17 replies to this topic

[Jim]

Hi all,

I promised a quarterly roundup, giving you all an insight into the goings on behind the scenes.

A great deal of time has been spent around Club Merchandise, Organisation of Ford Fair and Expansion of FiestaSTOC.com and FocusSTOC.com Forums.


Ford Fair

Its clearly the biggest show of the year and one the club puts a great deal of time and effort into.

This year has seen a 100% increase in interest in the show, resulting in 420 cars on the club display stand across the four clubs. As you can image, this is created a big challenge for the show organisers trying to find us a big enough space... likewise, for us, when it comes to displaying all the ST/RS's on the day.

We are currently in the process arranging the inter-club competition. This year we are introducing a new style voting system, so will be an interesting test with such large numbers!

All those participating will be getting their tickets soon, along with a letter with plenty of information to digest.

We will have a brand new Club Marquee at the show... you won't miss it!


Club Merchandise

A task that eats up so much time I cannot begin to explain.

I do however have some great news... we have listened to the comments and feedback.

We already offer:

Dolomite Keyrings
Air Fresheners - (FiestaSTOC & FocusSTOC Only)
Old Style Mugs - (FiestaSTOC & FocusSTOC Only)
Mouse Mats - (FiestaSTOC & FocusSTOC Only)
Old Style Plastic Pens - (FordSTOC and FordRSOC Only)
Keyring Coins - (FordSTOC Only)
Writing Pads - (FordSTOC and FordRSOC Only)

We do now have stock of new Club Merchandise that is branded separately with each club. Initially only available at Ford Fair, with it to be placed into the club Shop in mid September, we will have the following items:

New Style, Modern, Mugs
Metal, Laser Engraved Pens
Richbrook Titanium Tax Disc Holders

I purposely allowed the club money to build up over the last few years in order that we could be in a position to purchase such a large quantity of stock.

I have worked hard to find a balance of good quality items at an affordable price for you all. I have tried to allow the club to make £1 to £3 profit per item. I therefore hope you agree when the prices are announced, they will be attractive.

Further to this, we will be offer a new range of Club Clothing, offered in Male and Female, XS-4XL sizes, in four colours with three position embroidery:

Polo Shirts
Micro Fleeces (Half Zip)
Winter Fleeces (Full Zip)
SoftShell Jackets
Winter Jackets

Finer details are yet to be finalised, so I do not wish to commit to providing any further information at this time.

We plan to allow the build up of orders over a 10 day period, they will then be sent off to our new supplier and the orders processed with a 10 day turn around... so ideally within 20 days you will receive your orders.

A specific announcement will be made, once I know more.

A massive thank you to Amanda (as always) for spending time to organise the clothing.

PLEASE NOTE - NEW MERCHANDISE WILL INITIALLY BE AVAILABLE AT FORD FAIR ONLY, THEY WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE CLUB SHOP FROM MID SEPTEMBER 2011.

We have also purchased six new flags, some of which have gone to live in Scotland as we felt the transportation of existing flags was getting too expensive.


Club Sponsors

You will have noticed a steady increase in Club Sponsors across the Network.

I'm pleased to say, the majority have contacted us, rather than me chasing them. In some cases I have a big thank you to our members for their encouragement and passing on the word about us.

As I've said previously... the more Club Members we have, the more likely Sponsors are to sign up... the more Sponsors, the more discounts you guys receive... you only need an 8% discount on a £100 purchase to cover your membership fee in one hit. It really is a case of spending money to save much more.


Website and Forums

I have been developing a new front page template, unfortunately my time has been eaten up with other things and yet to have the time to add it to the clubs... this will eventually happen, along with some new pages with various information on them.

We have recently had a handful of fraudulent transactions within the classifieds. To say I am gutted and angry is an understatement. In response to this, we have issued some new guidance as an initial measure. In the long term, I am yet again looking in to how I can improve the classified, along with some form of feedback/rating for classifieds transactions only. This will not be a quick change, so please bear with me.

