cgc3dshoots

Never complain about your Hoyt rep not doing his job…
We have been a Hoyt dealer for the last four years. Prior to us opening our shop, there was not a Hoyt dealer in our area. We have not seen eye to eye with the Hoyt Rep pretty much since day one. My problem with him is this, he gets paid for every Hoyt product we would purchase. Yet when I would have a problem and call him, there would be times that he would not return my calls. Granted, I only called when I had a problem with something Hoyt related. I figured that was what he was getting paid for, to help us when we needed it. When he wouldn’t return my calls, I would then have to call Hoyt direct and get any problems solved. This would be anything from a bow ordering issue to invoicing problems, whatever. The only time I would see or hear from him is when the new line bows came out. I would have to call him and try to setup a day when he would be coming by. He wouldn’t call me to let me know the new line was out until I called him first. I had to find out from our customers that he was already at another dealer 30 miles from us, but didn’t call to tell us he was going to be in the area.

I called and talked to another Hoyt dealer and he confirmed that he too has had lots of problems with his Hoyt rep in the past. He now has a new Hoyt rep.

What do these guys do 11 months out of the year to deserve getting paid every time I buy a Hoyt or Fuse product. Especially if they are not there to help with the needs of the dealer? I find out more about the new bows from the online forums than I do from the Rep.

So about a two years ago, I complained to the Rep Group. He obviously heard about it from the Rep Group. So he called me and said if you need anything just call my cell. I said fine I would do that. Guess what? Nothing changed, he still wouldn’t return my calls when I needed help. I had a billing issue and I called him at least 3 times to get it fixed. I had to call Hoyt direct to get it solved.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all Reps are bad. I actually have some really good ones that we work with. My Reps for the other lines we carry are very good. My newest Rep for another brand even drove 45 minutes to bring me a module so I could sell a customer a new bow. He could of just put it in the mail and that would have been great. He didn’t have to drive here but he did. That’s what I would call beyond great customer service.

Before you read any further, I want to state that through all the many weeks of trying to get to the bottom of this, I never lost my patience with anyone I talked to and never yelled or even raised my voice at these people. Read further and see if you could have been as restrained as I was.

One of my former staff shooters decided he was going to open a shop about a year ago that is 14 miles from my location. He has only been open for 6 months. Hoyt gave him a dealership before his building was even started. We didn’t like it, but there was nothing we could do about it. So you had two Hoyt dealerships 14 miles apart. Now just as the 2009 Hoyt product is announced, we find out we were dropped by Hoyt.

I never got a call, email or letter from my Hoyt Rep or Hoyt Corporate regarding being dropped. The way I found out was when I called to order the 2009 product line and they said your account is INACTIVE. I said what does that mean? They said, you need to call your Hoyt Rep. I called my Hoyt Rep and once again he did not return my phone call. I never got a call stating your Hoyt numbers are down and you need to sell X number of bows to maintain the line, nothing, nada.

Since I couldn’t reach the Hoyt Rep, I called the Hoyt Customer Service manager, Tom Driffle. He was actually quite rude to me. He said, you’re pushing Bowtech and I needed to talk to my Hoyt Rep as he has the final say over who gets the dealerships.

Let’s see where would he hear we were pushing a non-Hoyt brand. Oh that would be the other shop and they would have no reason to stretch the truth now would they?

I said, we do not PUSH any bow line. If the customer is looking for brand X bow, we sell them brand X bow. If they don’t know what they want, we try to get them shoot all the bows and let the customer decide. This is why we have the great customer following that we do because we don’t PUSH products on our customers.

I said, what benefit is it to Hoyt to pull my dealership. Pulling my dealership doesn’t sell more Hoyts. We have always paid on time, there has never been any payment or credit issues. Granted Hoyt is not our big seller. Tom Driffle didn’t respond to my question and repeated it’s up to the Hoyt Rep.

I have talked to the President of the Rep Group numerous times. He agreed with me that this never should have happened and our dealership should not have been pulled. Even with all his contacts and through our many conversations, he could not get anywhere with Hoyt.

After 3-4 weeks and many calls to people associated with Hoyt and Easton and leaving messages for the Hoyt National Sales Manger, Mike Luper finally calls. He tells me, you only sold the minimum number of bows required to be a dealer which is a small percentage of your total bows sales. In layman terms, we sold more Brand X and Brand Y then Hoyt bows. Yes, but we sold the minimum required. Why have a minimum requirement if it is not really the minimum?

I again, explain that we do not push bows. I said, why didn’t the Hoyt Rep call before the end of the model year and say look, you need to boost your numbers or your dealership will be in jeopardy. This would be good customer service by the Hoyt Rep. This just adds to every complaint I had with the Hoyt Rep. Mike Luper’s response was the Rep in the beginning of the 2008 model year wanted us to order 15 more Hoyt bows and in turn he would give us a free target bow. We didn’t take him up on the 15 more bow deal. Mike Luper said, that was the Reps way of telling you that you better get your numbers up. WHAT? He said the Hoyt Rep has the final say on who gets and who doesn’t get a dealership. So regardless of the fact that we have had personal issues with the Rep, he has the final say over the Hoyt dealership.

