How should a dealer set themselves apart?

Customer Service.

 

You can have the best price but unless you can deliver superior service price may not mean a hill of beans.

 

Competitive pricing is fine but I'll pay more knowing that I'll be taken care of.  And I do.

A LHS has the problem that maintaining an inventory and a store adds to overhead cost. Let's face it, in today's world, items are bought on the basis of price alone.  I'll be honest:  that's how I buy, subject to the exception that if the would-be seller has a lack of integrity, or demands I agree to arbitration in South Podunk (as one model train seller does), I won't deal with him/her

 

One aid might be to have a crackerjack tech--not merely one who has attended a training course, but one who really knows the details.  While this wouldn't have an appeal to me, it might to other buyers.

 

Personally, I wouldn't want to invest my money in opening a train store.  Too much cutthroat competition for what is essentially a surplus-money market.

Right on Marty!

 

 

I agree 100%.

 

 

I'd like to know what everyone's definition of good customer service is?

 

You pre-order a new loco from a local dealer and it's dead when you get it home.

What level of service can you expect from this local dealer that may not have any extras in stock to allow for an immediate swap. At that point, you're shipping it yourself back to the MFG and the dealer is out of the picture. Yes, they can pre-test it at the store but again, if they have no extras, it doesn't really help. 

 

To me if the dealer makes every possible effort to correct the issue then that is customer service.  If the dealer doesn't have a replacement, offers to ship the unit back for you. Now in some cases it may make more sense to ship it directly to the manufacturer.

 

If a dealer does everything within their power to satisfy then that is great customer service but the customer also must be aware some things are out of the dealer's hands.

SERVICE SERVICE SERVICE!!! You can never do too much for your customers but most of the time its the little things that count

• Good communication. Shipping updates are very welcome. Actually shipping the pre-order. Call if there is a question about a credit card #.
• The option to test the customer's new locomotive prior to shipping. A video such as JDS Ltd does after an upgrade is excellent.
• Capability to repair the new locomotive if there is an issue. As a customer, it is frustrating to receive an item that is BIB (Broken-In-Box).
• Fair pricing. Don't have a pre-order price and then blow-out on an auction site for less money the week after receiving a new item.
• Employee honesty. One employee can give an otherwise good company a very bad name. Don't sell me something you don't have, or tell me you've shipped it when you haven't. Lie to me; count on losing my business forever!

Customer service, of course, but how far do you live from your dealer or LHS?

 

If your dealer is close by, then the customer service has a large impact.

If you live a considerable distance from your dealer, then how much benefit can he be to you?  You will probably end up dealing directly with the factory any way.  This then reduces the choice of dealership to a price and delivery question.

 

In other words if you live in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, or Philadelphia your access to the dealer/LHS is very close.  His ability to help/service you is much better.  If you live in Kansas, West Texas or Wyoming its a completely different situation. 

 

If you plotted the dealers on a US map with dots of the dealers, where the size of the dot represents their sales volume of Lionel you will see what I mean.  Do the same thing for MTH dealers, Atlas dealers, Weaver etc.  There are huge areas of the country where the dealer has little to no impact.  You need to ship it back to them, so they ship it to the factory?

 

Move the discussion back up stream from the dealer.  If the product is high quality with very little defects then . . .   Wow what a thought.

 

Consider what Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda did to the US automakers.  High quality usually beats good customer service every time.  It only takes one manufacturer making high quality products that the consumer wants, to force everyone else to improve their quality.  Look at the consumer reports issue of automobile frequency of repair.  You can quickly tell which pages have Honda, Toyota, Nissan etc on them by the color of the low repair dots.

 

Remember when Sears tools were guaranteed for life?

 

I agree 1000% (if that's possible).

 

On principle I try to buy from one of my two LHSs when I have the opportunity and I check their stock for what I am after before I look elsewhere. 

 

However the best service has come from a forum sponsor who posts info on shipping dates, is clearly enthused about the products we crave and answers my email inquiries the day that they are written - I probably don't need to name him.

 

This definitely sets him apart - even or perhaps especially in the era of internet shopping.

The term "good service" sounds nice but I'm not seeing anything that really amounts to a reason to sway someone away from price being the primary factor.

Not many dealers have a guy on staff to repair the modern stuff. Mercer Junction comes to mind as the exception with Brian as a former Lionel tech.

The system seems to now be built on sending it to the mfg for warranty repair.

A good site search engine and up to date inventory always helps me.(Presentation first impression)

I'm not a buyer of high end things but if I can't search your site and believe your inventory, why should I trust you to handle problems and large dollars orders correctly.   

I have had a lot of poor experiences with online dealers because either their search function blows, or they list things in stock they don't have. Get those issues straight, and it's a way to set one's store apart.

Customer service is the most important of the three criteria mentioned. (with the caveat that pricing is also competitive)

 

Another area under customer service where some Dealers excelled was proactively remaining in contact with past customers. Many companies look at past clients as the best new prospects. This is as simple as a email to every past client that hasn't been heard from in over a year. The cost of regaining a lost client is far less than the cost of gaining a new client.

 

This should be a private email and not a part of a blast.

 

With that said I would add two more rules:

 

the Fourth Golden Rule - Personalization to each customer. This means thank you notes with orders, pertinent emails on known areas of interest. and taking the extra effort: Jim Sutter comes to mind in this regard.

 

the Fifth Golden Rule - Social Media: Like it or use it, this is critical to the success of any business. You must have a presence on all the sites. (FB, Twit, blah blah blah). The greater your use of social media, the greater your incremental sales. FYI, I say this as a non user of almost all social media save a couple.

 

Paul - stepping off his marketing platform

Don't make me do the work... on several occasions, I've had to do the follow up.

 

I'll see people here on the boards receiving an item I ordered from the same vendor I ordered from, but no sign of mine. Wait a week or two, send a note, and "oh, yeah, it's on the way" and I get a shipping notice. Heck, an Excel spreadsheet can do basic order tracking for you.

 

Other than that, no deposits, EVER... I have been burned three times in the last five years with vendors that went under while holding my pre-order dollars, and I was only able to recover my money on one of them. No significant amounts, thankfully, but I've learned my lesson.

Just look at the best LHSs out there and what do they have in common? A knowledgeable staff, decent inventory, ability to order an item they don't have, repairs or replacements, test run an item before you leave the store with it, web presence(I don't count FB as a web presence but a full blown website with up to date inventory is), competitive pricing and a policy of making it right for the customer if there's a problem. If you don't have these than your best way to get me in your store is a free locomotive of my choice every third Thursday of the month.

 

A lot make a big deal out of not having to ship their trains back to the manufacturer themselves, I found this prewar box on another discussion...

 

 

Meet the new boss same as the old boss!

 

 

Jerry

quote:

A lot make a big deal out of not having to ship their trains back to the manufacturer themselves, I found this prewar box on another discussion...

 

I am fairly certain that that box was printed prior to the creation of the Lionel service station network. Plus, I'd guess that items that were defective out of the box went back to the store.

 

 

To me, when I think of customer service at its best I think of two words:  Jim Suttter.

End of story and unfortunately, the end of his store, too.

I would like to see some manufactuerers who set themselves apart...Weaver and Williams and K-Line once did...poof!   Every time this discussion comes up, I think of the train store I was in, with empty shelves.  Every thing was on order.  And that was before "made-to-order".  Everybody goes into a store with the thought, "Whatcha got that's new?".  The answer is almost always, "Nothing".  Hind sight makes me wonder

how the heck did K-Line keep ginning out all that stuff, there for a while?....must have

had a fantastic credit line.  If they have nothing to sell, dealers are not important.