Limits how many outlets are selling them? Don't be fooled by the "no box store/servicing dealers only" hype they put out. Stihl will sign up anybody that can hold a pen. And they are also signing up "regional" chains of hardware stores and home centers that only differ from Lowes and Home Depot in that they are not nation wide chains. And the "service and parts" promise is frequently compromised by things like, "we only have service in our main store" in another town. That Virginia Beach facility is huge and they gotta feed the monster.
Husky has a catelog with over 200 SKUs and they won't even talk to former Jonsered dealers that only want saws. If you can't be a full line, or at least do some wheeled goods, they don't want you. Husky isn't as bad as Stihl with a dealer on every corner, but they too put too many dealers in most markets.
Power equipment is a needs based business. Doesn't really grow much beyond the rate of inflation, and can have wild swings that are almost entirely due to the weather. So, all of these companies can only gain at each other's expense. But corporations anywhere in the world want growth. No matter how good a year you had, they want growth the following year. Everyone is responsible for growth from the sales reps on up to the CEO's. Don't hit you goals and you might have to hit your keyboard and work on your resume. There was a drought and the grass turned brown? It didn't snow all winter? No excuse.
That pressure leads to some pretty strange "shot in the dark" ideas like Red Max comercial mowers. Seems like an obviously dumb idea, but these guys are under constant pressure to come up with something new. No new ideas, then why are you there? So, sometimes they pick the least stupid from a list of bad ideas and hope for the best.
Inject a little dose of that reality in a sales meeting for one of these companies, and it will be your last. But this idea seems so flawed that it's hard to believe anyone would actually sign off on it. Certainly not anyone who has been in the industry for very many years. But then again, many of the people calling these shots don't have the needed experience to make an intelligent decision. They come from totally unrelated industries, but have "proven management skills" and a degree from a good school. Leaders of men and all that crap. It's a joke, but that's the way businesses operate, and we get some schemes that are truly doomed form the start. The sad part is that a lot of people get all kinds of stress, grief and lose their jobs because they can't sell someone else's stupid idea.
