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and lovers are skeptical at first glance of many accesso- ries, even ones that come with a lifetime warranty. What makes your product so reliable and so revered? David, it’s design and simplicity. The covers are designed to handle immense top loads. In fact, we’ve never had a DiamondBack HD cover broken by anything put on top of it. If you drastically overload it, the truck itself will break at some point but the cover won’t. One time a customer who was stuck in mud while off-road in Canada used one of his DiamondBack panels to shove under his tire for traction. The other parts of the cover like our locking system, for example, are just designed to be simple. We use a dead bolt style locking system that pushes steel rods under the bed of the truck. This doesn’t have quite the refined automotive styling with specially designed brackets or latches as some of our competitors, but it’s rugged and hard to break. Our covers have always outlasted the trucks they’ve been on. By offering a lifetime warranty, we’re really just telling customers about that fact. They will last you as long as you own your truck or we’ll fix or replace it. The truck culture I was referring to earlier is the one After he got out, he slid the panel back on the cover and relocked it down, good as new.
standard model of distribution to a more direct approach to sales. This was a business model that Matt and I – as well as key employees – preferred to pursue for the long term. From 2009-2011, the company moved completely away from national distributors – who were, historically, our biggest cus- tomers – and sold directly to dealers and retail customers. From 2012-2015, we successfully navigated this ‘channel pivot’ and today we obtain around 70 percent of our business directly from retail customers. The ‘direct to consumer’ business model has allowed DiamondBack to build lasting relationships with our customers while producing sustainable financial margins. To weather the storm of the recession, that’s impressive. I mean, changing your business model, taking that leap – you must have a lot of faith in your product, Ethan. How have your truck covers evolved over the years? DiamondBack truck covers are in a constant state of evolution because we’re always seeking ways to make improvements on an already great, steady product. We’ve made improve- ments by lowering the weight of the cover while increasing its strength. We’ve improved our locking system, our hinge and weather seal designs, and our top coatings as well. The covers shipping today are the best quality covers we’ve ever made and we have ongoing plans to improve even more. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that many truck owners
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2017 AUGUST 2017
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