Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: Texas_Tubs on July 27, 2005, 10:52:10 am
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I am having a hard time understanding where all the customers are! Our sales have slowed down tremedously in July! I don't know if this trend is going on everywhere or if it is just in Texas. We sold 12 hot tubs last month and this month we've sold 3 tubs. I do not understand how sells could drop off so drastically. July was our best month last year, now it may be our worst. :(
Does anyone have any answers? To those of you on here that have recently bought a spa, what helped your decision in purchasing a spa. Was it a newspaper ad, TV commercial, direct mail, or just driving around.
I would appreciate any input that you guys might have.
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Only 12 in June. Is that a lot?
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Some thoughts on this. I work as a mortgage broker right now is our busy season July is by farthe best month for refi's and for buying. what may be the slow down for you is this 1. people are wanting to get chash out of there homes to make a large purchace. or two people are out on vacation and need all the money for gas ;D thats my two cents worth. and what made me want to buy was coustomer service. during and now after the sale. My spa is not yet even set up yet,long story for another post. and now my wife might get a job in another town 2 hours from were I live I asked my dealer how much would he charge me to move my tub and he took out a invoice and wrote free moving of spa to new house with no experation date. that service. and he signed. and yes I drove around no tv ad no news paper flyer. just driving around
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Hi Texas.
I think it's because of the heat your sales is dropping off, don't worry I'm sending all my hope that you'll sell a bunch soon. ;) I'm a consumer that just recently purchased a Coleman 461, my main reason for purchasing a hot tub is to get some relief from my chronic back pain that I'm dealing with at the moment. What helped my decision in purchasing this spa was my dealer..he is also the lead guy on tech (I think it's just him and his wife that own the store...it's a very small store to be honest they sell pool tables and accessories also) Anytime I need help he's quick to give me an answer and doesn't put me off (I like to call it being put on ignore). Service was a HUGE selling point in my mind, you can have the best product out there but you have to be able to follow up with great service too. For most of us consumers, a hot tub is a big purchase and we want to feel like we can depend on our dealer, that he/she isn't going to forget us or we don't just become a number after we've written out the check. Hope this helps...that's my view!
BP
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Only 12 in June. Is that a lot?
12 may very well be a good month for their market. I believe they're down in Conroe, not exactly a huge metropolitan area.
Texas Tubs, we've slowed down the last couple of weeks, too. School starts earlier this year than in years past and I think that, coupled with the tremendous heat, has slowed traffic. Overall, the year has been very good.
Terminator
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I believe they're down in Conroe, not exactly a huge metropolitan area.
Terminator
You must not have been to Conroe lately. It is now just another north Houston suburb.
txwillie
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You must not have been to Conroe lately. It is now just another north Houston suburb.
txwillie
I guess I haven't. I probably need to get out more. ;D
Terminator
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Seems like I read that Tyler/Longview is next on the annexation list. They will probably just rename Texas to Houston
txwillie
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Thanks for all of the replies! Sorry I should have mentioned we are a fairly new Caldera Dealer north of Houston. 12 spas in a month is actually pretty good I think for a new dealer (January 06' will be our third year). And, Caldera is a Higher Priced Spa. We also sold about 11 above ground pools, and a few Softubs.
But it seems to me whether you are in business for 2 years or 20 years the trends tend to be the same around the spa market. Or are there dealers out there selling a Huge amount of Spas this month. If you are I would like to know what kind of advertising and marketing ideas you have :)
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It has been slow in Southern Cal as well.
:'(
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July has traditionally been a good month for us.......until this year! Traffic is down big time. The heat I'm sure is a factor, along with the fact that Michigan leads the country in unemployment. Hooray for us!!!!
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July has traditionally been a good month for us.......until this year! Traffic is down big time. The heat I'm sure is a factor, along with the fact that Michigan leads the country in unemployment. Hooray for us!!!!
If the Pistons only would have won the championship, what a different story it would be. ;D
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The truth is all of the customers are new dealers for *****spas and selling to themselves.Most are doing their own modifications in their garages.LOL
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Or are there dealers out there selling a Huge amount of Spas this month. If you are I would like to know what kind of advertising and marketing ideas you have :)
Many dealers in the next 3 months will sell 50-200 units due to fair season. Some markets are just more condusive to larger numbers. I will never do these #'s for the fact that I have the same Mfg 29 miles north and 31 miles south of me. Bummer :'(
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Hang a huge sign off the side of one of your yachts? ;)
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Hang a huge sign off the side of one of your yachts? ;)
It has bee so slow that I have had to sell most of them.
