daugen
Super Star Member
first of all, it's clear we all want to deal with pleasant, accommodating dealerships.
My local JD dealer did not have the time of day for me. Calls left, not returned, and I was interested
in a new 4720. A very surprising experience, and utterly opposite from the local Kubota dealer, that
was marvelous, attentive, friendly, and promptly returned phone calls and emails.
The dealer is a known quantity; the public entering his lot sure is not. Huge investment out there and he sure
doesn't want some angry kid keying his tractors while walking by.
I owned a retail electronics business in my home town for five years. Bought a small business and made it eight times larger by
changing the traditional Radio Shack into an adult toy store. We sold an enormous number of phones, and Mom would come in with two kids trailing, maybe one in her arms. What kid doesn't want to talk into a telephone?
so I got smart, I rearranged everything as best as I could to make it kid friendly, and less likely to be damaged.
The fragile items and attractive nuisances were put an extra shelf higher, so maybe an eight year old could reach.
But not the three year olds who would pick up the phone and bang the handle against the easily scratched plastic.
A one hundred dollar phone is now worth fifty bucks. Luckily most tractor stuff is much more durable.
Maybe it's because I live in what is no longer farmland and is now suburbia, but so many parents seemed utterly oblivious
as to what their kids are doing. I had to have my staff follow the kids around and we had a code word for kids to watch.
What I really love... is to see kids grab a handful of parts out of one bin and put them back in another. What a hassle.
And very few parents would take the time to clean up or fix up after their kids had knocked things about. The problem, as I think we all know, is usually the parent's lack of attention or simply not caring about the store. It's me first and kids will be kids. Very self centered behavior.
I had a toy section at Christmas, science project stuff, r/c everything, and I had one basically indestructible 4x4 truck that I let the kids play with, after setting it (I glued the switch!) on slow speed. It ran a long time until I sold the store and took it up to the mountains for
moving target practice. Boy what fun. But if kids come in your door, you have to watch them, keep them occupied or interested, or if you are lucky, they will walk quietly by the parents. Right. Some did, and I always praised the parents as to how well behaved their kids were.
Always got a big smile in return. Can't really yell at the "bad" parents/kids, but when the parents weren't looking, I had perfected a pretty good scowl that usually sent little miscreants to their mommies. But normally a happy family, including kids, is a buying customer. If you deal with the public, you just have to be a little flexible, and assume some minor damage is going to occur.
have you ever watched what a mess people, including kids, make in Walmart or other discount places. I watched one mother trash an entire aisle of jeans, pulling and pushing, and never did buy anything. Oh, please come back again, soon...
FarmGirl, you could not have said it better. I hope our young member learns from this. We all had to...
My local JD dealer did not have the time of day for me. Calls left, not returned, and I was interested
in a new 4720. A very surprising experience, and utterly opposite from the local Kubota dealer, that
was marvelous, attentive, friendly, and promptly returned phone calls and emails.
The dealer is a known quantity; the public entering his lot sure is not. Huge investment out there and he sure
doesn't want some angry kid keying his tractors while walking by.
I owned a retail electronics business in my home town for five years. Bought a small business and made it eight times larger by
changing the traditional Radio Shack into an adult toy store. We sold an enormous number of phones, and Mom would come in with two kids trailing, maybe one in her arms. What kid doesn't want to talk into a telephone?
so I got smart, I rearranged everything as best as I could to make it kid friendly, and less likely to be damaged.
The fragile items and attractive nuisances were put an extra shelf higher, so maybe an eight year old could reach.
But not the three year olds who would pick up the phone and bang the handle against the easily scratched plastic.
A one hundred dollar phone is now worth fifty bucks. Luckily most tractor stuff is much more durable.
Maybe it's because I live in what is no longer farmland and is now suburbia, but so many parents seemed utterly oblivious
as to what their kids are doing. I had to have my staff follow the kids around and we had a code word for kids to watch.
What I really love... is to see kids grab a handful of parts out of one bin and put them back in another. What a hassle.
And very few parents would take the time to clean up or fix up after their kids had knocked things about. The problem, as I think we all know, is usually the parent's lack of attention or simply not caring about the store. It's me first and kids will be kids. Very self centered behavior.
I had a toy section at Christmas, science project stuff, r/c everything, and I had one basically indestructible 4x4 truck that I let the kids play with, after setting it (I glued the switch!) on slow speed. It ran a long time until I sold the store and took it up to the mountains for
moving target practice. Boy what fun. But if kids come in your door, you have to watch them, keep them occupied or interested, or if you are lucky, they will walk quietly by the parents. Right. Some did, and I always praised the parents as to how well behaved their kids were.
Always got a big smile in return. Can't really yell at the "bad" parents/kids, but when the parents weren't looking, I had perfected a pretty good scowl that usually sent little miscreants to their mommies. But normally a happy family, including kids, is a buying customer. If you deal with the public, you just have to be a little flexible, and assume some minor damage is going to occur.
have you ever watched what a mess people, including kids, make in Walmart or other discount places. I watched one mother trash an entire aisle of jeans, pulling and pushing, and never did buy anything. Oh, please come back again, soon...
FarmGirl, you could not have said it better. I hope our young member learns from this. We all had to...
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