anyone know how to become a distributer for whelen...sorry if this is the wrong section to didnt know where else to post
How to become a Whelen emergency lighting distributer
- Thread starter Tiller245
- Start date
NotNormalEnterprisesLLC said:
ok...im looking to start small and expand from there...ill be selling and installing if i can get whelen onboard
Probably better in either:
http://elightbars.org/forums/f24/
Or even better:
http://elightbars.org/forums/f23/ :yes:
http://elightbars.org/forums/f24/
Or even better:
http://elightbars.org/forums/f23/ :yes:
ok...ill ask around PA and see what i find...but im trying to start my own business going hereNotNormalEnterprisesLLC said:
There are levels of Whelen distribution.
Master distributor buys direct from Whelen at a very reduced price. This is a contracted and territory based level, and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy in. Very little gets sold directly from Whelen to anyone other than a master. The master is supposed to only sell to dealers, and not bid at master prices. This means no walk in store fronts.
Dealers buy from the master, at a reduced price. Most dealers are the store fronts for Whelen products, even though they buy from the master. Typically a hundred thousand dollar commitment is required. Dealers can bid and sell product at any price over their cost.
Resale dealers are the ones that charge MSRP or more, not an official Whelen dealer.
So long story short, it will take a lot of money to be a dealer for any of the big brand products.
Your best bet, as you are small, is to work a deal with a dealer, or the master.
Master distributor buys direct from Whelen at a very reduced price. This is a contracted and territory based level, and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy in. Very little gets sold directly from Whelen to anyone other than a master. The master is supposed to only sell to dealers, and not bid at master prices. This means no walk in store fronts.
Dealers buy from the master, at a reduced price. Most dealers are the store fronts for Whelen products, even though they buy from the master. Typically a hundred thousand dollar commitment is required. Dealers can bid and sell product at any price over their cost.
Resale dealers are the ones that charge MSRP or more, not an official Whelen dealer.
So long story short, it will take a lot of money to be a dealer for any of the big brand products.
Your best bet, as you are small, is to work a deal with a dealer, or the master.
i am a dealer thru a distributor, and im going to be honest with you.
sometimes alot of the bigger websites will have a better price than your dealer price and your customers will tell you that to your face......
what i sell them on is my customer service and installs !
sometimes alot of the bigger websites will have a better price than your dealer price and your customers will tell you that to your face......
what i sell them on is my customer service and installs !
Tiller245 said:
How is that surprising. The bigger a business the more they can take a near loss on some items. Look at Walmart...
Tiller245 said:
If you have to ask, you can't afford it or aren't ready. At this point in the game you basically need loads of industry contacts and be already established as a seller of a minor brand or other specific service.
Tiller245 said:
Some of the web based dealers are masters selling at dealer price. While you would pay the same price, you wouldn't have much room for mark up if the customer checks the internet. Now some government and big companies like to buy a package deal, equipment and installation togeather. You can mark up a little, and make up on labor. This is a big reason to have multiple vendors to offer. Sell a Whelen bar, and sound off secondary lights for example. Siren net has been very good at negotiating price on big orders for me. Being a specific dealer limits you in your ability to offer other product. Build your business on quality labor and outstanding customer service, not one specific vendor.
John said it best in all his posts !
Also your signature said you are a novice, leave the lights to us pro's !! I seen too many overnite light dealer failures who cant pay there mortgage !
Also your signature said you are a novice, leave the lights to us pro's !! I seen too many overnite light dealer failures who cant pay there mortgage !
911 said:
I am sure you would have loved that advice when you were starting out. Typical Yankee.
Tiller245 said:
you will need to contact your local "authorized managing sales representative". any dealer inquiry sent directly to whelen is sent to the AMSR.
"whelen" the actual company/manufacturer is usually not the final deciding factor on who becomes an authorized distributor. the AMSR is.
