Reflections on what makes all of us golf car geeks tick!
By: Matt Vallez
I recently celebrated a work anniversary. As of April 12th, 2016, I have been a Nivel employee for 17 years. Prior to my employment with Nivel, I was with Cart Parts for 9 years. No, this is not a LinkedIn post, nor is this a cover letter for my resume to follow. The point I am making is, I have been doing this for a long time, I have seen a lot of changes in our industry and several
companies grow to be competitors and watched others go out of business. I have seen changes at Nivel over the years as well; we have acquired many companies including my old Alma Mater, Cart Parts and a few others. The reason for the nostalgia is we have
entered a new era and it is getting good for all involved.
So, after seeing the industry and the players come and go for over 25 years, I think I know what makes all of us golf car geeks tick and I like the direction we are going. The dealers have better service than ever before and more choices for almost all items anyone would ever ask you to put on their golf car. I am selfishly going to limit the scope of my comments to the Nivel / MadJax products, not because I have to, but because we have enough new stuff going on to discuss without going any further than my own backyard.
Let’s talk products first, the most popular item that golf car dealers install are rear seat kits. With the merger of MadJax, the offering is amazing. From the bottom up, we have the GTW seat kit with polyethylene panels, instead of wood and premium UV protected vinyl, easy install with a price point our competitors can only complain about. Moving up, we have the MadJax Genesis 150 line with all plastic seat base assembly and high grade Innova marine vinyl. These workhorses are followed by the Genesis 250 and 300 which are the Metal and aluminum flagship seat kits which are simply the best available at any price with more add on features than anyone offers. This is just the seat kits; we have so many other improved or new items to mention I will run out of space.
Continuing with other products, I will not take the time to describe in detail, like above, but must call out; LED lights with running light feature, Blue tooth stereos so easy to install you will feel guilty for charging for it, the installation that is. A wheel selection that has more colors and styles than Baskin Robins has flavors and we have them in stock. A selection of lift kits that will
allow you to lift a golf car from 3” to 8” for almost any vehicle and several different ways to get it done, which include the best designed lift kits on the planet. Then we have our custom enclosure line, including our new Door Max enclosure that is taking the market by storm, and keeping it outside the cab of your golf car.
But I will quit selling that stuff, to focus your attention on something that matters more too many of you dealers. Most every dealer I know wants a supplier who is easy to deal with, fast to deliver and listens to what they need, not to mention sells the best stuff to maintain and modify a golf car, in preparation for its next life. We are that company and have been getting better every day. We started listening more, late last year in October, when we sent some of our most seasoned sales team members on the road to visit you in person. We have earned a master’s degree in what your concerns and needs are and how we can help you be successful. We carried that with us to the PGA & GIS shows this year and had a lot of fun with
everyone that allowed us to buy them a drink and toast the next golf car season. We put some of what you wanted into our new loyalty program to help you “On Your Road to Success” and have many point of purchase options to help you with your marketing and sales effort.
All this has me very optimistic about this year and how we will be working together. When your Nivel/ MadJax sales team member comes to calling on your business in the near future, don’t be surprised if you spend more time than you expected to, talking about golf cars and having a successful year, you can’t help it. Kind of like that beer commercial, the most interesting people in the golf car industry are coming to visit you, enjoy and stay hungry my friend.
