Posted by Mark D. Knight on March 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment
If you haven’t noticed, since launching our new web site in June of last year, we have been running Polls on topics that we thought would be of interest and that our customers would want to weigh in on. Some things you have told us are surprising!
What is your most important buying criteria?
-Availability – 37%
-Quality – 30%
-Price – 22%
What is the telehandler utilization rate in your area?
-50% said 20% or less
-70% said 40% or less
How much will your market improve in 2010?
-30% said it will get worse
-50% said that it will get worse or stay the same
What is the biggest factor affecting the markets you serve?
-General state of the Economy – 47%
-Weather – 33%
-Employment – 20%
This tells us that we are pretty much split down the middle. Half of us believe that things will improve in 2010 and half of us don’t. Frankly, telehandler usage estimates were higher than expected. We had estimated that in 2009 they were 10% to 15%. When considering factors affecting the markets we serve, the Economy, Weather and Employment are all interrelated.
Every month or so we will be asking a new question so check it out! If you have a question you would like us to ask, let us know…
Note: The Tiffin Poll shows in the left side margin on all of our web pages.
Posted by Mark D. Knight on February 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Whether the weather has been good or bad depends on your perspective. Most would agree that it’s been a tough first six weeks of the year. I was in Alabama and Georgia last week calling on customers and got out the day before the snow hit! Of course, I came home to colder temperatures and more snow than most can imagine as you can see in the picture.
Hawaii was the only one of the 50 states that didn’t have snow last week, yet Vancouver had to truck snow in before the Olympics and with temperatures in the 50s, they have blossoms blooming on the trees.
On the good side, I did read the other day that over 92% of the US is now drought-free. This is the best it’s been since the early 1990s. Here’s hoping that it’s a sign of good things to come in 2010. As the weather clears, more equipment will be running which will be good for employment and in turn the economy!
How much impact does the weather have on your customers and the markets you serve?
Whether the weather has been good or bad depends on your perspective. Most would agree that it’s been a tough first six weeks of the year. I was in Alabama and Georgia last week calling on customers and got out the day before the snow hit! Of course, I came home to colder temperatures and more snow than most can imagine as you can see in the picture.