OP probably is not going to be a volume pusher like sirennet or galls...so "not able to afford" is not a factor here. there is no minimum "buy in".
proper utilization and positive representation of whelen product can go a long way...it's not always about the $$$.
i know when i switched from star warning systems to whelen 10 years ago i got very very lucky there was not much for whelen in southern ontario as far as a master distributer and i was set up on consignment they filled my shop with about 100k of inventory and i paid as i sold it until i could save up enough money to do a proper buy in now i am one of the bigger masters in this area of canada
I wasn't talking out my spam filled pineapple. I exolored, in depth, how to be a Whelen dealer in my area. I had the investor, which meant I could handle the buy in. However, I knew that the master distributor would not let any one succede in this market area. I spoke to Whelen many times about the way the master deals with other installers. The response was there was not much they could do because of contrary agreements. Whelen did, however, set me up with a master in another state, with the agreement that my purchases would be for my customer base (85% of the private ambos at the time in Dallas area), and install work. No counter sales. Siren net is a master distributor. As is Galls, in a specific way. Even Fed Sig, and Code 3 operate in the same distribution system. The op will need to commit a hundred thousand in stock to get dealer price. And that's only if there are no other dealers close and the master is willing. But you are correct in that Whelen has little to no influence towards dealers.IslandFleet said:
Contact MobileFleet, they are the East Coast distributor for Whelen.
If you want to go through a master distributor, go here: Master Sales Rep and Master Distributors For the United States and click on PA for the list of Master Distributors.
As for who is able to sell to whom per Whelen, the district reps like MobileFleet have storefronts and in some cases do installs andthey definitely do bidding against master distributors in their area as well as against dealers they provide products to. Masters (and district reps) can sell to whomever they want to, the public off the street, master distributors, dealers, end users, etc. and they can bid on whatever they whatever jobs they want to as well as have a storefront.
I am a dealer and have been through it all. I started out with MobileFleet and I am currently working with a Master distributor, slightly quicker turn around.
Bonus with being a dealer for Whelen is that you generally get a couple of other vendors as well at a discount, Havis Shields comes to mind.
My advise, find a Master distributor or two that have product lines you would like to carry and see what level of pricing they will give you and if there are and MAPs for the products.
If you want to go through a master distributor, go here: Master Sales Rep and Master Distributors For the United States and click on PA for the list of Master Distributors.
As for who is able to sell to whom per Whelen, the district reps like MobileFleet have storefronts and in some cases do installs andthey definitely do bidding against master distributors in their area as well as against dealers they provide products to. Masters (and district reps) can sell to whomever they want to, the public off the street, master distributors, dealers, end users, etc. and they can bid on whatever they whatever jobs they want to as well as have a storefront.
I am a dealer and have been through it all. I started out with MobileFleet and I am currently working with a Master distributor, slightly quicker turn around.
Bonus with being a dealer for Whelen is that you generally get a couple of other vendors as well at a discount, Havis Shields comes to mind.
My advise, find a Master distributor or two that have product lines you would like to carry and see what level of pricing they will give you and if there are and MAPs for the products.
HILO said:
i had no minimum buy in - i believe my first order was (10) backup alarms and (4) vertex.
masters in my area have no bearing on my success.
whelen treats me the same as they would a master distributor.
if your amsrs are putting a $100k buy in as a requirement to open up as a new distributor...i feel bad for your region and for the industry as a whole.
could be turning away people that have the ability to do some great work
and provide positive representation of whelen product.
spam filled pineapple, huh?...is that the best you got?
Everything is different in Hawaii.
Would pineapple filled spam hole be more appropriate? :hahano:
Would pineapple filled spam hole be more appropriate? :hahano:
The local "strobe" shop does not do over the counter sales except for mayby some light heads, typical mini bars and used stuff. And they service lots and lots of agencies and public outfitting vehicles. Top notch company
The ability to do QUALITY installs is the key to starting out in the install business. OP said he was cool with being an amber dealer, that tells me his potential customer base is not complex LE/Fire-rescue vehicles. SHO-Me, Feniex, Code 3, Echo, and Signal all offer product that is just as good, if not better, than Whelen. My advice is to hone your install skills while pitching cost effective alternatives to Whelen. Then expand your staff to work at your standards or better. Once that's accomplished, you will have the floating capital to bid per customer spec.
This whole thread is a prime example of why I'll stick to buying, selling, and trading used equipment.
pretty much everything everybody said here is true. whelen is a tough market and a word of advise is to stock up on anything you need and replace when sold. why you might ask, well whelen back orders me to death. i sometimes have to wait 3-4 weeks for an order to be completed. as far as master distributors selling for the same price as the wholesale price you get, yes that happens all the time, pisses me off! i work with both whelen and code 3 products. i absolutely love whelen products but my code 3 sales are 10 times more and so much easier. if your just getting started, i hope you have a regular income other than this. it will take a good 2 years to get rollin to a point you can live comfortably.
fireman658 said:
I couldn't agree with you more. It's as if being an installer of Whelen products suddenly makes you better and smarter than everyone else. The only up fitter that even tried to help the guy was Dan from SlickTop Solutions.