Mike Luper said the new shop is buying a lot of Hoyt bows and promoting Hoyt as the number 1 line. That’s great, but how and why does that affect our dealership. Mike said the new shop is using Hoyt Co-op money for advertising promoting the Hoyt brand. I said we have been doing advertising for Hoyt and all the brands we carry and are paying for it out of my own pocket and not using Hoyt co-op money to do it.

I asked Mike, what about the fact that the shops to the north that have now closed and those customers were now coming to us and some of them wanted Hoyt. Mike Luper says, if they’ll drive to you, they’ll drive 14 miles farther to the new shop to get a Hoyt.

I re-questioned Mike Luper why the Hoyt Rep didn’t call me and tell me you need to up your number of bows or your risking your dealership? He repeated, the Rep offered you a 15 bow deal and a free target bow. That was his way of telling you that you dealership was in jeopardy.

Mike Luper said you only sold the minimum number of bows required in 2008 and that was a small percentage of your total bow sales. I said, how do you know that for 2009 Hoyt would not be our top seller? I also said four years of selling your product when you had no other representation in our area doesn’t carry any weight with Hoyt?

Mike Luper admitted to me that selling more Hoyt bows to more dealers is not the goal, being the number one bow in the shop is the goal. Hoyt is number one line at the new shop. Mike Luper also admitted that many dealers got their dealership pulled and were not given letters or any notification.

Now, let’s look at the big picture. Hoyt gives a dealership to a new shop 14 miles from mine and now there is an issue that we didn’t sell enough bows. Yet, Mike Luper told me on the phone that we sold the minimum required to be a dealer. This should be pretty simple math. You put two dealerships in the same territory and one of the dealerships numbers will probably go down. We haven’t even touched on the current state of the economy and how it’s affecting bow sales. We have a GM plant north of us that is closing and a Chrysler plant that may or may not stay open. Mike says Hoyt is going to stand by the Hoyt Reps decision.

So in conclusion here is what we know.

* New shop comes into the area, Hoyt rep tells us there is enough business for everyone
* New bow shop opens and buys a large number of Hoyt bows.
* Our Hoyt sales decline after the new shop opens but our shop still sells the minimum required to be a dealer
* I’m supposed to push the Hoyt product after you let a new dealer into our area?
* Neither Hoyt nor the Hoyt Rep called and said your dealership is at risk if you don’t buy X number of Hoyt bows above the minimum required.
* Hoyt never calls to tell us they are canceling our dealership
* Hoyt cancels our dealership because we sell more of brand Y bows
* Mike Luper said they will sell more bows by pulling our dealership
* This isn’t an issue of taking the dealership from us and giving it to another shop, the other shop already was a Hoyt dealer too.

This brings up a few more questions…
We sold the minimum required to have a dealership, so why pull it?
Why would Hoyt not want us to sell their bows?
Isn’t Hoyt in the business to sell bows?
How does pulling our dealership after four years benefit Hoyt?
Doesn’t having more dealers that buy bows every year help them sell more bows?
It doesn’t cost Hoyt anything for us to be a dealer, so again, why pull it?
Maybe if Hoyt worked with their dealers, they would sell more bows?

Even if they complained that we didn’t sell enough Hoyt bows, we were still buying Hoyt bows from them and we sold the minimum required to be a dealer. Does anyone else find something seriously wrong with the logic here?

As someone that came from the corporate business world, I am absolutely floored by the lack of professionalism displayed by the Hoyt company from top to bottom. Just getting a return phone call was a major undertaking. If I treated my customers the way Hoyt treated me, I would have no customers.

You’d think after four years of buying and selling their product that we would deserve at least a phone call asking why our bow numbers were low or if there was anything they could do to help. Nope, you have one bad year selling their product, and someone else comes in promising Hoyt the world and you see what happens. They have no interest in working with you.

After the nearly 30 phone calls to various people regarding this situation over a 6 week period, you’d think that Hoyt would realize how much we wanted the line. It had no effect on the outcome. As stated above, I have been patient and polite with everyone throughout all of this. I never yelled at anyone. Now, I did say “b***s***” the last time I talked to Mike Luper when he said they would sell more bows with one dealer than with two but that is the extent of it.

When someone comes in looking for a Hoyt, do you think we’ll send them to the other shop or do you think we will do everything possible to sell them a brand that we carry?

If you are a Hoyt dealer or you’re considering becoming a Hoyt dealer or even planning on purchasing a Hoyt bow, I hope this provides a little insight on the integrity of the Hoyt company and how they treat their dealers.