Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: spaman-- on January 02, 2008, 12:50:45 pm
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O.k I walk in this morning and first thing that I am faced with is a customer wanting free delivery of their cover and free disposal of their old one because the manufacturer took 4 weeks to get us her cover. The second thing I am faced with, Maxx had to exchange a spa for one of its customers (which I facilitated on a 4 year old Elite spa) I am out sourcing deliveries and my guy is charging me $300 for exchanging the spa so I am passing this same fee to the customer. The customer was demanding that I deliver it for free. This afternoon a customer calls regarding a problem with a bromine cartridge that has dumped out, I have someone delivering and changing it out with 2 new ones for free, The customer asked for extra chemicals for free for his inconvenience. Lastly the phone rings and its a gentleman who has a spa that is in Economy mode and even though I have personally walked him through it several times in person at the store. Don't get me wrong I believe in doing my share of freebies, but lets face it if I did each of these things today alone the bare bones hard cost would be at least $550. All of this and still trying to make a profit. I am going to start a log to show how many and how much people want at a discount and for free.
This just in, a lady calls in and can't get her filters out wants us to perform a service call (you guessed it for free).
What I have learned is that once you give service or product for free it it sets a standard that all future problems and products should be free or discounted. I use to stop off and perform service for those customers on my way home for free but at times I would find myself out until 10 or 11 o'clock. So I have learned that all customers, friends and especially family pay the same amount and service is not performed for free. There is the occasional exception but for the most part we as retailers have to stick to our guns. Especially in times like these where the entire spa industry in down in sales.
There are the few that know that I would perform any service call for cheesecake but theres only a few that know of this huge discount. ;)
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i once had an employee tell me:
"If these dad-burn customers would leave me alone I could get my work done"
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Don't you just love dealing with the public???? :-?
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(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b206/EastTexasSpa/Picture545.gif)
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I feel your pain. It seems when you do good and try hard, it is often not enough to satisfy the expectations of the customer. Everyone is different, but the cover customer, the replacement Hot Tub from Maxx, and everyone you deal with on the telephone FEEL that it is in YOUR best interest to do it for them FREE, or else because it should not cost them anything for your service. Amazingly, this attitude is prevalent and works occasionaly, only because we want to help them with their problem expecting them to refer business to us. It never comes.
Sometimes, you gotta FIRE the customer.
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Spaman, it's the same in every business. I have some close friends that I've done free legal work for. Now they blow a gasket if I want to charge them for anything. I feel your pain, brother.
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This will be the first year a lot of our 5 year old Jacuzzi's will be going out of warranty, should be an interesting year.
I always like the ones that call and say?? Our spa has not ran for 2 weeks, and I am not very happy with it, and proceed to vent about it!!! >:(
While I listen to them, I am thinking?
WHAT? You think I can read minds or something? You think we have a direct link from your spa to our computer? We cant freaking fix it, if I we don't know its broke ya dumb-ss. So on and so on. >:(
But I dont, I just grill em a bit about whats wrong, and tell them, we will take care of it. :)
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In my industry we do a LOT of work for the major cellular companies. They often EXPECT lots of things for free that were not listed in their Statements of Work (SOW). The PURPOSE of an SOW is to define and price services UP FRONT. If it's not in the SOW, it's not included. Unfortunately, this doesn't always hold water and there "big boys" are sometimes heard saying things like "Well, if you EVER want me to sign another SOW you will do this for free...". We've come up with a great way to handle it. We simply write out a normal statement/invoice outlining what it would NORMALLY cost and then stamp "Goodwill" on it. This serves a number of purposes. The first is to show that there is ACTUAL real costs associated with the pro-bono efforts (in the event they ever DO realize that they SHOULD have paid for it originally) and secondarily, it gives you documentation to pull out the next time they ask for more free stuff. In our case, we may have 20 or 30 of these documents for $5K or $20K here or there. When they DEMAND we do a $100K effort for FREE, we simply pull out all the prior "free" efforts and demonstrate that we have ALREADY given a LOT of little stuff for free, it's now THEIR time to compensate us properly for this "bigger" effort.
Bottom line = Sometimes it is just easier and smarter to "give away" the little stuff (trip charges) so that you can get them to pay for the bigger stuff later down the road (i.e. their next tub)
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speaking of freebies......
has anybody else seen a large increase in the last few years of clients.....large clients asking for donations to their Company Christmas Party?
we did not see much of this a few years ago, but now we get alot of requests (pressure) for donations of like gift certificates that they can give away to the employees at the annual Christmas Party.
Dear XYZ,
The Law Firm of Jones, Smith, & Jones is planning a company Holiday Party on December 10th. We are seeking donations from vendors for the holiday raffle we have at the gala. If interested please forward a gift certificate and your name will be announced as a donor at our party.
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ndabunka, I like ya'lls idea! I think we'll try that.
Zep, we've never been asked for donations for Christmas parties, but we get hit up all the time to donate door prizes to various entities. I usually give them a Spa Vac or some aromatherapy products in a gift basket.
We donate 4 spas/year for fundraisers: The Cattle Baron's Ball, The Museum of Fine Arts fundraiser, the Beat Up Women's Shelter, and I think one for wayward teens.