Don't get me wrong, I have seen some crappy installs, but it is not like it is really that hard to do a good one.
markko said:
Because people don't do the research and are dumb enough to buy them at those prices! Why sell them at $200 when people will buy them at $340???
my words might be harsh to some, but its the truth..............
if you have to come on here and ask these questions , this is not the business for you then......
if you have to come on here and ask these questions , this is not the business for you then......
911 said:
Harsh? Not really. Pointless and unnecessary? Getting warmer. You've never asked a group of your peers a question about something??? This site to me would be a good starting point to ask a question like that if he's inquiring about a topic that members here have experience in. I'm sure you didn't just wake up one morning with all of the answers.
I contacted whelen last year inquiring about becoming a dealer/ distributor, after being told to contact like 5 different people i was told that to become a distributor they required you to keep a minimum of $10,000 worth of inventory at all times. I was told if you want to be a dealer you don't have a minimum. I don't know if any/all of that was true but i got busy with my other business (HVAC, electrical, refrigeration) and just didn't have the time to continue pursuing that, although i would still like to do it some day.
As far as actual dealer in anything im only a feniex platinum dealer. As far as everything else ive made good connections to get whelen, havis, sos, vertex, etc at some really good pricing. I dont get good enough pricing to make money selling on here or the net but if you make good enough connections you will be able to get pricing where you can make money on installs on the labor side. Theres plenty of actually dealers on this sitr of one product or another that will supply you with what they sell at their price or maybe a few extra dollars that way they can keep their purchases up. I didnt get to platinum level by myself. Browse the boards and message people. Youll find the connections.
911 is just showing their typical NYC ass attitude, and I'll leave it at that.
Back years ago, to maintain a certain level of dealer/master at Whelen was about 10k worth of products a month/quarter? from the factory. Remember, this is at their cost, not retail/resale.
I will agree that the install/resale industry has grown up quite a bit over the last 10 years ago. It focuses more on service/install or known as "VARs" Value Added resellers. The product lines are diverse and may include radios, consoles, antennas, push bumpers, plow packages, etc etc.
The days of being able to do fleet installs in your garage or "JUST" doing lightbars and wigwags (and make a living off of it) is pretty much done.
I will say that it can be geographical thing, but many departments these days want a one-stop shop. Where I am stationed now, I could open up a place and prob do ok as the local/regional company is an ass (at least their sales force is). But, even with all my east coast connections, I know I won't want to open up a place out there.
I am not discouraging your, but you need to know your market, what you can layout in personal cash or a business loan, liability insurance, equipment, supplies, test equipment, vehicle manuals, dealer commitment costs, supply, competitive pricing and if you can put food on the table with it. Starting out you need to make this a full time commitment or be able to resonably commit to this venture. The customer does not want to hear that his out of service 40k+ vehicle is stitting in your garage because you had to work some overtime at your full time job.
Back years ago, to maintain a certain level of dealer/master at Whelen was about 10k worth of products a month/quarter? from the factory. Remember, this is at their cost, not retail/resale.
I will agree that the install/resale industry has grown up quite a bit over the last 10 years ago. It focuses more on service/install or known as "VARs" Value Added resellers. The product lines are diverse and may include radios, consoles, antennas, push bumpers, plow packages, etc etc.
The days of being able to do fleet installs in your garage or "JUST" doing lightbars and wigwags (and make a living off of it) is pretty much done.
I will say that it can be geographical thing, but many departments these days want a one-stop shop. Where I am stationed now, I could open up a place and prob do ok as the local/regional company is an ass (at least their sales force is). But, even with all my east coast connections, I know I won't want to open up a place out there.
I am not discouraging your, but you need to know your market, what you can layout in personal cash or a business loan, liability insurance, equipment, supplies, test equipment, vehicle manuals, dealer commitment costs, supply, competitive pricing and if you can put food on the table with it. Starting out you need to make this a full time commitment or be able to resonably commit to this venture. The customer does not want to hear that his out of service 40k+ vehicle is stitting in your garage because you had to work some overtime at your full time job.