:-/
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The entire industry is down. Reps are calling their dealers asking why they are so slow. Who knows. It's all a big guessing game. Bad weather, bad stock market, fear of home land terrorist attacks, it could be anything that is preventing people from getting out and spending their hard earned spa dollars.
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I know people whose jobs are customer support phone staff aren't buying tubs unless its from Ghandispas. I hear Calcutta tubs is doing well too.
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I will have to say, even though it sounds extremely selfish, that I am glad we are not the only ones who are slow right now!
To those of you who have been in the spa industry a long time, is this pretty common to see in the summer, or should we be really concerned. Should we be offering "Employee Discounts" like all of the car companies! ;) Ha! (How annoying is that, but it's probably working)
I really appreciate all of your input. Our next step is a TV commercial. Big advertising cost, but I have heard TV is the way to go for getting your product out there.
Hopefully Spa Sales will pick up again soon, for all of us!!
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I will have to say, even though it sounds extremely selfish, that I am glad we are not the only ones who are slow right now!
To those of you who have been in the spa industry a long time, is this pretty common to see in the summer, or should we be really concerned. Should we be offering "Employee Discounts" like all of the car companies! ;) Ha! (How annoying is that, but it's probably working)
I really appreciate all of your input. Our next step is a TV commercial. Big advertising cost, but I have heard TV is the way to go for getting your product out there.
Hopefully Spa Sales will pick up again soon, for all of us!!
Ohhh. A tv comercial. have them film you out in the parking lot of your store, you wearing a big cowboy hat and have all the spas out in there, lot's of scantly cald women in bikinis about, and then talk very loud, and very fast into the the camera
"I'm Crazy tex and where' cuttin' tub price's to the bone! TO THE BONE! I'm crazy but if you come in right now,. I've got a used tub used by a very hygenic old lady once a week on sundays....come on down!!!!!!!!" I ccn get you into a new or used tub for no money down. No Money down!!!!!!! (pan to bikini girls).
Also have a chimp or a guy in a gurella suit.
I am available for consulting.
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Hey Drewstar,
How did you know all of that!!! That is exactly what we are doing. Women in bathing suits with cowboy hats in hot tubs, I mean who wouldn't buy a hot tub after seeing that kind of commercial. Will you come down to Conroe, Texas and be our Gorilla? It sounds like you have a lot of experience! ;D!!
Anybody else have any ideas!
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Texas Tub, the pictures of your showroom on your website look very nice. You might want to consider doing the following:
I'm in the process of organizing a VIP Night for our customers. We have a large deck adjacent to our store overlooking the golf course. It is a very nice setting.
I'm contacting local vendors to participate in a Fine Living Festival. We're having the local tobacco shop supply cigars, a chocolatier supply...gourmet chocolate, Starbucks will have a table serving coffee, and I'm having some of the local wineries provide a wine tasting.
Each of our customers can bring a guest and we will be offering discounts on spas, accessories, giving away door prizes (bed & breakfast trips), etc. Some of my customers are beer distributors and they are going to take care of the non-wine drinkers. We've done some things like this in the past and had success with it.
I've posted some pictures of past events on our new website at
http://www.hotspringspasofshreveport.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1
Terminator
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Who was it that had the picture of the giant duck? You need one of those too.
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We had an awesome June and so far a weak July..still hoping for a good weekend!
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My June was slow but July has been great! In fact I sold 10 tubs last week and 7 of them were the top of the Coleman line and priced above $9,000.00. There's two more days left in our sale so hopefully I'll close a few more. :D
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Wow, what a Great idea you have East TX. We will definitely make use of your ideas! The pics you sent me are Great too. Is that you in that one pic! Thank you for visiting our website, we actually won "Showroom of the Year" for Caldera Spas in 2004. It was our first year in Business too!
I really Love this forum! You guys are so supportive and have given me some great ideas.
Keep up the good work Spahappy, I am really envious of how well you are doing this month! I am very hopeful that we will have a very successful August!
