Dobmatt,
Thanks for the question…happy to throw a couple things out there for you and others to consider.
First I think there are a lot of great options out there for buying DJI products. We have heard from our own customers about the benefits of buying from a dealer who has deep product knowledge - and how that becomes helpful - especially to users who are buying a product for the first time.
We, like any good dealer of any product, try to go above and beyond for our clients as much as possible. We all know if takes a lot of good results to a client to share their experience - and not a lot of bad results to get the same person talking.
As an example of some of the things we do, there are 2 Inspire Forum members we have reached out to in an effort to help refer business to them. We were aware of a potentially large commercial project in the area, as well as other projects we get asked to do and can not accommodate. We are even helping some people new to the Inspire platform hone their skills to be able to work with us (or just take referral business from us) locally.
There are another couple forum members that have equipment for sale that we reached out to in an effort to help them sell because we know of people looking to get some used gear (because the cost of new is a little too high for them). We don’t want a cut for being in the middle - we just know both parties will remember us when they need something else.
We are keeping dealer demos of most every product for local clients to “try before you buy”. Next week we are bringing an M600 and an X5R to an Inspire Forum member to try out on a job he is doing. Another person is coming over from the Miami area to try the same thing and a couple other products.
We are also opening a P4 Pro to “borrow” the battery for another client with a job coming up that is short on batteries for a new P4 Pro + they have. We will just make it a dealer demo when the new high capacity batteries become available and we can replace it.
As for the comment I made in this thread, if a person thinking about picking up the
I2 were to go on a pre-order list now with someone they would not get one of the first units making its way to the US (most likely). I threw out the idea of purchasing one from us in order to have it right away - and be part of the group that can say they got them first. Some pro users like to make sure their clients know they always have the latest and greatest - so maybe it would help them in that way.
I know that forums want knowledge, contribution and revenue from their sponsors. We are making an effort to provide all three. We pay to advertise across Mavic Pilots, Phantom Pilots and Inspire Pilots and are looking to be a resource for everyone who participates on those forums. It takes hours every day to read, reply, track and respond to people and we try to do as much as we can.
I hope that helps - and as IrishSights mentioned we can certainly continue this further in a PM if you would like.
Thanks everyone - and sorry to have sidetracked the thread in any way.