A Road to Success
Yager hired a VW expert and invested in an inventory of SKUs, launching his first VW catalog in 1999. In 2004, Mid America Motorworks bought its competitor Rocky Mountain Motorworks for its VW customers.
“Startups are tough,” Yager notes, “but an acquisition is also very tough.” Inventory had to be moved from Denver to Effingham, and all SKUs renumbered. Furthermore, the Rocky Mountain folks were dealing with water-cooled VW models (e.g., Jetta, Golf, GTI) about which the owners generally aren’t as passionate. Mid America Motorworks’ audience owns air-cooled models (e.g., Beetle, Bus, Thing and Karmann Ghia).
Denny Hatch is the author of six books on marketing and four novels, and is a direct marketing writer, designer and consultant. His latest book is “Write Everything Right!” Visit him at dennyhatch.com.