Thanks for all of the Support :)
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I am having a hard time understanding where all the customers are! Our sales have slowed down tremedously in July! I don't know if this trend is going on everywhere or if it is just in Texas. We sold 12 hot tubs last month and this month we've sold 3 tubs. I do not understand how sells could drop off so drastically. July was our best month last year, now it may be our worst. :(
Does anyone have any answers? To those of you on here that have recently bought a spa, what helped your decision in purchasing a spa. Was it a newspaper ad, TV commercial, direct mail, or just driving around.
I would appreciate any input that you guys might have.
Sales are definitly down in the Detroit Metro area where the economy is depressed and the "American" auto industry is in trouble. We just spent in excess of 5 figures in radio and print advertising and drew a BIG ZERO. Our message in the ad stated, come in ready to buy because we're ready to bargain with deep discount pricing. So, all of you shoppers out there that want a quality spa at deep discount, PM me. ;D
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I'm in the NYC metro area and sales are going well. Sorry guys, but I'm sure it'll pick up in the cooler months to come.
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Is that you in that one pic!
If you mean the one that looks like this 8) holding the AR-15 on top of the spa, 'tis surely me.
Terminator
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I just saw the pic of terminator on top of the spa holding the AR-15.
Dear Mr. Terminator, Sir:
I'd would just like to say, that if I ever have said or done anything to annoy, or offend you sir, or you familly or friends or even small furry pets, sir I fully apollogize completly, 100%, sorry. sorry. sorry.
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Worst July on record in Southeast. Seems I can't give them away this month. July last year was slow too. Gotta be the heat, a week of 100+ heat index isn't helping.
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Terminator,
You had to give my husband ideas! LOL!! ;D He wants to take a picture of me holding the UZI now!
Thanks! :P
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Go for it! I saw where vlady posted a picture of her shooting an AR-15. Hop in or on the spa with the UZI and send us a pic!
Terminator
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Go for it! I saw where vlady posted a picture of her shooting an AR-15. Hop in or on the spa with the UZI and send us a pic!
Terminator
With a sign saying "Customer Complaints Handled Promptly and Efficiently" lol, ;D
"What do you mean, it is the same problem as before?" ;D
Or, how about this one, "Are you ready to buy?" ;D
That could generate some sales.
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Our local dealer for SD (the one trying to take over the Northern VA area...) is having some tent sales, which may or may not be from lower traffic... I was there over July 4 weekend to buy mine and no one was in the store except me and the manager and her helper.
But who knows what's normal? Shortly after 9/11, everyone (media) was bleating about everybody 'cocooning' and doing home theaters and hot tubs/pools, etc., and staying home. Who knows what's normal now?
But, of course, spas are a *very* descretionary item. :) Any downturn will hit sales for them, as I'm sure any dealer in most areas will attest!
In any case, I purchase my SD Max for Sept delivery, and think I got a reasonable price. Do I know how many deals they made compared to last year? No, but but I don't think it really matters much with a manufacturer that has exclusive dealers (unless they are desparate to sell...). :)
(However, I did pay close to cost for the 'free' stereo. I didn't feel like sticking the dealer for that fiasco pricing deal; I want good service when I need it down the road! :) )
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Alternate captions:
"Shoot."
"Wanna shoot your mouth off?"
"We aim to please."
"Buy the tub and nobody gets hurt."
"Your dog got out when we opened the gate. Don't worry, we got him."
"Do you have strees in your life?"
"Our tubs are fully automatic."
"Everybody needs a hobby."
"Our controls system is virtually bullet-proof."
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Full Affect (http://www.vansworld.com)
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That was a good one WM. Did you get caught up in the Compuserve fiasco? The last company that I worked for outsourced to India for everything. I jumped ship before it got too bad. I hate outsourcing.
I know people whose jobs are customer support phone staff aren't buying tubs unless its from Ghandispas. I hear Calcutta tubs is doing well too.
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Well, we just got done shooting our first commercial! I think it went really, really well! We are very excited about it and we are really hopeful it will bring us a lot of new business.
We will eventually be putting it on our website so I will keep you guys posted for that.
Thanks again for all of the replies, You guys are Great!
Have a Great Week! ;)
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what is your web address
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Our website address is www.texashottub.com! We are working on adding some new things to it.
I would actually love to see pictures of other dealers showrooms. I just really enjoy looking at all the great ideas out there.
