Customers: The secret to success
There is a soft spot in my heart for those guys who pose with toothy grins, suit and tie, on the cover of self help books. They stand a simulacrum to the pinnacle of entrepreneurial success. Arms crossed on a paperback with the word “investment” or maybe a glowing dollar sign, or some gears in the cranium region, undoubtedly symbolizing the emotionless mechanical disposition of capitalism. These books are usually selling the secrets to prosperity in simple layman's lists. They can be click-baity, or they’ll have “the golden rule.” Beaming paperback model/author aside, when I flip to the back, or to the thesis, if you will, of these books, when I finally find the “golden rule” I’m usually disappointed. It’s either so painfully obvious, or obtuse, I end up thinking I missed some trick to it. “Sachs’ Golden Rule is keep the money; don’t give it away.” That can’t be right. Wait a minute. There has to be more. How could they fill four hundred pages with this one idea? Usually repetition, reiteration, metaphors, shallow lists and corporate buzzwords. The secret was hidden in plain sight after all.
Speaking of business and golden rules and obfuscated obviousness, I, a not-so-passive observer of small business, have found my own secret to success. In the bike shop world - I can’t speak to much else, at least not in an enlightened way - the most crucial ingredient to success is the customers. That’s right, those pesky customers, the ones who spend money, who bring bags of coffee and sometimes pastries - running low by the way, hint-hint Red - are required to keep the lights on.
Sarcasm aside, customer service is essential. And as axiomatic as that fact may be, my daily word wide web sleuthing finds an exhausting amount of conflict between L.B.S’s - local bike shops - and their customers. Forums are filled with detailed stories of squabbles, one I found titled It's really hard to support my LBS when they are rude and deceptive.. had a comment that just read “Burn LBS, Burn.”
On a more legitimate scope - and by that I mean someone who is writing to be published rather than someone furiously slamming on a keyboard - I found an article by Euan McKenzie in icebike; The 10 Most Epic Sins Of Your Nearest Bike Shop And Local Bike Mechanic. It’s worth a mention that a large part of McKenzie’s article stands counter to my last blog. The introduction is a cautionary tale from when he brought his Big-Box-Store bike to his LBS. According to the story none of his six - six? - local shops had mountain bikes for $1000 dollars or less, so he had to go online. When he went to get it repaired, only one would help him out, “...In less than 2 hours, I’d had a selection of looks and [s]narky comments that quite frankly incensed me.” McKenzie begins his list here, explaining in ten different ways the customers right to choose what bike they want to buy, saying at one point “My first bike cost me $250, and yes, it didn’t last 6 months, but it was all I could afford. Maybe it’s all they could afford, you know what I’m saying?” I do know what you’re saying but in the defense of bicycle mechanics, and to reiterate my last blog, the problem with a $250 bike is exactly the fact it only lasts six months. But I’m being defensive, that’s only the surface of McKenzies point, the real message here, and - no offense intended - what could be condensed into one single line is best stated as Hey, Bike Shops: Stop Treating Customers Like Garbage.
Coincidentally, it is also the appropriately titled article published in Bicycling Magazine by Gloria Liu. Liu has a handful of stories in her piece accompanied by some statistics. Her stories range from an overweight customer being called a “Clydesdale” to a Somerville rider having to name drop brands to gain the respect of the mechanics. As for her statistics, she states “Sixty percent of 718 respondents say they’ve had at least one negative experience with a bike shop employee that made them feel unwelcome. Thirty-eight percent say this has happened more than once, or often.”
Like I said before, it’s obvious that the success of a small business, especially one in the service industry, is contingent on customers. Which begs the question why do bicycle shops treat their customers like garbage?
Well, McKenzie circled the idea, but Liu said it best: “the snob factor.” Bicycle shops refuse to work on bikes that are not top of the line, or even not their home brand. That’s frustrating. Infuriating, even. Especially considering the customer is aware of their importance in these exchanges. They aren’t asking for free labor, they just want their bicycle to function. That said, let’s go one level deeper, and ask the question, where does the “snob factor” come from?
As much as I loathe etymological simplification of complicated subjects, I see two distinct shops. With the potential to be a solitary activity, cycling can have as much company as one likes. I think a large number of bicycle shop owners don’t realize that this optional social part of cycling doesn’t extend to the daily operations of small businesses. These places started because a bicycle aficionado wanted to spend more time thinking about bikes. You can bike by yourself, or with a group of friends - whatever you feel like that day - but when you’re running a retail store, or a repair shop, you’re going to have to talk to someone. A lot of someones. Some of these folks will be aficionados like the shop owner, they also spend all day thinking about bikes, but most of them won’t know the difference between and Italian threaded bottom bracket, and an english threaded, and if that irks you beyond comprehension, a retail shop is probably not the best career move. And this brings me to the second kind of shop owner. The one mentioned as a wonderful silver lining to the Liu article. There are owners like David Guettler. ““One of the things I tell my staff is, if I can’t have an attitude, no one else can, either. I’m a real stickler in that regard. I know there’s this grumpy curmudgeon type of mentality that somehow seems to be acceptable in our industry. That’s the stupidest thing ever.”” or Sara Pearse who simply says “just treat customers like people.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.
And it’s obvious right? So obvious some people just can’t see through it. The forest through the trees is an expression for a reason. I digress, what can one do? Well, to the shop owners around there, maybe consider how your behavior affects the customers. No one should be ignored, each customer is as important as the next. At least that’s how I see it. The industry as a whole gets a bad rap because, unfortunately, a lot of the shop owners are the first kind I mentioned.
But time for my silver lining. Despite being a young, and therefore a presumed idealistic socialist, I see a strength to capitalism. The darwinism of economic policy; survival of the fittest. As the consumer you have a choice. And hopefully a bit more luck than Mr. McKenzie when it comes to local brick and mortar shops. The consumer holds all of the cards in the free market. If one place is providing a higher quality product - and don’t be mistaken, customer service is a product of the bicycle shop, they are a part of the service industry - buy it there. The best example I heard was comparing purchases to votes. Every time you buy a tube at the local bike shop that doesn’t treat you like garbage, is another vote to keep them open. After a while, the LBS’s who can’t stand customers won't get any and they’ll close up shop, and you know what. That’s ok. That’s the circle of life. Customers are essential for business. It’s as simple as that. Obvious. So obvious it could be the golden rule to the next edition of 7 Rules to Small Business Growth: Productivity to Profit. On the cover would be a man with a nice haircut, suit and tie, holding large wrench arms outstretched with a big toothy grin.
In case you are curious about the articles:
https://www.icebike.org/bike-shop-sins/
https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a27496999/bike-shops-need-change/
