What you like from your dealer...

[blackmore]

ive been speaking to shaun today on the phone as he,s about 25 miles south of me and he seems very well informed about the ebmm products,he invited me down to the shop to play a few guitars just to try them out,try doin that at main stores in newcastle upon tyne uk.2 mins and they want the guitar back and start moanin!!,i bet at these main stores they wouldnt let me try £1000+ guitars out just to get a taste of the higher end stuff,but shaun will so for me his shop is gettin things right straight away

 

[ScoobySteve]

Hello Shaun! Welcome to the Forums, hope to see you around!

What a great topic and one I feel is personally important to me.

I feel a great and outstanding dealer should have the following two qualities to their fullest extent:

1. "A Go Getter." I am talking about the knowledgeable and enthusiastic (while not overbearing) salesman who makes it a personal issue to ENSURE that you receive the instrument that you WANT. The individual that goes the extra mile to make sure that I am completely satisfied. If you find a dealer that is a gem, you will stick to that dealer religiously. It's not just a cliche or an overdone business model, its a fact: do your best to serve me with your hard work, and I WILL return.

2. A dealer who can hear, accept, and employ upon constructive criticism.

Explication of aforementioned points:

Firstly the "go getter" type is extremely important to me. I live in SoCal, in both extremes, from Hollywood/Bevery Hills LA, to Newport Beach SoCal, and with this turf comes the completely misinformed and entirely under-trained guitar sales representative at the many mega Guitar Centers. (This is simply an observation, the Hollywood GC has some outstanding staff.) This is an incredulous turn-off. I have literally asked a sales rep about Ernie Ball Music Man guitars and I got a cordial, yet confident response that went, in verbatim, "Nah bro, they make strings and stuff like that."

Things like that will make sure I never come back again.

Secondly, a lot of guitar stores are commission driven, they don't care what instrument you end up with, so long as you buy something. These are expensive instruments, having a sales representative that cares about this fact, and works towards the end that a person must have an instrument he/she is comfortable with is extremely important. I've had a couple of these, who make sure I don't "settle" for an instrument, but exhausts all options to ensure that I am getting the instrument that is right for me. This one is huge!

This brings me to Pete DuBaldo. (Did I order one yet? I dunno, hehehehehehehehe ) I actually didn't find out about him from the EBMM forums. (Strange huh? And I'm all the way from California!) Rather one of my English Professors, who taught me last Spring, bought a couple of Silo's from him and with confidence and satisfaction, recommended him to me. He thus encouraged me to get on the forums and meet ya'all here. This is how I got here fellas. Good Dealers and their reputations can go past and transcend just simple internet interaction and media mediums. Word of mouth from customers on the entire opposite side of the country for instance.

For me contrast is important. It took many many many many horrid experiences at mega Guitar Centers to realize how valuable good and dedicated dealers are. People always go to GC and Sam Ash because such places are all that they know, but at least it provides contrast for us to base a juxtaposition when we encounter a more independent dealer like Dubaldo Music. This is a strangely ironic yet necessary experience for some in my opinion. When we see the professional courtesy and exemplary customer service and compare it to our previous experience with our first encounters with poor retailers, we realize what we've been missing and could have had. I feel the dealer's goal should be to have the customer instantly feel a much more professional and inviting atmosphere, EVEN if the customer doesn't buy. I have an incredible amount of respect for individuals who work and try THEIR BEST, no matter their craft. This should be your goal (IMO for all the smaller MM dealers) FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE IMPORTANT!

Secondly, a dealer who can hear, accept and work based off of constructive criticism. (The operative word in the previous sentence is CONSTRUCTIVE) While I could explicate and analyze this point to a large extent, I feel a more abridged and concise explanation is more appropriate. It boils down simply to one element: It shows the customer that you care what they think, and that you are willing to work towards change for the benefit of the customer, and ultimately the business of the dealer as well. Now I am not saying all dealers should listen to the whines and chiding of incessant, selfish, and pretentious customer, but rather that the dealer listens to the needs and desires of their core customers not just so they come back to buy more from you, but come back HAPPILY to buy from you.

Sorry for the long post. I've just had some personal history with this particular subject.

BEST OF LUCK SHAUN!

EDIT: I re-read my post and realized that the tonal aspect of my diction and syntax is a bit authoritative, which I did not necessarily mean to do. Just re-iterating that this is a personal reflection.

 

[Stu-Pendus]

Hi Shaun,I've got a realy good dealer who was very honest and helpful to me and despite the fact that i own 20+ guitars,now have a blue luke as my main guitar.Oh,that dealer was you.Still havn't decided on the purple BFR Luke yet.

Take care.

Stuart

 

[Grand Wazoo]

I am not being funny but I think a good idea would be to have a Customer Loyalty Card with some kind of reward scheme by means of substantial discounts after a given number of purchases to cover any items strings, guitars, amp the lot.

With such a scheme in place there will be a guaranteed return to custom from the buyers.

 

[bkrumme]

I am not being funny but I think a good idea would be to have a Customer Loyalty Card with some kind of reward scheme by means of substantial discounts after a given number of purchases to cover any items strings, guitars, amp the lot.

With such a scheme in place there will be a guaranteed return to custom from the buyers.

I've seen this before. Buy 5 sets of strings, get one free. Buy 5 guitars, take 20% off your next guitar...etc.

Great idea, and it keeps customers loyal.

 

[Petrucci_is_God]

The guys over at Cosmos are greats people, the only complaint i have about the store is for some strange reason they carry the John Petrucci BFR model and sometimes even a limited edition one but i have never seen a standard Petrucci model there, oh and they only carry 6 string guitars ya gotta order the 7s that take a s**t load of time to come in.