- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
- Messages
- 12,955
Hi guys. Forgive me here for this long winded one. My lifetime of sales consulting and marketing experience kicked in on this one. I have not posted much here but I am a long time Buck fan and I know Paul Bos and have used his services a good bit in the past for my hand mades. Anyway, I heard today that the Mini Strider 881 collaboration knife is being discontinued by Buck.
I found out all the specs today from a friend of mine that ordered one and recieved it. He couldn't believe that you don't mention the details of this knife more specifically and to be honest neither can I after hearing about it. Anyway, my friend just told me how impressive this knife is in detail once he got it in his hands and I have to wonder why you haven't made all the specs public and why you have not used those specifics to your advantage better in marketing this jewel among jewels. Not everyone is familiar with Strider standards you know? By the time I got off the phone with my friend I was in near panic that I had missed out on this one.
Yes, for what it is worth I ordered one of these today from the Buck store after learning all about it. Truth be told if I had known just how beefy this 881 or the larger ones like it truly are I would already have owned one a long long time ago Mr. Buck. I also would have sold them for you by recommending them to people here when members were looking for a knife of this type. Maybe you should include the complete specs of the knife in your descriptions/advertisements for discerning individuals in the future.
For example: This knife apparently has an ATS34 blade akin to a prybar in thickness. It sports liners and a lock that make other makers/manufacturers knives of the same foot print seem feeble by comparison and no where do I see any mention of the specifics other than blade length and general statements about it being for hard use or beefed up without getting into details. What is the blade thickness on this beast a 1/4"? And where do you mention that fact in your ads? How bout the lock thickness? Compare that lock to an Emerson or BenchMade of the same size knife. Then ask yourself why you didn't make the differences known. Its a hands down choice if you know the facts. Someone dropped the ball on this one IMO.
Please consider that many people would be interested in more detail than generailized statements like, 'made thicker overall for heavy duty use', or "Buck Striders are tough SOBs. They are thick, beefy and made to Mick Striders specifications." If the sellers are not going to tell people the blade thickness and the liner and more importantly the lock thicknesses maybe you should do that for them on your web site. Then maybe you would see sales jump on it. In fact maybe you should try that before discontinuing the model. You may not even want to discontinue it once word gets out on it.
I personally like knowing as much as possible on the specifics of a knife before the sale and I realize other manufacturers are guilty of this too but this is a terrible marketing mistake in my humble opinion when you have such a stand out in the crowd and don't make the reasons why it is such a standout known to your market. You have a potential trend setter here in these Strider knives and you don't give out enough info to move them to anyone other than people already aquainted with Mr. Strider and Dwyer. Simply adding the specs of the liner and lock thickness as well as the blade thickness could possibly have made this a best seller beyond belief. If you can go out of your way to prepare people for the sharp edges and pocket wear traits of Buck Strider collaboration knives why not include these simple facts also?
Again just my opinion. As it is now this info only gets out by word of mouth from those that bought one. I have to tell you. From what I know of this folder it dwarfs the other hard use production folding knives on the market including some that are more expensive than it is. It kicks their a$$ so much that it should be the first knife that comes to mind and is recommended when someone is looking for a heavy duty smaller folder with serious dimensions not found in many competitors products at all but I venture to say we just didn't know about how much of a standout from the crowd it really is.
STR
I found out all the specs today from a friend of mine that ordered one and recieved it. He couldn't believe that you don't mention the details of this knife more specifically and to be honest neither can I after hearing about it. Anyway, my friend just told me how impressive this knife is in detail once he got it in his hands and I have to wonder why you haven't made all the specs public and why you have not used those specifics to your advantage better in marketing this jewel among jewels. Not everyone is familiar with Strider standards you know? By the time I got off the phone with my friend I was in near panic that I had missed out on this one.
Yes, for what it is worth I ordered one of these today from the Buck store after learning all about it. Truth be told if I had known just how beefy this 881 or the larger ones like it truly are I would already have owned one a long long time ago Mr. Buck. I also would have sold them for you by recommending them to people here when members were looking for a knife of this type. Maybe you should include the complete specs of the knife in your descriptions/advertisements for discerning individuals in the future.
For example: This knife apparently has an ATS34 blade akin to a prybar in thickness. It sports liners and a lock that make other makers/manufacturers knives of the same foot print seem feeble by comparison and no where do I see any mention of the specifics other than blade length and general statements about it being for hard use or beefed up without getting into details. What is the blade thickness on this beast a 1/4"? And where do you mention that fact in your ads? How bout the lock thickness? Compare that lock to an Emerson or BenchMade of the same size knife. Then ask yourself why you didn't make the differences known. Its a hands down choice if you know the facts. Someone dropped the ball on this one IMO.
Please consider that many people would be interested in more detail than generailized statements like, 'made thicker overall for heavy duty use', or "Buck Striders are tough SOBs. They are thick, beefy and made to Mick Striders specifications." If the sellers are not going to tell people the blade thickness and the liner and more importantly the lock thicknesses maybe you should do that for them on your web site. Then maybe you would see sales jump on it. In fact maybe you should try that before discontinuing the model. You may not even want to discontinue it once word gets out on it.
I personally like knowing as much as possible on the specifics of a knife before the sale and I realize other manufacturers are guilty of this too but this is a terrible marketing mistake in my humble opinion when you have such a stand out in the crowd and don't make the reasons why it is such a standout known to your market. You have a potential trend setter here in these Strider knives and you don't give out enough info to move them to anyone other than people already aquainted with Mr. Strider and Dwyer. Simply adding the specs of the liner and lock thickness as well as the blade thickness could possibly have made this a best seller beyond belief. If you can go out of your way to prepare people for the sharp edges and pocket wear traits of Buck Strider collaboration knives why not include these simple facts also?
Again just my opinion. As it is now this info only gets out by word of mouth from those that bought one. I have to tell you. From what I know of this folder it dwarfs the other hard use production folding knives on the market including some that are more expensive than it is. It kicks their a$$ so much that it should be the first knife that comes to mind and is recommended when someone is looking for a heavy duty smaller folder with serious dimensions not found in many competitors products at all but I venture to say we just didn't know about how much of a standout from the crowd it really is.
STR