Does Festool Finally Care? Survey From Festool USA’s CEO

[jeh]

Since this is a new NA General manager, Its not unusual for them to survey their customer base.  But they still have to deal with Corporate. They look for simularities in the replies. Im sure the Kapex and the NAINA stuff will be the most concerns suggestions in the survey.

But remember Germany rules the roost. They have the ultimate decision on what to release to NA and not to release.

Complaining about NAINA items is really petty. Festool sells nearly every tool they make in the US. They are not keeping tools from US out of spite.

 

[Tinker]

What's everybody got against fishing?  [tongue]

In the case of this thread, nothing.  I think the fishing is just fine.  The catch is still the important part.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Complaining about NAINA items is really petty. Festool sells nearly every tool they make in the US. They are not keeping tools from US out of spite.

No, we probably get somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 of tools. 

 

[DeformedTree]

Complaining about NAINA items is really petty. Festool sells nearly every tool they make in the US. They are not keeping tools from US out of spite.

Have you looked at how many tools Festool makes? There is a substantial portion of their portfolio they do not sell in N.A. 

 

[Svar]

Complaining about NAINA items is really petty. Festool sells nearly every tool they make in the US. They are not keeping tools from US out of spite.

No different than complaining about Kapex, hose ends, or anything else for that matter.

 

[sancho57]

[member=652]JimH2[/member]

Who said anything about tools being with held out of spite?

 

[AlexThePalex]

If you say what kind of EU tools you'd like to see sold in north America, isn't that really useful information for Festool?

 

[DeformedTree]

If you say what kind of EU tools you'd like to see sold in north America, isn't that really useful information for Festool?

Maybe it's better to let Festool guess, spend money to bring them here, have tool not sell, try different tool, repeat till tool is found that does well, then discontinue tool.  [unsure].    Folks clearly stating what they want might feel like a trick.

I think some stuff is understood, like some of the more oddball tools that are 240V, especially if they haven't even made a 110V version for the UK, folks can sorta understand.  Or tools like the Belt Sanders which look nice and would be cool to have in the CMS with it's module. But since they don't use a size of belt sold in North America, it would mean either a redesign, or having to be the sole source of belts for it.  I'm guessing there are many tools that don't make it to other markets like Australia and such too. So I don't think folks expect 100% offerings.  But in general would think they could operate under the IKEA model where the exact same product is sold everywhere in the world, same packaging and all, except when it simply doesn't work for a particular country for one reason or another.  Even offering the 240V tools in North America on trial basis could be an option and if they later make a 110V version offer the 240V version buyers a nice discount on a 110V version if they want.  Skip some of the regulatory approvals and sell them "not for professional use/consumer use only" as a way to see how well something sells. People can't buy what is not sold.  Systems like the CMS have a lot of appeal, but when you only get one module, and then they add on a caveat that your not suppose to use 1 of the routers in it, it becomes a frustrating thing.  If Festool USA doesn't want to handle a tool, allow Festool UK to sell into the US.

 

[kevinculle]

Got an email this morning from Toolnut headlining "Smokin' New Tool Deals"...my first thought was a Kapex sale!!!

 

[sancho57]

If you say what kind of EU tools you'd like to see sold in north America, isn't that really useful information for Festool?

good point Alex. I did, I specifically mentioned the CMS and suggested they come up with even ore modules for it or adapter plates so we could mount our own bench top tools to it.

 

[Flatsawn]

Got an email this morning from Toolnut headlining "Smokin' New Tool Deals"...my first thought was a Kapex sale!!!

My first thought was, a survey then a sale, sales must be down. They've hit our purchasing limit.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Did anyone that asked for a response hear back from Festool?

 

[sancho57]

Brice,

Going from memory, I think they axed that in the survey and i checked responded with a yes.

 

[Cheese]

Did anyone that asked for a response hear back from Festool?

I asked for a reply but have heard nothing.

How long ago was that?    I'll answer my own question here...Feb 27th.

 

[nclemmons]

Did anyone that asked for a response hear back from Festool?

I asked for a reply but have heard nothing.

How long ago was that?

This thread was started Feb 27, so about 5-6 weeks back.  Probably too soon to expect any response if they are even following up. 

 

[Tinker]

As I recall (my memory might be a little oof) the question was "Do you expect a reply?".  Not "Would you like a reply?"
Being married to a German import for 53 years, I realize there can be problems with interpretation. My answer was "No"
Tinker

 

[Cheese]

As I recall (my memory might be a little oof) the question was "Do you expect a reply?".  Not "Would you like a reply?"

You are correct Tinker... [smile]  ...so that kind of changes things.  [doh]

 

[sancho57]

Its till to early to find out. they are prolly crunching numbers and going through the comments which will take quite a while to anaylise the data

 

[travisj]

I just received this today.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sancho57]

I got the same email. It think its cool them asking for additional feed back. I bet they are amazed at not only the number of responses but the content of the responses.