The Great local dive shop vs. online debate

[ABQdiver]

that "a business is only as good as it's worst employee". Is so true and not only in dive shops but ALL service oriented business. You must look after each customers needs and exceed their expectations. It this happens, they will be pleased and return.

It amazing to me how many business lose perspective of where there income is coming from and ignore the obvious.

 

[Genesis]

to gain a customer's loyalty.

That same loyalty can be destroyed in seconds, never to return.

 

[Scuba]

It is possible that this person made an honest mistake, when he checked?... for stock, and also when he presented the wrong model to the customer.

But, he did not make the mistake or commit an ineptitute when he offered

Special Order with express shipping charges to get it here by xmas

and

he dropped a somewhat thinly-veiled dig on my tech instructor and let me know that I should take the courses from him (for a mere $250 more than what I'm paying).

So, in my opinion, he is possibly inept - but probably, less than honest.

So in the spirit of Christmas, I agree....
Bad dog, no biscuit

 

[Dee]

Scuba once bubbled...
....One knows he has to win and keep the customer's business, the other thinks customer's owe them their business.

There's the secret right there! Owners have to depend on employees and unfortunately most of them do more damage than good. All of my complaints with the 6-8 shops I do business with all come down to the incompetence of the employee I'm dealing with.

It's easy to just say they should hire better people but it's not that easy to find someone either already competent or willing to learn.

 

[Genesis]

is that ultimately once "the boss" knows the employee has screwed the pooch its THEIR problem.

Ignorance only works when its, well, ignorance!

Once it becomes WILLFUL conduct, by the owner refusing to make it right, in full, and dealing with the situation to insure that it does not happen again, then the discussion is over - the company has made their decision.

I just had this sort of thing potentially cost one of my LDSs a sale. I had called around about drysuits. One of the LDSs here told me that "they don't do much of anything with them".

Well, as it turns out, while having my tanks filled a few days later, I discover that they would have been more than happy to take care of me on that. They never got the chance to win the business because I was turned away "at the door"!

I know the guy who told me this. He's the same guy who very nearly cost that same store ALL of my business earlier in the year. The ugly part of it for them is that the financial hit on this wasn't over a $10 fill - it was a fairly major purchase!

They might not have been able to be competitive anyway, but you can't win any business that you turn away at the door!

Heh, if they're ok with losing big-ticket sales, its no skin off my nose...

How much does that "help" cost 'ya? I know that I used to fire people pretty regularly for stupid acts like this; yeah, it was a pain in the neck dealing with it, but a customer who your staff member drives away is likely to NEVER come back, and worse, he may take 10 more of your customers with him, especially if you REALLY piss him off.

 

[cstreu1026]

I agree totally with what everyone has said. If the sales staf doesn't take the time to do things right it only reflects poorly on the management and owner. Another thing to consider is that word of mouth is one of the best advertising methods. More often than not someone who is displeased will tell someone about the lousy service or product before ever mentioning how good that store or their products may be.

These problems also arouse in business to business sales. For instance, my sales rep for a major sunglass manufacturer has not visited the store I work at in nearly a year and a half. I have to find out about new products either from the internet or competitors' stores. The owner of our store is very unhappy and wants to get rid of the product. We are not a major dealer of their products but one of their original accounts. Thankfully we still get good service with in the company.

 

[kwesler]

That needs to be used by every employee, in every business, everywhere-with thanks to MBNA Bank:

Think of Yourself as the Customer

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Okay so here's my story. I went to my local dive shop for warranty service. While there I priced a computer at $400.00. I then went home and found the same thing on the internet for $285.00. What would you do?

 

[cyklon_300]

Click 'Add to Cart'...

 

[nk5]

The "limited" warranty on dive computers is 1 or 2 years depending on make and model. Unlike regs and BCs, the computers don't really require any scheduled maintanence. That's why I purchase my life-support equipment from LDS (yes, I know I'm getting ripped off), buying the computer online kinda evens it out.
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