comes to an answer to how to "revitalize" a dying company there really is no answer. Most people tend to go the path they are familiar with, that's all I can give as an answer. There are as many solutions out there as there are people.

 

Don brings up many good points, family business is a big no-no especially for larger companies, huge headache. The guys that you simply can't do without actually hurts the company in the long haul, so give them the sack and look for competent personnel who doesn't praise themselves as superior to his co-workers.

Or if they are too tied down to the company, again like Don says, reassign them to shipping so your expenses are reduced.

 

But this question is honestly a bit silly, like asking to a kid "how large do you believe the ocean is?". It takes a special type of personality and attitude to be a successful as a CEO of a major corporation and it is absolutely nothing that is so simple that you can pull in one thread and it all fixes itself and you go from loosing money to earning.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on February 19, 2011 at 12:46

Ok if you are getting your ideas by eliminating everyone you may be short on ideas!

Again the scenario here is purely hypothetical and not aimed at the personality or killing ability of the CEO. But rather think where does the company get its ideas? Are they talking to you? Are they talking to people internal to the company? How do they decide what knives to produce year after year after year. The tried and true process... This is the way grandpappy  always did it....? that's really the question.

Don said:

GO POSTAL... problem solved.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on February 19, 2011 at 13:53

Addition by subtraction! Take last years list and build from there. Makes sense and could be what happens today. Where do you get new ideas, stuff not made before or is the rule don't go there because we don't know if that new shaped Bird & Trout will  actually sell?

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Permalink Reply by Trent Rock on February 19, 2011 at 14:58

I would start by trying to differentiate my knives

Make people think they are better, faster, lighter, stronger that the competitors

 

I would maybe increase the funding to my R & D Dept

Maybe try and find the next INFI steel?? :)

 

You don't really have to spend big money on some marketing report/focus group type stuff

Just ask the occasional customer or keep up to date on the trends in the forum

"Hey..I was just wondering...What feature did you like about this knife the most?"

I do that alot with my EBAY cusomers

"Hey..I was just wondering what you are gonna do with that Camillus knife blank?. Was it the tang stamp or the steel that made you bid on it? Was it the shape/size?"

Keep your pulse on the finger of the knife collector right?

 

Social media blitz (aka buzz marketing)

Facebook, Youtube, Blogger, Flickr and every knife forum know to man

You don't have to spam the forums

Just have a nice sig(nature) with a clickable logo and be professional

 

I think more makers should roll out the old standbys

I think Case XX and Buck should produce "re-issues"

They do it in the guitar world===>

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/SG/Gibson-USA/SG-6...

http://www.fenderreissue.com/fender-guitar-vintage-SRV-stevie-ray-v...

Lenny Tribute Stratocaster Electric Guitar Features:

SRV-sanded, contoured body

• Billy Gibbons-customized neck
• Reflective SRV stickers
• 1900s-style mandolin body inlay
• Mickey Mantle autograph
• "Stevie Ray Vaughan 80" etched by SRV onto neck plate
• Meticulously replicated wear and tear—
• stratches, nicks, dings, and paint wear
• Cigarette body burns recreated using SRV's cigarette brand
• Reverse-mounted tone pots
• SRV's non-original bridge and non-standard strap buttons
• Recreation of cracked headstock end and worn-in string winder impressions
• Flight case with Vaughan's name embroidered in the case fabric

I should be able (periodically..year by year) be able to get a Buck 110 1964 Reissue

Use same wood, same number of pins, same steel materials, etc

 

Or a Case XX 1964 6285 Green Bone Whittler

Same green bone material, pins, etc....

 

Come to think of it

Camillus used to do reissues

Like the WWII Raider Stiletto dagger

 

Look at the NEW Schrade

They make their living off of  rolling out the old standbys ;)

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on February 19, 2011 at 18:52

All good stuff there...In your scenario you depend on Research and Development, the two guys you hired out of a top flight university, to find the new stuff, define it, quantify it and streamline into production. Also sounds like a nod to some marketing, plugging into iKC to get consumers input. And finally you re-issue, or as we have said old is new again, what grandpappy did worked before it will work again. Sounds like a plan!

Trent Rock said:

I would start by trying to differentiate my knives

Make people think they are better, faster, lighter, stronger that the competitors

 

I would maybe increase the funding to my R & D Dept

Maybe try and find the next INFI steel?? :)

 

You don't really have to spend big money on some marketing report/focus group type stuff

Just ask the occasional customer or keep up to date on the trends in the forum

"Hey..I was just wondering...What feature did you like about this knife the most?"

I do that alot with my EBAY cusomers

"Hey..I was just wondering what you are gonna do with that Camillus knife blank?. Was it the tang stamp or the steel that made you bid on it? Was it the shape/size?"

