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Stock Tips
Due to changes in the housing market I said goodbye to surveying in the great outdoors and hello to the exciting world of retail.
Why don’t you stock…
A customer called me to see if we had depth micrometers or dial indicators in stock. I answered, “Yes, we have them in stock, but not in the shop”. He said he would be by to look at them. He came in and I showed him the options in the catalogue, and told him a few prices on the different brands and models. He bristled, and said, “You said you had em in stock.” I answered, “Yes, we have them in stock at our warehouse, but not in the store. Select the one you are interested in and we can have it to you tomorrow.” “Well why don’t you have them here?” he said. I responded that we typically don’t have those in the store. He left saying he was going to try to find one in stock in town. I hope he finds in this little backwater of a town. How small is the town? It has one cell phone store. How small is the town? It doesn’t have a Radio Shack. How small is the town? It only has 4 banks and none are national.
Do people really expect you to have every item you offer for sale on the sales floor for them to inspect and then try to price haggle on?
Hey it would be great if you stock…
I have a cool customer. He is a small business owner, who seems to have his head screwed on straight. Recently he has been in for various bits of metal, bolts and some fairly specialized hardware for a little side project he is building. As he was leaving he asked me, “Do yall stock machine tools? It would be great if you did.” I told him that if he ever wanted a price on anything we would find it for him. He said he would just like to see them all so he could play with them.
Normally, I wouldn’t have found this odd or annoying, but it was the second time that day I got stocking suggestions, and sadly none of them were winners. Sorry, we do not stock huge, heavy, expensive and very specialized machine tools in our 4000 sq ft store.
Why don’t you have one collecting dust…
A customer called looking for a specific drill press, from a specific manufacturer. We represent the manufacturer, so I called them to get pricing and availability on the item. I called the customer back and told him that we can get him the drill press for umpteen dollars and the distributor is backordered on them till the 22nd of the month. I said we could deliver him one on the 24th, if we put in the order today. He said “Oh, you don’t have one, I guess I’ll go and find one somewhere else.” In response, I said we had similar models for similar prices from the same manufacturer, but he rejected that idea quickly because he wanted the newest model. He said he would go find one from someone else and hung up on me.
Great… another caller looking for the latest in expensive tool and being pissy when we don’t have one collecting dust on the floor. The only show room that might have one sitting ready to buy is in WongWei China where they are manufactured. So, if he hops a plane tonight he might be able to get one today, but shipping a 290lb machine tool by air from China is going to get expensive.
We can’t stock everything in the store, because then the stores would become the sizes of our distribution centers. Sadly there is no 5th dimension hole under the front counter that I can reach into and pull a widget out of. I guess we can’t win them all.
Why don’t you stock…
A customer called me to see if we had depth micrometers or dial indicators in stock. I answered, “Yes, we have them in stock, but not in the shop”. He said he would be by to look at them. He came in and I showed him the options in the catalogue, and told him a few prices on the different brands and models. He bristled, and said, “You said you had em in stock.” I answered, “Yes, we have them in stock at our warehouse, but not in the store. Select the one you are interested in and we can have it to you tomorrow.” “Well why don’t you have them here?” he said. I responded that we typically don’t have those in the store. He left saying he was going to try to find one in stock in town. I hope he finds in this little backwater of a town. How small is the town? It has one cell phone store. How small is the town? It doesn’t have a Radio Shack. How small is the town? It only has 4 banks and none are national.
Do people really expect you to have every item you offer for sale on the sales floor for them to inspect and then try to price haggle on?
Hey it would be great if you stock…
I have a cool customer. He is a small business owner, who seems to have his head screwed on straight. Recently he has been in for various bits of metal, bolts and some fairly specialized hardware for a little side project he is building. As he was leaving he asked me, “Do yall stock machine tools? It would be great if you did.” I told him that if he ever wanted a price on anything we would find it for him. He said he would just like to see them all so he could play with them.
Normally, I wouldn’t have found this odd or annoying, but it was the second time that day I got stocking suggestions, and sadly none of them were winners. Sorry, we do not stock huge, heavy, expensive and very specialized machine tools in our 4000 sq ft store.
Why don’t you have one collecting dust…
A customer called looking for a specific drill press, from a specific manufacturer. We represent the manufacturer, so I called them to get pricing and availability on the item. I called the customer back and told him that we can get him the drill press for umpteen dollars and the distributor is backordered on them till the 22nd of the month. I said we could deliver him one on the 24th, if we put in the order today. He said “Oh, you don’t have one, I guess I’ll go and find one somewhere else.” In response, I said we had similar models for similar prices from the same manufacturer, but he rejected that idea quickly because he wanted the newest model. He said he would go find one from someone else and hung up on me.
Great… another caller looking for the latest in expensive tool and being pissy when we don’t have one collecting dust on the floor. The only show room that might have one sitting ready to buy is in WongWei China where they are manufactured. So, if he hops a plane tonight he might be able to get one today, but shipping a 290lb machine tool by air from China is going to get expensive.
We can’t stock everything in the store, because then the stores would become the sizes of our distribution centers. Sadly there is no 5th dimension hole under the front counter that I can reach into and pull a widget out of. I guess we can’t win them all.
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