Techo's director of marketing missing a major market!!

[DVS Hardscaper]

So I have this box of Techo-Bloc marketing propoganda that I received at this year's Techo showcase. I had already passed the shirts and gloves out to my guys. So I take the three Techo-Bloc stickers out to throw them in the trash.

It was a weird feeling throwing stickers in the trash as my kid is a die-hard motocross racer and normally we keep stickers like this.

Techo-bloc, Nicolock, and Belgard should really give some thought to sponsoring amature sports athletes, such as mx racers. Most of our sponsors have strict requirements where we must place their stickers in visible locations on the bike(s), on the race rig, and we must list our sponsors everytime we sign up to race - which are usually read off my the M/C guy, and we must mention our sponsors at award ceremonies, banquets, press releases, etc. Believe me, when you see / hear these sponsor's names every week - it stays in your mind.

These types of sports are not low budget / low income sports, if you know what I mean. The community has expendable income, and thats what paver manufacturers look for

So any paver manufacturer reading this - think outside of the box and shoot me a private message and lets talk! You're giving us such stickers for a reason, now lets take it to the next step

[mrusk]

So spill the beans. How was the techo showcase? Is it worth my time to go? I hardly even lay pavers anymore anyways.

[MJK]

Originally Posted by mrusk

So spill the beans. How was the techo showcase? Is it worth my time to go? I hardly even lay pavers anymore anyways.

Why no more pavers?

[DVS Hardscaper]

Probably because the market is saturated with competition and the profit margins are next to nothing.

In 2012 Hardscaping accounted for less than 30% of my company's sales. And I'm totaly ok with that.

[DVS Hardscaper]

Here is a link to a recent award winning thread I crafted Mr Rusk-A-Roni! Check it out

http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=395393

Techo puts alotta work into their showcases. Kinda impressive in all honesty. But at the end of the day more or less the same 'ol same 'ol.

[etwman]

Originally Posted by DVS Hardscaper

Here is a link to a recent award winning thread I crafted Mr Rusk-A-Roni! Check it out

http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=395393

Techo puts alotta work into their showcases. Kinda impressive in all honesty. But at the end of the day more or less the same 'ol same 'ol.

I ventured here for my annual peak in. I agree with you on this and have talked with reps on this exact thing. Same old thing. I did not send my guys this year as we did other training events, I just can't find the underlying value to it. You can only jam new material so much until people get tired of it. My suggestion is to curtail these amount of road showcases down by 50%. Look at your top 10-15 locations and expand it to a two day educational arena. Charge something for it, minor fees, so you dont end up with hardscape rats. People will migrate to where they can learn. Theres only so many free jackets and stuff you need. Techo is known for innovation and listening so lets see if they switch this up. If they don't someone else will take the lead with this, watch.

[DVS Hardscaper]

Originally Posted by etwman

I ventured here for my annual peak in. I agree with you on this and have talked with reps on this exact thing. Same old thing. I did not send my guys this year as we did other training events, I just can't find the underlying value to it. You can only jam new material so much until people get tired of it. My suggestion is to curtail these amount of road showcases down by 50%. Look at your top 10-15 locations and expand it to a two day educational arena. Charge something for it, minor fees, so you dont end up with hardscape rats. People will migrate to where they can learn. Theres only so many free jackets and stuff you need. Techo is known for innovation and listening so lets see if they switch this up. If they don't someone else will take the lead with this, watch.

Howdy Ja-rod! Hey, I did receive the e-mail you sent me, at that time I had a problem with my Outlook, it wouldn't let me send e-mails out, and time got away from me.

Honestly, I was thinking a 2 day event may be the way to go as well. So its neat to hear you come on and say similar.


Techo-bloc is also all over the board. I'll explain:

Pete has made it very clear that they want the high end, big dollar projects. He has explained that their catalog is purposely engineered to attract people with dollars.

Ok, well, then, these jobs are not usually awarded to start up companies. These types of jobs are typically awarded to those who are veteran contractors, are established, and have been around the block.

But if you think about the bulk of Techo's Showcase (as ETWman has already realized) - Pete is preaching door hangers. He's preaching mailer cards. He's preaching why to use bedding sand instead of stone dust. He's preaching what size compactor to use. Year after year. He is spending an emense amount of the show going over stuff that 70% of the audience has already mastered 5 to 20 years ago! A veteran contractor doesnt want to pay for door hangers and mailer cards with someone elses work on it. If we have to pay for something its going to have our jobs! Seriously, after 2008, 2009, and 2010 - any contractor that is still in business obviously KNOWS HOW TO MARKET and KNOWS HOW TO OPERATE A BUSINESS.

Why is the show focused so much towards the start up guy and in the same breath they're saying they want only the upper tier jobs and clients???!! The two do not go hand in hand.

[Bru75]

Originally Posted by DVS Hardscaper

But if you think about the bulk of Techo's Showcase (as ETWman has already realized) - Pete is preaching door hangers. He's preaching mailer cards. He's preaching why to use bedding sand instead of stone dust. He's preaching what size compactor to use. Year after year. He is spending an emense amount of the show going over stuff that 70% of the audience has already mastered 5 to 20 years ago! A veteran contractor doesnt want to pay for door hangers and mailer cards with someone elses work on it. If we have to pay for something its going to have our jobs! Seriously, after 2008, 2009, and 2010 - any contractor that is still in business obviously KNOWS HOW TO MARKET and KNOWS HOW TO OPERATE A BUSINESS.

Why is the show focused so much towards the start up guy and in the same breath they're saying they want only the upper tier jobs and clients???!! The two do not go hand in hand.

This pretty much sums up why I skipped the whole thing this year. I've never vandalized anybody's house with a door hanger, and I never will. I have no use for brochures filled with somebody else's pics.
I've been to almost all of these things and heard the same load every time.

[etwman]

Your dead nuts on.
Posted via Mobile Device

[BrandonV]

Originally Posted by etwman

Your dead nuts on.
Posted via Mobile Device

I went this year for the first time (they're not huge here in NC yet but some of their products look nice)

The whole door hander and post card push infuriates me. I'm so tired of contractors showing off other peoples work that they may OR more than likely may not be capable of replicating themselves. But I understand because frankly the manufactures are in the business of selling product. I just hope we don't have it backfire on the industry (it did here once here in NC I'm told) and paver construction gets a bad rep for being unsolid form of construction.