Term
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4 spas a year?
wow....at what 6-10K each?
that seems like alot for a spa store in tyler, texas
i am gonna stop complaining about giving away twenty $50 Chilis gift certificates!
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Spaman, it's the same in every business. I have some close friends that I've done free legal work for. Now they blow a gasket if I want to charge them for anything. I feel your pain, brother.
Tell me about it.
I lost count awhile ago of all the freebie tile jobs I've given to friends and family. Most of the installs were fairly small and simple, so not that big of a deal. But it's when they call me back for a second, much larger job and are shocked that I actually want to be compensated for my labor this time around.
It's gotta stop at some point.
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In my experience I find pool customers ask for way more than my spa customers. But at least its not bad going to houses in the summer. Most annoying is a 9 pm phone call saying their pool is leaking and its a slow dripping hose or the pools not running ands its the timer that shut off. I give everyone a free "stupidity" common sense service call. On the next call like that its either $50 or $100 depending on time of day and how far. I feel I have educated most my customer base enough that common sense calls should be rare or can be fixed over the phone.
Spaman - you have my full sympathy on days like you have just described.
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Funny story along the same lines as Chads,
I had a group of friends in my teens, 6 of the greatest group of guys, everyone of them would give you the shirt off their back if you asked. Well 5 of us all got into the tool and die/tool and mold industry and the other became an electrician. Well you can guess how that turned out for him!!!. The poor guy (Chris) has since pretty much wired everyone of our houses top to bottom and any other job too complicated for any of us to try on our own. A couple of years ago he announced while having drinks with the group, that all of us idiots better hope that he never needs to have a mold or die produced. He figured that if he was to have billed us it would have collectively been close to $50,000, I was shocked that we had abused his friendship to that extent and apologised for the group. We now either pay him or hire another electrician if needed.
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A competing bookstore opened up down the street from us a year or two ago. They immediately started offering higher discounts, free shipping, etc. to my biggest customers, who immediately asked us to match what the competition was offering. Every day we heard from people who were mad that we wouldn't match prices or discounts, and swearing that we were losing another customer to our competition.
However, I knew that the competitors were giving away their margin (they buy their books from the same wholesalers we do) and basically working for free - or losing money. We stuck to our guns, as there was no way we could do any better than what we were offering.
Our competitor closed their doors last July. Our sales have jumped way back up since then.
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Hey there ICE
I am an electrician and I do work in the Tool, Mold and Die industry in Windsor, Oldcastle, Lakeshore - you know, so who do you work for?
We have some customers that give us the little stuff then they give the good stuff to somebody else, it really fn pisses me off some times, but when they want their damn CNC running, I tell them to go hire the other guy (who I know doesn't do CNC repair. One in particular gave away a $55,000.00 lighting job that I recommended and we originally quoted (and were in line) to the other guys and I told them them to get the other guys to do their work now. I don't need customers like that.
Steve
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This thread is a good one....
The quote below is just unbelievable. We have gotten this request from one customer each year. We always send something due to their size....but what a bunch of cheapskates...if you are going to give things out at YOUR Christmas party.....then pay for them.
Regarding the free issue.....Keep track of your customers....Good customers very rarely ask for free things....I do belive that if it's your fault.....the company that is...you pay for it. If it's under warranty you should pay. Out of warrannty...not your fault issues? The customer should pay. Most reasonable customers do not have a problem with paying for services.
If you keep track of the customers then you can change your policy for the good ones and stick to your policy for the pain in the asses.....and if they complain....fire them.
speaking of freebies......
has anybody else seen a large increase in the last few years of clients.....large clients asking for donations to their Company Christmas Party?
we did not see much of this a few years ago, but now we get alot of requests (pressure) for donations of like gift certificates that they can give away to the employees at the annual Christmas Party.
Dear XYZ,
The Law Firm of Jones, Smith, & Jones is planning a company Holiday Party on December 10th. We are seeking donations from vendors for the holiday raffle we have at the gala. If interested please forward a gift certificate and your name will be announced as a donor at our party.
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4 spas a year?
wow....at what 6-10K each?
that seems like alot for a spa store in tyler, texas
Oh no, no, no.....we don't give away the good stuff as we are not that magnanimous in the least. We give the cheap spas that have fallen off trailers, been tossed around by our pack of trained gorillas, or the ones that catch fire from time to time to the beaten women and wayward teens. The high society folks at the Cattle Baron Ball and Art Museum get the good stuff! They're the ones with whom we try to curry favor. Battered women and unwed mothers ain't got no money to spend on spas...that's all for show.
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We donate 4 spas/year for fundraisers: The Cattle Baron's Ball, The Museum of Fine Arts fundraiser, the Beat Up Women's Shelter, and I think one for wayward teens.
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Jumpin' in real quick;
I have to say that donating all those things is pretty darn nice of East Texas Spas, if you ask me.
And not too toot my own horn, but I too do a lot work with unwed teens too...mostly helping them get thier start.
Our town doesn''t have a beat up Women's Shelter, but I do donate to the Tempura Foundation. (it's for lightly battered women).
