It seems to me that TenTec radios are sold by satisfied customers more than
anything else. To that end TenTec has been using the Ambassador program. I
don't know how well the Ambassador program has worked but I've received
credit for three to five (I just haven't kept track) OMNI-VIIs over the past
two years and probably helped them sell half a dozen OMNI-VI+ during the
time I had mine. See http://www.tentec.com/pages/Become-an-Ambassador.html
But you are correct, the factory-direct only sales marketing puts TenTec at
a disadvantage as does Asian electronic manufacturers marketing their
government subsidized products at low cost in the US. And many HAMs are
cheap, buying the lowest cost radio they can get by with.
If you add the cost all my purchases of TenTec equipment over thirty years,
it may total no more than $15k or $500 average per year. I doubt that I'm an
average TenTec owner, some have a lot more and some have a lot less than the
six TT transceivers and Titan 425 I've purchased but $500 gross per year per
customer? Amateur Radio equipment is a very niche market, with a very small
profit margin for a relatively small number of customers (i.e. $500 gross
per customer / year), would not begin to justify a major marketing
expenditure. I doubt that today, any US manufacturer can stay in business
solely selling product in the Amateur market but rather they must diversify
without loosing sight of a small but discriminating and demanding group like
TenTec radio users.
73 ES DX,
Gary -- AB9M
http://www.csm-gh.com/AB9M.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Lowman
Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2012 6:02 PM
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] My First Ten-Tec
I have to agree, Rick.
While Ten-Tec has an impressive website and has full-page ads
in QST and CQ every month, they don't seem to have much of
a direct presence.
Back when we were putting together a convention in 2001, I
put the full-court press on Scott to see if Ten-Tec would come
out here to soCal and exhibit their wares. I had the Omni VI
Plus then, and talked it up at the local club, but most members
had never seen a Ten-Tec radio. Scott said that Ten-Tec pretty
much confined their exhibits to Dayton. Maybe they are at
the big hamfests nearby now, like Orlando and Huntsville.
It can't be the direct marketing, as that works very well for
Elecraft, and it certainly isn't the unprecedented 30-day
return privilege. What do you think?
73 de Jim - AD6CW
On 7/4/2012 1:54 AM, Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP wrote:
> Cecil,
>
> Yours is the story of most: "I don't know why I never considered
> Ten-Tec".
> There can be only one answer to that: Marketing.
>
> Ten-Tec never got the marketing right. NEVER.
>
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