Club Members will have noticed that the Technical Handbook section of the forums have been expanded offer more sub categories, along with the addition of Reviews and Guides sections. I hope you all find this addition easier to browse.


Club Membership

There is currently a membership option called 'Enthusiast'. It was previously called 'Collective'. I created this in response to feedback by non ST owners who wanted to be part of the club.

I have decided, mainly due to a poor response, to cease offering this membership. All current Enthusiast Members will be moved into the Club Members group. There is no loss or gain. This will happen in the next few months.

Club Member Membership - This is currently offered per year. Following feedback I am now looking into offering additional periods. At the moment 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and Lifetime. They would all be without any included merchandise and discounted as you increase. If anyone has any further feedback or comments, please let me know by replying to this thread.


Twitter!

I've given in and accepted, like it or not, much like facebook, Twitter is a massive social network... you can now find FiestaSTOC.com on Twitter:

@FiestaSTOC

As a reminder, our facebook page is here: http://www.facebook....139256822763990

Please follow us and help to spread the word!


And Finally...

I will again leave this thread open to hear any feedback or suggestions, based on the information above, or any other subjects related to the club.

Regards

Jim

[Steve]

WOW!!! So much stuff Good work Jim, a lot to deal with there, all looks very impressive and positive

[CalMul]

Lifelong membership pls!!!!!!!

[STar1986]

You have been working hard as ever Jim so a big thank you from me, this club is constantly improving

[PinkRinse]

Fantastic set of updates Jim

Really looking forward to Ford Fair and dont forget to go get thet trophy ok??!!

[GrandadST]

Wow Jim
Awsome stuff , very impressive indeed cant wait to see where we end up at Ford Fair Merch sounds awsome too

[Amanda]

Just a note for you all too .....

We can only accept cash at Ford Fair.

[Craig P]

Great stuff Jim (And everyone else Involved) This club Is great and just keep's on Improving,Good effort's

[Bevst]

Thank you Jim and all the other staff members for all the backroom work we don't see.

Bev x

[Mondougal]

Excellent round of updates, this club just gets better and better every week .
I just hope I can make it to ford fair to get my hands on some of the new merch!

[Amanda]

All clothing is made to order so you will be able to see what's on offer choose your size style and colour, we will take your order on the day (& your money) ... & then deliver to you approx 2 weeks after the show (1st week sept)

All clothing will be available in the club shop but this wont be until the middle of September.

[Burty]

can only say your doing an aweosme job Jim (and other staff)

with the amount of merchandise on offer we could give some of the biggest car clubs a run for there money (MG owners come to mind)

[SamanthaST]

Excellent news Jim!

[matchett]

Good to hear about this Jim big thank you as well to yourself and all the staff

Wish i could be making it to Ford fair this year but i know for sure i will hope to get next year and be on the best stand at the show Its some times harder from members to attend as we live over sea's return ferry trips to the main land can be in the region of £250 and could be as much as 1000 mile round trip, then hotels etc..... Its not that some of us dont want to attend but it just can be costly. Next year i will be doing my best to represent Northern Ireland fiestastoc!!!

[DaveS]

Lol at Jacko. 420 cars is a massive turnout, I reckon that's about the size of my local tesco car par and some more and that's alot of cars!

Future plans and updates sound good and I think the 1,3 or 5 year membership is a very good idea.

One thing I might suggest in the profile section of any given member you could have a buyer/seller feedback section split into buying and seller sections so if deemed a good buyer they get good comments or vice versa if they're slow to hand over money and don't correspond well and the same goes for seller. I think seller would be a more important to try and cut out the cowboys. People should be able to leave comments so say you purchased something you could have a message come up saying 'leave feedback now?' or something like that and then the buyer can write either a positive or negative feedback in the section without it getting spammed?


Dave
I hope this makes sense, typing while thinking and all that