Keep your pulse on the finger of the knife collector right?

 

Social media blitz (aka buzz marketing)

Facebook, Youtube, Blogger, Flickr and every knife forum know to man

You don't have to spam the forums

Just have a nice sig(nature) with a clickable logo and be professional

 

I think more makers should roll out the old standbys

I think Case XX and Buck should produce "re-issues"

They do it in the guitar world===>

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/SG/Gibson-USA/SG-6...

http://www.fenderreissue.com/fender-guitar-vintage-SRV-stevie-ray-v...

Lenny Tribute Stratocaster Electric Guitar Features:

SRV-sanded, contoured body

• Billy Gibbons-customized neck
• Reflective SRV stickers
• 1900s-style mandolin body inlay
• Mickey Mantle autograph
• "Stevie Ray Vaughan 80" etched by SRV onto neck plate
• Meticulously replicated wear and tear—
• stratches, nicks, dings, and paint wear
• Cigarette body burns recreated using SRV's cigarette brand
• Reverse-mounted tone pots
• SRV's non-original bridge and non-standard strap buttons
• Recreation of cracked headstock end and worn-in string winder impressions
• Flight case with Vaughan's name embroidered in the case fabric

I should be able (periodically..year by year) be able to get a Buck 110 1964 Reissue

Use same wood, same number of pins, same steel materials, etc

 

Or a Case XX 1964 6285 Green Bone Whittler

Same green bone material, pins, etc....

 

Come to think of it

Camillus used to do reissues

Like the WWII Raider Stiletto dagger

 

Look at the NEW Schrade

They make their living off of  rolling out the old standbys ;)

 

• ▶ Reply

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by D ale on February 20, 2011 at 22:12

"...but intended to take a closer look at where a production/tactical knife company gets its ideas. They have to get ideas from somewhere and sometimes they need to be successful."

 

Hog .. there are also the mundane day to day requirements of  keeping a company healthy !!!!!

 

.... like all the mundane little cost cutting issues that every surviving company has teams working on.

 

Labor reduction .. scrap reduction .. COST REDUCTION !!!

 

Many of the components are “blanked out” in various stamping processes. These stamping processes can be as simple as single stage hand transfer dies .. very labor intensive but cheap tooling .. fantastic for the eventual offshore production facility .. but here in the states .. labor cost is high .. soooooooooo

 

Things like running multi-stage dies .. and setting up your production lines to run off of constant fed coil .. minimize the strip width in your tooling design (i.e. minimize scrap) .. just like the butcher .. the manufacturer purchases his raw material by the pound .. and all the trimmings & scrap .. they used to just get tossed out .. we’re still paying for them !!! we better have somebody working with the mill to sell that scrap directly back to em .. even get that one built into the … 60-day terms hopefully.

 

We don’t need a bunch of NEW presses HOG .. just free up enough money to let me speed up the critical lines .. you know .. the one’s we’ve got running ALL the time .. the lines we’re running EVERY week-end & paying OVERTIME on .. yeah, those lines .. give me enough money and I’ll get you the full production we need in .. 57% of the time we  currently require ..

 

I could get ya a rough draft proposal by … staff meeting Tues ????????

 

…. And Hog .. I really do NEED that 3-D solids CADD system ..seriously !!!!!!!

 

 

... and I'm just playing the Engineering Manager talking to YOU the CEO .. now the YOU the CEO  gets the really fun part .. you gotta sell all of that to that little .. what was it ... new family member that somehow has control of the purse strings .. but notta freaken' clue on the business .................

 

• ▶ Reply

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by D ale on February 20, 2011 at 23:00

Oh yeah .. another advantage when we take it off-shore .. all that OSHA schtuff .. you know .. the gaurding on the tooling .. the light shield .. the extra control circuitry .. ALL  that safety schtuff ........ it goes away.

 

YUPPERS .. that's 14%* right off the top of my budget Hog .. and Hog ..  there's little real risk to the firm .. we "farm it out" to some little firm over there that's "hungry" .. we agree to "generously" finance their tooling start-up cost to help em get up-n-running .. it’s projected to be 20% of std start-up cost US (literally) .. then we swamp em with orders .. beat em up over quality .. keep feeding them orders ……. ‘n anything goes south, Hog .. we’re outta there .. sever ties ..  transfer orders to the secondary supplier .. company’s SAFE .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

 

Run that one past the little twit .. if he starts drooling .. at least we found his…… ARGH .. I don’t even want to go there !!!!!!!

 

* It’s really more .. but I intend to build/hide the rest in the R&D budget .. hey, we do need a good year .. RIGHT ?!?!

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