Recently got a call from a dealer in our team. He was in the process of going to visit a new prospective AMSOIL Retailer (a speed shop) that had called him up and asked how he could become a dealer.
“Should I register this shop as a Retail-on-the-shelf (ROTS) account or as an independent dealer like myself”? and he went on to say, “which is best for me to earn commission”.
My answer to his questions is several and depending on various needs and desires from said “speed shop”.
Here is what I said,
First and foremost you always give your customer what is best for them and not you. This just makes the best business sense, especially if your customer ever finds out you didn’t have his best interest at heart.
Next, if there are several options such as in this case where the customer can be a ROTS account or a dealer, give them both options and let them decide for themselves. A lot of times, a retailer calls up and says they want to be a dealer but really they just want to carry the products and have no idea AMSOIL Inc. has an independent dealership opportunity (Home-Based Business). It’s good to explain this so they can clearly understand what they want to do.
Now the question is. Is it best to register them as a ROTS account or an Independent AMSOIL Dealer and what’s best for me? Lets take a closer look at this question. Take from some AMSOIL literature I have on-hand this explains the ideas and philosophy from AMSOIL.
The AMSOIL Marketing Plan supports the fact that the best way to grow a stable business and income is to sponsor, train, retain and grow the number of AMSOIL Dealers in your down line.
as well as this statement from another document.
The overriding priority in our Marketing Plan is a business opportunity for AMSOIL Dealers. AMSOIL INC. provides programs and support mechanisms to help AMSOIL Dealers earn a residual income mainly through the sponsorship and training of other AMSOIL Dealers, as well as the utilization of the sales programs.
As you see, it just makes sense to sponsor dealers. Lets look at the question as it concerns this speed shop. Lets say they wanted to register as a ROTS account, they buy a few hundred dollars in product on a monthly basis. Maybe over the years you grow this account to buy $1000 a month in products. You could earn a nice income from this one account.
Now lets see what could happen if the owner registered as an AMSOIL Dealer. Over the years this account / dealer carries the products on the shelf (same as if he were a ROTS account). Also he uses AMSOIL products in his personal vehicles and learns as much as he can about the outstanding quality of AMSOIL. This dealer becomes serious about building a secondary stream of income and begins to register his own customers and accounts. Over the years this shop owner / AMSOIL dealer builds an AMSOIL Business of $100,000 per month in gross sales of products.
This would be a win win situation for both you (the sponsoring dealer) as well as this shop owner / AMSOIL Dealer. This shop owner has increased his secondary income stream and you have a residual form of income by helping him understand the benefits of working with AMSOIL as an independent dealer.
To sum up the answer to your question, “should I register this shop owner as a Retailer or an AMSOIL Dealer”?
- You should always give the customer what they want, give them the facts so they can decide which route they would want to go.
- Allow them to understand AMSOIL Inc’s philosophy that the Marketing plan is designed to help AMSOIL dealers.
With that, congrats on your new customer, your new relationship that you have started and their decision to work with AMSOIL and you (their sponsoring dealer) in whatever capacity they choose.
The above scenario could have well play out with any type of commercial customer, be it the owner of a construction company, an automotive shop owner a delivery fleet or what have you. Give the customer the option to choose, then work with them the best way possible.
Hope this answer the question.
Please feel free to leave a comment or ask any additional questions on this subject. We would be glad to answer them.
Michael Sparks, AMSOIL Dealer / Regency Silver Direct Jobber
If a shop owner chooses the Rots option and down the road learns more and more about the visions and quality of Amsoil, how difficult or not so difficult is it to switch their status to dealer? I assume the shops Rots account gets trumped once switched to dealer, or does remain two separate entity’s? I should just look this info up in the biz manual, however, your words are always a but more interesting….
If a commercial or ROTS account would like to become a dealer, they will need to contact their servicing dealer and fill out the Dealer Application. This person would then have two accounts. Though it would be in their best interest to order under the dealer program so they could earn a commission. The Commercial or ROTS account will remain valid as long as they are purchasing under that account. Sometimes mine uses his ROTS account because they have an AMSOIL Credit account. Other times he has order under the dealer program to get commission. Once this customer decides to start building an AMSOIL Dealership, it will always make more sense to order under the dealer number instead of the Account.