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Post by rodders on Jul 28, 2014 13:28:29 GMT
There's nothing worse. I hate being approached in any kind of shop, even if it's just to ask if I've found everything I was looking for.
Guitar shops are the most pressurised of environments even without anybody talking to you. I went to GuitarGuitar in Newcastle a month or two ago, and as soon as I walked downstairs the bloke working there was straight up off his seat, and even though he only said "good morning" it put me right on the defensive!
Unfortunately, the last two musical instrument shops in Grimsby & Cleethorpes have closed this year. All that's left is a market stall with just a handful of guitars.
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Wild Violet
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My main instrument is: Symonds OM-14
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Post by Wild Violet on Jul 29, 2014 6:54:51 GMT
That reminded me of trying out a Gibson a few months ago at the Music Room in Lincoln. The guy took me upstairs where it was quiet, then sat very close facing me while I played it. He took it from me and started playing while spouting wholly inaccurate facts about Gibsons and acoustic guitars in general.
It was a very uncomfortable experience.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2014 8:54:33 GMT
I went to GAK in Brighton on Saturday, and to be fair it was an extremely busy day. But I went into the bass section where a guy was sat playing on his computer. Without even lifting his head to have eye contact he just muttered "can I help you or are you just looking today". It was just the tired way he said this that implied "really I can't be bothered because you look like another one of the hundreds of guys who passed this way this morning just window shopping".
Must be tough being in this kind of retail environment, but I think you've got to be on the ball all the time. No, a potential customer is just that- even if they don't buy anything on that day, a good positive experience will always bring a customer back and one day the chances are they will buy something.
Robbie
Oh, I thought I had better balance this with an excellent experience I had recently- there is a new guitar store opened in Chichester called Guitar Sound. I went in there one Saturday, said I wanted to try a couple of acoustics (no intention of buying I have to be honest). I was shown into the acoustic room, the young lad who had obviously being playing the martin in there all morning was asked if he had finished, then I was left alone, the doors closed After about 20 minutes a guy came in and we had a really good chat, after he complemented me on my playing. All in all I had about an hour in the shop, and felt no pressure whatsoever.
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mandovark
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Post by mandovark on Jul 29, 2014 9:02:42 GMT
That reminded me of trying out a Gibson a few months ago at the Music Room in Lincoln. The guy took me upstairs where it was quiet, then sat very close facing me while I played it. He took it from me and started playing while spouting wholly inaccurate facts about Gibsons and acoustic guitars in general. It was a very uncomfortable experience. I've had things like this happen a few times, usually in shops that sell a lot of electric guitars and seem to treat acoustics as an afterthought. At the other end of the spectrum, Symphony Music in Wigan has about the best customer service I've ever seen in any shop, music or otherwise. They like to get the guitars out and put them away - fair enough as they have a lot of instruments in a small space and I know they've had expensive instruments damaged in the past - but they're happy for you to try as much as you want without any pressure to buy. One of the first things I went there for was a clip-on tuner. I was only going to be spending about £15, but they took the time to get both of the ones they had in stock out of the boxes, put the batteries in, and get me a guitar to try them out on so that I could decide which display I liked best. I've never known another music shop willing to go to so much trouble for a low-value sale. While I was in buying the tuner, there was another customer in buying what was clearly his first acoustic guitar. He can't have been spending more than about £200, but they spent a lot of time taking him through the options and giving really helpful advice. When he'd settled on a guitar, they even gave him another one of the same model to play to make sure that he was getting the one he liked best. The best thing about them is that the staff seem to be able to tell when a customer wants help and when they want to be left alone to try something. Unfortunately, their high-end acoustics are mostly Taylors and Martins, which are not really my thing, but I tend to go there for most of my bits and pieces. There are some much bigger and better-known shops that could learn a lot from them.
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