Tom Undgrodt and Jay Upell on PowerPass

Tom & Jay, I think this is a great idea for small companies. I myself worked at what most people call a "mom and pop" store, where most of our customers where ones who wanted great customer service and a better quality product than the "big box" stores. The hardest task in my opinion as being a salesman at one of these types of stores was convincing the consumer that our products were not the same as the big box stores although the manufacturer was the same. An example was Vermont Casting BBQ grills, which were sold at the local Home Depot along with our store. The grill that looked identical at both stores was not actually the same because Home Depot offered the grill with smaller BTU's and not a good of a warranty but it was on average $300 less. The consumer would of course go for the less expensive one because they couldn't understand the difference and didn't feel the differences justified spending $300 more. Our loyal customers however would spend the extra money and would appreciate the fact that we would deliver the product and would also have a longer warranty period that was done through us rather than on your own. If smaller companies had PowerPass it would allow them to have weekend sales during times that the city had festivals and could get the word out about the businesses and would allow them to work together to better the economy of the whole city. Also if the loyal customers talk to people at work who may need a new power tool or home accessories they can recommend the smaller store if the person lives in the same area. You can also talk to them about how you are a holder of the PowerPass card and that you help support your local companies. This product is a great marketing tool and also lets the business know how many times certain people come in because most small businesses don't have the funding to conduct market research on what they need to improve on. Some questions I have are, does it matter if the business does not have a computerized system? and does the consumer have to pay to get the card and if so how much would it run? Dylan Matovski