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I feel kinda bad sharing this with you all and I hope you don't think I'm rude for hijacking this thread, but...
We just wrapped up the best mid-summer truckload sale we've ever had at our little satellite store out here on the western edge of civilization. I broke my personal record, the store broke records, and for the first time ever, we sold more tubs, and more high end tubs than our main store. :o :o ::) 8) 8) ;) ;) ;)
Being up here in North Dakota we haven't had to deal with the extreme heat that much of the rest of the country has endured. I'm sure that helped us during our sale.
Another factor IMO is the fact that we have the second spa line to offer. ;) It's been a process learning how to sell two lines that have as many differences as Coleman and Jacuzzi. But we push the wet test more than we ever did before, and that also has worked well during this sale.
It's been a long two weeks and I've spent lots of time down here in the evenings with wet testers. Next week I'm off to Lake Sakakawea to drink beer, go boating, catch fish, and spend some much needed time with Mr Spahappy ::)
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Congratulations Spahappy! I'm spahappy for you! Wow!
You deserve a break! How's the sailor?
Or maybe that is why you are selling so much, trying to keep your mind off of the partially empty nest! ;) ;D
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Thanks Lori, the sailor is half way through basic training and says it's getting better.
When are you going to join Machelle and I for a girls weekend at the lake? :o :o
My spa at the cabin should be hooked up and running next week. Remember you have an open invitation anytime girlfriend.
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Spahappy,
Don't feel bad for Having a Great Month!!!! Just know that most of us are jealous. This just motivates us to try some new things!! We haven't tried a truckload sale yet, but it might be our next venture!
Good Job, and have Fun Fishing!!! ;)
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Thanks Lori, the sailor is half way through basic training and says it's getting better.
When are you going to join Machelle and I for a girls weekend at the lake? :o :o
My spa at the cabin should be hooked up and running next week. Remember you have an open invitation anytime girlfriend.
Oh that just sounds wonderful. Let me build up some leave time, and I will run right up! That is one downside to a new job, have to build up the basics again! :P
Glad to hear it is getting better for him. And I will take you up on that invitation, as soon as I can get away! I could use a vacation!!!
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I just wanted to fill everyone in from my original post! Business, thank goodness, has finally started to pick up again. I knew it would I was just wondering when it would! I hope that business is picking up for everyone around the country!
Consumers are finally starting to realize that a hot tub is definitely a NEED, and not a WANT. A spa is no longer a luxury item, it is something that all of us need to help us sleep better, relieve tension, muscle aches and pains, and simply to help us relax!
Thanks again for all of your posts, and Good Luck to All!
Texas Tubs :)
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I just wanted to fill everyone in from my original post! Business, thank goodness, has finally started to pick up again. I knew it would I was just wondering when it would! I hope that business is picking up for everyone around the country!
Consumers are finally starting to realize that a hot tub is definitely a NEED, and not a WANT. A spa is no longer a luxury item, it is something that all of us need to help us sleep better, relieve tension, muscle aches and pains, and simply to help us relax!
Thanks again for all of your posts, and Good Luck to All!
Texas Tubs :)
I'm not sure I agree with your Need vs Want assumption, but I am glad to hear that the free whiskey promotion worked.
;)
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I'm not sure I agree with your Need vs Want assumption, but I am glad to hear that the free whiskey promotion worked.
;)
I would say its up for debate. I would say it is a need in North America more than anywhere else on the planet.
Now this could open a can of worm I guess, I am sure living in the third world is stressful. Ok so maybe I should say we may need it more than others in the developed world.
It is well documented that North Americans work longer hours and have less vacation time than Europeans.
As our lives get more and more stressful, I beleive that relaxation moves closer to a need and less of a want.
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I would agree with hottubman...if we could just eliminate or fix the traffic problems that would certainly help with my stress.
I worked at Disney for 18 years and when I left in 2000, the traffic was unbearable. My day started out in stress from getting there and ended in stress from trying to get home.
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It's been awfully hot in New Jersey and I believe it does put a damper on sales. The busier spa stores are retailers located close to the beahes. So, blame it on the heat and family vacations. We have stared to see things pick up fairly well this past week, as September nears with it's cool nights and football season just around the corner. After Labor Day, the best spa season begins and sales really take off.