Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 150 total)
  • Apparently our business model is wrong.
  • cynic-al
    Free Member

    Just had a chat with a customer – apparently we should be fitting inner tubes for free so people come back and buy more stuff.

    Luckily the next guy said “was he having a laugh?” as soon as he left so I was able to laugh about it.

    I suspect the first customer is not running a successful bike shop.

    spawnofyorkshire
    Full Member

    Some people just expect something for nowt 🙄

    Anyway can i bring in my new groupset that i bought on Merlin and will you fit it for free?

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    You should simply have said that there is a “free fitting service” if the customer takes the tube and bike home and supplies their own tools and labour then you won’t charge them a penny for fitting…

    Jamie
    Free Member

    You make a good point, Al. I am going to go home and respond online think about it, and will come back later to give you my reply.

    AlasdairMc
    Full Member

    Your business model is wrong though. If he’s complaining about the cost of fitting an inner tube, you should be selling him a tubeless kit so he doesn’t trouble you again…

    brassneck
    Full Member

    Or fit it for free and charge £20 for a tube

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    But did he just spend 50 quid?

    Should have gone to a not for profit org……tools are free there.

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    Out of interest what is the going rate for the whole job?
    Parts and labour to fit a tube?

    nach
    Free Member

    (Offer free tubes and fitting, but a surcharge for air. “Perhaps you’d like some of our premium gases sir?”)

    I see the same at work. Customers saying to developers “You should sell this at half the price because then you’d make more money through higher sales” etc.

    Best answer I’ve seen was “Actually, I’ve experimented with that without publicising any price drops. I have two years of data that make me pretty sure that my pricing is right and you’re wrong”.

    andyl
    Free Member

    Did you tell him that you don’t think taking business advice from someone who can’t fit an inner tube is a good idea?

    muppetWrangler
    Free Member

    Out of interest what is the going rate for the whole job?

    I’m guessing £15-£20.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    We charge £6, not the cheapest I’d concede, but we don’t trade entirely on price.

    He’d bought nothing bar a tube.

    I was tempted to ask him how many years he’d worked in bike retail, how many local shops fitted tubes free etc…

    convert
    Full Member

    You are right – he is wrong.

    However, loyalty should count for something and it’s an opportunity to cash in on the bricks and mortar advantage. A free first puncture repair complete with lesson in how to do it yourself the next time with every bike purchased?

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    £6 for just the tube?

    Seems about right for a bricks and mortar shop, So how much more would the fitting have cost him?

    hooli
    Full Member

    I am honestly baffled that any cyclist cannot change a tube, its hardly a difficult task. Most of us do it with minimal tools in the mud and dark on the side of a trail.

    If you have some reason why you cant change them, I don’t see why you would object to paying such a small amount to have it done.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    That’s why you are in retail and I am not, I would have told him to stop being a w’ker

    brooess
    Free Member

    If he wants free fitting, point him towards his own pair of hands 🙂

    Alternatively, you’ve missed a prime opportunity to sell him a track pump, spare tubes, patches and tyre levers – £30+ revenue? 🙂

    Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    Most of us do it with minimal tools in the mud and dark on the side of a trail.

    He may have been at the side of a road in the rain with a rusty sturmey archer three speed that had been bolted in for many years. Those take me longer and I never get the gears right so they don’t slip.

    mrchrispy
    Full Member

    I’d have done it for free just so I could misalign his tyre logs and valve.
    He’d know he had been trolled

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    LOL @ Brooess.

    This guy’s logic is “give me stuff free and I’ll come back and buy stuff” No you won’t, you’ll come back expecting free/discounted stuff due to your “loyalty”.

    cookeaa – Member

    £6 for just the tube?

    £5 tube, £6 fitting.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    To be fair, someone who can’t fit an inner tube themselves might be a very regular customer in the future. He’ll be back as soon as his chain needs oiled!

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    Witnessed a posh **** going mental in a motor factors one day when he bought a new registration plate. The employee handed over the new plate to him and he just looked at it. “Aren’t you going to fit it for me” he asked. The employee then proceeded to explain they were a factors and not a garage. The guy started going off on one until the employee pointed out that he wouldn’t go into the supermarket across the road, buy a bunch of food then expect the checkout girl to cook it for him. Guy was raging.

    deejayen
    Free Member

    Did you tell him it used to be a free service, but you had to put up prices due to inflation?

    Jamie
    Free Member

    Did you tell him it used to be a free service, but you had to put up prices due to inflation?

    Oooof!

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Did you tell him it used to be a free service, but you had to put up prices due to inflation?

