Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 16, 1995 TAG: 9501280011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sandi Loganadan and Bill Horne Jr. opened their business in December along U.S. 58 on the east side of Martinsville. It has been attracting bass fishermen from Roanoke to Richmond and beyond.
"Overwhelmed," is the word Loganadan and Horne use to describe the response. Yet, it wasn't unexpected.
"I think both of us had very positive expectations about the business, but at the same time we had lumps in our throat over, 'Hey, this is a big step,'" Horne said.
While the bass boat business may be considered one of the last bastions of good-ole-boy masculinity, Loganadan broke into it right out of college a decade ago. She spent the last nine years at Greene Boat & Motor, Inc., in Spindale, N.C., where she averaged selling 250 boats annually and was recognized as the leading sales person by Ranger Boat Co., Gambler Boat Co., and Bass Cat Boat Co.
One of her best customers was Horne, an avid bass tournament fisherman and president and CEO of Bassett-Walker, Inc. in Martinsville from 1989 to 1993. He had bought five Rangers from her and won back-to-back Red Man tournaments on Smith Mountain Lake.
"She is very down to earth, very honest and easy to deal with," he said. "When she says she will call you back, she will call you back."
Horne had been toying with the idea of opening a Ranger dealership. He has been operating a mail order apparel business that features the logos of boat and tackle manufacturers. When he heard Loganadan had left Greene Boat & Motor he contacted her about becoming a partner in a boat business.
Loganadan accepted the offer and moved her family to the Martinsville area, bringing Brenda Koehn, another member of the Greene sales staff, with her to help run the new business.
Angler's Choice is touting many of the traits that put Greene's on the map: a big selection of boats in stock, a staff that knows how to handle the fastidious nature of bass fishermen, good deals, in-house financing, same-day rigging and the kind of service that will knock the competition out of the water.
Angler's Choice isn't just mimicking the Greene machine, said Loganadan. It is putting into practice some of the successes she helped develop while a member of the family business.
"It is my way of doing business that I am carrying over here. We are going to have the most outstanding service policy in the industry, matched by none."
That is what will lure customers for hundreds of miles, out of West Virginia, out of Northern Virginia and out of Tidewater Virginia, she said.
"A lot of customers have a loyalty to me. It doesn't matter where I am, as long as they deal with me they are happy."
While at Greene, she developed a customer mailing list that grew from 12 hand-written names to 10,000 names on a computer software program.
Angler's Choice will be the host Ranger dealer at the 1995 BASS Masters Classic in Greensboro, Aug. 3-5, Loganadan said. Ranger supplies all the boats for the Classic. Last year, Loganadan sold Ranger's first jet boat, the Ranger Rebel, while at the Classic.
The new dealership handles Mercury and Johnson motors and sponsors three pro staffers on the tournament trail, Gerald Beck, David Wright and David Dudley. Dudley, from Lynchburg, is a top contender in the race to qualify for the Classic.
by CNB