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In my industry we do a LOT of work for the major cellular companies. They often EXPECT lots of things for free that were not listed in their Statements of Work (SOW). The PURPOSE of an SOW is to define and price services UP FRONT. If it's not in the SOW, it's not included. Unfortunately, this doesn't always hold water and there "big boys" are sometimes heard saying things like "Well, if you EVER want me to sign another SOW you will do this for free...". We've come up with a great way to handle it. We simply write out a normal statement/invoice outlining what it would NORMALLY cost and then stamp "Goodwill" on it. This serves a number of purposes. The first is to show that there is ACTUAL real costs associated with the pro-bono efforts (in the event they ever DO realize that they SHOULD have paid for it originally) and secondarily, it gives you documentation to pull out the next time they ask for more free stuff. In our case, we may have 20 or 30 of these documents for $5K or $20K here or there. When they DEMAND we do a $100K effort for FREE, we simply pull out all the prior "free" efforts and demonstrate that we have ALREADY given a LOT of little stuff for free, it's now THEIR time to compensate us properly for this "bigger" effort.
Bottom line = Sometimes it is just easier and smarter to "give away" the little stuff (trip charges) so that you can get them to pay for the bigger stuff later down the road (i.e. their next tub)
I am printing this one out - and I am going to reword it and incorporate it into my policy manual - at leas the part about tracking the 'goodwill' items done free. That gives me an easy way to track the 'write off' work we do, and will help with those tough-to-please customers.
Thanks
8-)
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Our town doesn''t have a beat up Women's Shelter, but I do donate to the Tempura Foundation. (it's for lightly battered women).
I'm just glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that!
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I'm just glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that!
<<<<--------------Makes a little note on calendar of the day that Spatech isn't drinking ;D
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T'was bound to happen.
8-)
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But what happens when you don't want it for free???...I have a good friend whose husband had a horrible accident (a tree that he was cutting fell on him). He is in a wheel chair and no use of his body below his waist. They have been trying to hire friends to revamp the bathroom so he can get his wheel chair in a handicap shower and the burdon of moving him won't be on his wife. It has been very hard for her; he is a big guy. they are asking contractors that are friends because they know they won't be ripped off and they can trust them in their home. No one ever comes through. It is not that my friends don't want to pay full price or want a favor, they just feel more comfortable explaining the husband's needs to a friend. Well they have just about given up because NONE of their friends (and they have talked to about 5 different guys) have gone beyond saying yeah they would do it. NO plans, no bids nothing. My friends have the money to pay and are more than willing to pay whatever is necessary, so what's up??. I think their friends feel guilty taking the money, but on the other hand they want to be paid... :-/
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But what happens when you don't want it for free???...I have a good friend whose husband had a horrible accident (a tree that he was cutting fell on him). He is in a wheel chair and no use of his body below his waist. They have been trying to hire friends to revamp the bathroom so he can get his wheel chair in a handicap shower and the burdon of moving him won't be on his wife. It has been very hard for her; he is a big guy. they are asking contractors that are friends because they know they won't be ripped off and they can trust them in their home. No one ever comes through. It is not that my friends don't want to pay full price or want a favor, they just feel more comfortable explaining the husband's needs to a friend. Well they have just about given up because NONE of their friends (and they have talked to about 5 different guys) have gone beyond saying yeah they would do it. NO plans, no bids nothing. My friends have the money to pay and are more than willing to pay whatever is necessary, so what's up??. I think their friends feel guilty taking the money, but on the other hand they want to be paid... :-/
I think that friends in this case would be the wrong direction to go, on the other hand I think the correct avenue to go for help would be to contact non profit organizations who specialize in helping people like your friend with the disability. Friends tend to want to say "yes" but for some reason can't seem to get the job done, usually because they know they have to morally charge less for such work and most businesses are too busy to just drop full price jobs to complete one with little or no profit. I will do a search for such non profit organizations as well. Remember its not worth losing friends because a business deal doesn't work out.
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In the end you are called to be a good steward. Treat others the way you want to be treated. There is a non-profit grocery store behind my business, huge 40,000 sq ft. We have worked there because we like to volunteer. They had a Christmas Party a week before Christmas. $300 in gifts to qualified people, in other words community assistance types. Well it was a madhouse. 5000 people showed up, many parked in my parking lot, on a Saturday. I had to run them off, very ugly situation. But I helped one lady, she used my phone, I showed her a way around the police that had closed the road and told her she could not go into the party. Two hour later she came back and thanked me for the help and was happy to receive the gifts. However, there was a brand new jeep eagle and a camry for hours. Now when they finally got back to the cars, easily they had three or four set of gifts at $300 each. Now that is stealing. It was an eye opening day for me......moocher culture is my impression. The entitlement generation working the system
We have given so much stuff away, chemicals, filters, advice to totally strangers, in the end it returns to you. Chemicals are a good profit item, so you are generous with something, those people will return to you. Give to charity when you can......in the end it is good will.
But some people will take complete advantage of you and do this as business practice. As a business owner you have to be firm, up front and proactive, this will prevent many problems.