Let's Give Mike A Hand!

[redshift]

First for such a great forum, and being a one-man RC Revolution!

And also, let's help him improve the Storefront.

I had a small issue with the FLM Emaxx braces, and had to send back a set because I ordered the wrong ones. I got the 3906 braces when I needed the 3905 braces. His shipper then mistakenly sent a different wrong set lol.
There are 3 FLM braces, one set for the 3906, one for the 3905, and one for the FLM 3905 Extended Chassis. I emailed Mike, and he called me- that's above and beyond!

We had a good 40-45 minute conversation, and among the things we discussed was FLM's poor info, as far as fit/compatibility. He told me what I had assumed, that the FLM decriptives were copied and pasted. And to spare future confusion he made some changes to some of the part details.

So I have a small mission for fellow RCMers, I want you to go to the RCM store and just look at some parts that pertain to vehicles you either own, or know lots about. And then email Mike with any changes that can or should be made.

One biggie that needs lots more info are the FLM Hybrid bulks, we need a definitive list of diffs that will work with these, so you Hybrid owners can make that a priority, should you choose to accept your mission

I'd be willing to re-write whole part descriptions, and submit those if Mike liked that idea. He could then copy/paste the revised info. The site navigation is a bit funny, but I think with a little tweaking we could save some returns (especially for the int'l customers) and redundant emails.

Let's give the man more time to play with his machines, and less time in front of his email!

Thanks again Mike for all you do for the Hobby!

[brushlessboy16]

Clap it up for mike :)

[suicideneil]

I've thought the store needs an overhaul for while now:-

-alot of photos need redoing really ( could use user submitted images of high quality )
-descriptions need re-writing so that they are more uniform in terms of usefulness & specifcness for that part
-subsections for specific manufacturers of parts could be lost
-expand the vehicle manufacturer list & then have subsections there-in for each particular vehicle Mike does parts for under that manufacturer
-remove extinct manufacturers and parts that are no longer stocked, such as Flextech and older Gorillamaxx stuff
-any special order items like MGM escs or larger Neu motors should be marked as special order and not just 'out of stock' permanently
-a new site header that doesnt feature a manufacturers name or vehicle, and loose the old first gen Gmaxx at the bottom of the page- its cool but you cant buy parts for it anymore (from RCM atleast).

I'd happily volunteer time towards re-doing the site, though I'd rather have direct access rather than typing up stuff up and bombarding Mike with it- given the amount of work that ideally needs doing he'd have to dedicate alot of time into implementing the updates and changes, and thats time away from the shop making parts and posting out orders.

Gotta have alot of repsect for the guy though, being pretty much a one man band and producing quality parts + having excellent customer service isnt easy, hence why he's always busy and not going broke like ChrisFine, polar opposites in terms of business models...

[JThiessen]

My brother in law did the exact same thing ordering his FLM bulks and towers from mike, and I ordered the wrong bulks for my Savage. I agree, we need to get the store in better order.....I'm just concerned that all of us emailing mike will cause confusion, and get in the way of his business mail.

[redshift]

One travesty :0 that sticks out, the Slipperential doesn't even have it's own header!

It's under gears/tranny.... I think "Home of The Slipperential" should be at the top with bold and neon font! Maybe with some hot dancing chicks on either side

Good points Neil, I guess you would need in excess of 5000 posts to be considered for direct admin powers- do we dare give over the reigns???

JT I am with you, I don't want to overwhelm the guy more than he already may be.

Just minor changes would drum up more sales for him, and possibly sell more of his own parts I'm thinking.

[_paralyzed_]

can we wait until he is done with the maxx cd/motor mount? I needs me 2!

[redshift]

Originally Posted by _paralyzed_

can we wait until he is done with the maxx cd/motor mount? I needs me 2!

We'll need to vote on that. If you lose, you shall inherit the Integy Curse, and will only be able to buy light-duty bling... for the rest of your life.

Are you willing to take that chance?

[Modding_out]

Originally Posted by redshift

Are you willing to take that chance?

Let me put a rubber on first.......

[_paralyzed_]

Originally Posted by redshift

We'll need to vote on that. If you lose, you shall inherit the Integy Curse, and will only be able to buy light-duty bling... for the rest of your life.

Are you willing to take that chance?

I lived through that once, don't make me do it again!

[Finnster]

I could try and help where I can, but I'm not sure exactly what I could do. I don't know that he would want a bunch of people editing the website.