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    £5 tube, £6 fitting

    Seems like a fair price TBH…

    £11 vs ~£3 for being too lazy/disorganised/dense to source a cheaper tube and fit it for yourself…

    Al does your shop run maintenance courses at all? Could be a good extra revenue stream.

    wiggles
    Free Member

    I fitted loads of tubes today and put the wheels on a bike someone bought on eBay and didn’t know how to do it (qr wheels with v brakes) nobody paid more than a tenner. Expecting it to be done for free takes the Michael a bit.

    Such as this conversation today.
    Me:”This bike is £1500″
    Customer:”How much is it for me[/I] though?”

    I had never seen him before or had he ever been in the shop. I’m always up for a deal but not when people think they are just automatically entitled.

    BTW my response was £1500

    sweaman2
    Free Member

    I’d have been tempted to say 1600

    *I’m not in retail and will (hopefully) never have to do a job that requires me to interact with the general public.

    ratherbeintobago
    Full Member

    I’m guessing £15-£20.

    I was in a bike shop near where I live (but not my current nearest LBS, I hasten to add) where a bloke wandered in with a BSO and was quoted £15 for a puncture repair.

    When he’d gone I raised my eyebrows a bit and was told that once they’d factored in the inevitable wheel rebuild +/- having to offer a discount on a new tyre, it was work they didn’t really want. I was a bit surprised, until my brother pretty much did this to an Edinburgh LBS (sidewall blew out on a knackered tyre he’d had them put a new tube in and he then claimed it was their fault).

    ampthill
    Full Member

    Its the “I should be England manager line” isn’t it

    Everyone is an expert

    Its always amazing that everyone concludes that you’d make more money if they paid less. No one ever says you’d make more money if you charged more for this service that I require, you could then offer a discount to that customer

    Well done for keeping calm

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Don’t go into business in you own al. A real entrepreneur would have seen what happened in front of him and thought how do I monetise this? First recognise there are a bunch of people who are either numpties/lazy. First opp is to offer free session showing how to change a tire. To make it fun you then add in a comp for who changes it the fastest. By this time the juices are flowing and you will be able to sell the books, the work stand, the tire levers etc. Repeat with basic bike maintenance but small fee and free coffee. Ditto more sales of gear. At the same time you educate about different components etc and watch the dura ace fly out instead of the Deore only to be replaced by ultegra when the DA had prematurely worn out.

    By the end if this, you have a bunch of new pleased customers. They will be buying more stuff, more engaged etc.

    The other option is to smirk and take the piss out of a lazy numpty. And LBS moan about how tough trade is 😉

    Next time the guy should use HIS brain and use the net to buy the inners!

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    I will lend it to you

    thegreatape
    Free Member

    Al does your shop run maintenance courses at all? Could be a good extra revenue stream.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Lol at THM.

    I’m not in retail and will (hopefully) never have to do a job that requires me to interact with the general public.

    I am starting to hope I can say this one day. I woukdnt normally rant on here but had some minorly bad news that set me off.

    Rorschach
    Free Member

    1278% compound interest (for purposes of comparison only) and punitive late payment fees one presumes?
    Where do I sign?

    johnnyboy666
    Free Member

    The tube bit is fair enough and he should pay for labour but at the same time no harm in asking surely? As regards to the £1500 bike and asking for a deal that is more than fair enough. I may get some flack for the following but I always ask for discount in bike shops regardless of being a regular, if I asked how much can you do this £1500 bike for and I got the reply of “to you £1500” I would just walk out. Short of it already being on a super sale it will be cheaper online. I don’t expect shops to beat internet prices but I expect them to attempt to do something other than sell for retail prices. An effort has to be made. I will pay more in a shop for service and ease or return etc and do my best to support my local shops but only up to a point.

    Also +1 to above, if it wasn’t for these numptys/lazy people local bike shops wouldn’t exist anymore.

    wiggles
    Free Member

    Like I said, a deal can always be done but at least ask for one don’t just assume you get one.

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Sorry you have had bad news al. I read your OP at work early and it made me smile at the lost opportunity – that’s all!!

    wilburt
    Free Member

    The problem you (and all lbs) have is that successful retailers employ analysts to calculate the costs benefits ratio of option A,B and C to an infinite degree.

    Your strategy is based on personal opinion and feedback from some goons on the web.

    The outcome of each appraoch is fairly predictable.

    mudshark
    Free Member

    You should sell this at half the price because then you’d make more money through higher sales

    You could suggest they Google price elasticity of demand.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 150 total)

The topic ‘Apparently our business model is wrong.’ is closed to new replies.