However, I do thing a greater level of organization is really needed. Too many pages of jumbles of stuff you have to wade thru to find what you want. I know it costs sales when its hard to find stuff. Better groupings and sub menus is rally needed.

EG the lipo section: 6pgs of stuff from lipos to capacitors and deans plugs. No real order on brand, size, voltage, price etc. The hyperions are mostly in the front, and the plugs pretty much in the back, but there is scattered stuff all about (like a lonely maxamps or losi pack in the middle of all the hyps.) Plus the pic on the front of the section is of a way outdated 20C LiMn pack.

I know it costs sales. I know if I am looking for something online, go to a store where I am not finding it quickly, I close it out and go elsewhere as it just gets frustrating. I think a lot of people are like this.



Not trying to rip on Mike or RCM or anything, just trying to offer some constructive criticism as I want to see him do as well as possible as he has done so much for all the rest of us. Thanks

It would be nice to have a clearance section as well.

g/l

[Bondonutz]

I was researching looking at FLM Hybrid Savy bulks and it was confusing fer sure.

If these issues mentioned in the above posts were tidied up a bit it would also save MrMike time and effort of having to reship correct parts regardless whom was at fault.

[What's_nitro?]

+1 to subcategories by brand/price for the motors/lipos etc.

[skellyo]

Some changes I think would be helpful...

Take all of the RC-Monster parts and categorize them into their respective areas...Gears, Motor Mounts, Battery Trays, Conversion Kits, etc.

Categorize motors and esc's by brand perhaps? Same with Lipos.

I also agree there should be a clearance section. I know it sucks having to drop prices, but there is a lot of stuff in the store that is either obsolete, old technology or a brand he doesn't carry anymore.

[RC-Monster Mike]

Great ideas, guys. I do very much appreciate the thought, and i absolutely agree - the site organization has been bugging me for a while now. To be honest, it is quite overwhelming to me - I am barelyu computer literate, and honestly barely know where to start on the actual layout - I only know that the current layout needs improvement without question.
Part of the problem, as mentioned previously, is that I wouldn't want just anyone sifting through the site - lots of secure data, and NOYB info and actual inventory that can't be screwed up or lost without great pain. I actually had someon working on the organization a few years ago, but his daily life got in the way, he moved and left the job half-done(and more confusing to me).

I look forward to more ideas on this topic, though. I have a web guy that can implement some changes - I would like some input on suggested header/menu tabs (left of home page - the main menu tabs to take you to various areas of the site IE: RC-Monster Products). This could include sub-categories as well. The Gorillamaxx header, for example, is lower on the priority list now than it was 4 years ago when their product line was larger and a much larger piece of my business(back when the Maxx trucks ruled the rc world). :)

I can re-categorize the individual items easily enough, but could use some feedbakc on what actual categories would be helful for the web-browsing/shopping pleasure and ease. :)

[redshift]

Finnster: "I know it costs sales. I know if I am looking for something online, go to a store where I am not finding it quickly, I close it out and go elsewhere as it just gets frustrating. I think a lot of people are like this."

That's it in a nutshell. Presentation is everything as they say...

As I mentioned Mike I'd like to see the Slipperential have it's own tab. Redundant listings are easily fixed I would think, as of now it is listed under RC-Monster Products, and also gears/tranny. We'd need some feedback from you, as well as members, as far as prioritizing items by popularity. The "bread and butter" stuff can be pushed to the top. I'm aware how fast things evolve, and how difficult it is to keep pace with the changing items on the sales site.

It certainly doesn't need to be another Traxxas site with tons of Flash garbage or unneccessary bandwidth-sucking items. I actually prefer a simple layout.

A few suggestions would be just to integrate some items, and separate others.

For example, instead of having a Battery/Charger tab, I think it should be broken down into Battery, RCM Battery Trays, and Charger.

Under "Traxxas Hopups" >> "Jato" there are only a set of hex drivers listed, the Jato sub-heading could be eliminated (sorry Jato-heads).

As Neil said, the Flextek stuff can go...

RCM Pinions also could have it's own tab, instead of sifting through all the gears.

I'm willing to spend a few minutes browsing until I find what I need, but I know many people are not. And I'd hate to hear about someone (esp a forum member) going elsewhere to buy a part that RCM carries, just because they got impatient.

And above all, we know the quality of your stuff surpasses just about anything out there, the site itself should reflect that. Modesty is nice, but not in business lol.

I'll try and come up with a few more ideas, and we can post them here instead of emailing, just to keep email traffic down.

All I have for the moment--- keep the ideas rolling!