Advice to Paintball Buisness Owners..

[Jack_Dubious]

The following applies especially to Southern California paintball store owners (and fields)...

1. Acknowledge my presence. When i walk in, try to notice me, if you are busy, tell me you will be with me in a minute. A simple "hello, how are you today", would be fine.

2. Be friendly and helpful. When i have questions about your inventory, instead of giving me short yes, no answers, talk to me about what im looking for and what you can do for me. If i have questions about a marker, offer to let me handle it and maybe even gas it up and dry fire it.

3. Dont belittle me. If I am a Cocker owner and am showing interest in buying a Mag, dont act like its the stupidest idea you have ever heard.

4. Signs! This goes for both stores and fields, invest in some good looking, highly visible signs for your business. On a side note..dress up your buisness and make it look appealing to people who dont even know what paintball is.

5. (for field owners especially) I want you to kiss my ***. Im a paying customer and i expect to be treated that way. I just paid you good money, there should be no reason for having Refs with attitudes.

This is just a short list of things....but it can be all summed up in one term..."Customer Service". Many Paintball businesses (stores, fields, manufacturers) need better customer service, i think we can all agree on that.

JDub

[dmonahan]

JDud,
I can't agree with you more. The service in most SoCal stores is terrible. if you don't own a Angel or a cocker they don't stock parts. Think your a fool and most the shops have a 16 year old kid behind the counter that is more interested in playing with his own marker and talking to his freinds than help a paying cust. I have still never had a shop offer to order the parts I need. It makes me wonder how they stay alive.

[FutureMagOwner]

stores wont change inspite of the fact these are good ideas and should be obvious. if i ever opened a paintball store(which i may i have not descided my furture yet im only 15) i wouldnt open it for the money like most of the stores do. i would do it because i love the sportand having to only pay whosale for my paintball related needs is very cool

[Jack_Dubious]

Originally posted by dmonahan
most the shops have a 16 year old kid behind the counter that is more interested in playing with his own marker and talking to his freinds than help a paying cust.

Exactly!! That is the exact same thing that happened to me last week.

The points I am bringing up are not really paintball specific, they apply to all businesses in general. While maybe the large, high-profile corporate type businesses can get away with poor customer service, it is inexcusable for a small business (in a relatively small industry).


JDub

[Steve Crush]

i was up at the local store. Me and my friends from my scenerio team was there talking to the owner. One of my friends was looking at a cocker, he was showing interest in it.... i say(pointing to my Emag) don't buy that, buy a mag. The owner goes, yea i agree get the mag over the cocker. I then I proceeded to tell the owner of all the stories about how some field owners look down on mags. just a little story :)


steve

[magking1971]

I hope you don't mind but I put this on my fields website.
If you want to visit it look at my sig.
Yes I am part owner and I could not agree with you more on this.
Some of the local stores are just the same, (kid behind counter) that is why I do not shop there anymore.

[Wc Keep]

i feel bad for you guys. all the stores in jersey,especially impact paintball in edison, are great stores where they know what their doing and have the customers as number 1. mi paintball is the same. you guys should check out these shops if you ever in jersey.

[Army]

Heck, I'll even give specifics!

Big Boys Toys in Arroyo Grande Ca. (yeah, the other mail-order guys), has never been satisfactory in service to the walk in paintballer.

There is only one kid behind the counter that will stop to talk to you about your Pballing needs, and even though he is a 'Cocker fan, will help you with any gun. He's a good kid and employee, and has learned much about most guns, and is willing to help you with his knowledge. I wish I could remember his name, he's the big guy with the ever present smile.

However, the rest of the staff, including the owner, won't give you a second look if you are not an RC Car/Boat hobbyist. You must traverse the store to get to the Pball gear in the back, walking by the front counter and the RC stuff, you're lucky if you get a "Hello" when you walk in.
I understand the Internet sales are met with crass and rude phone-salesmen also.

This is so unacceptable, I am willing to drive 45 minutes to the next store and do my business there. THEY have happy, fun, willing, knowledgable players behind the counter. THEY have a round table in the middle of the showroom, where THEY encourage you to take a load off and visit for awhile. THEY all love the sport, and are enthusiasts in the promotion of it. THEY sponsor local tourneys.

THEY keep an inventory to die for, including shirts, jersey's, pants, goggles, gloves, hats, guppy's, lots of parts on the shelves for nearly all guns, lots of paint on site, posters of all the "girls" in the game, videos of NPPL/Pan-Am/Push/Avalanche/Ironmen/Scenario games playing continuously, A compressor that fills to 4500psi and plenty of Co2.

THEY own and operate Breakout Paintball in Paso Robles Ca. and you would be hard pressed to find a better walk in store.

This isn't a plug for anyone, I'm pointing out the difference in a nationally recognised store I avoid, and one I am willing to go out of my way to patronize.:cool:

[kopfjaeger]

Yeah, make sure whatever you buy is wrapped and sealed or it has probably been used by the workers there who are too loaded to answer your questions. Every time I go in, everyone looks high. It is a haven for employees to try out all the new stuff, repack it, and sell it back to you for full retail price.

[Jack_Dubious]

A couple weeks ago I bought a drop forward from someone on Ebay. Turns out this person has a small store on the east coast and sells some of his excess stuff on Ebay. After I won the bid, I get a voice mail from him asking what color i wanted the drop. I call him up to tell him what color i wanted.....and the conversation lasts more than half an hour...from him and me just talking about new markers and pball equipment. He was one of the most friendly and talkative guys Ive met. It really had an impact on me. It made me want to do more business with him.

Im with Army, I would (I have) drive 45 minutes to patronize a store that valued me as a customer.

JDub

[Schnitzel]

where in SoCal? I've drievn from San Bernardino all the way to Uniqe Paintball in Anaheim just to buy green marbs for $60 a case. they know what they have, and always give some sort of helpful tip.

[Jack_Dubious]

Im living in orange county...Cypress to be exact. Ive been going to Unique Sporting more and more, they are pretty close to me. Next closest store is I&I Sports, and ive never been to impressed with them or thier service.

JDub

[Mango]

The closest store to me is about 20 minutes away, and they have maybe 2 angel parts, the rest are for Cockers/spyders/etc. Very few mag parts. But they rarely ever let people hold/touch the markers they have and the place seems like its run by an old woman and 3 or 4 young teenagers. Most of them are "cocker fans" and they like to walk around and show off thier Dye cockers. One of the kids is very open minded and loves the sport in general, he is the only one I have respect for.

I totally agree with the above threads though, I think we've all experienced lack of customer service. I think it stems from how subjective our sport is. Like in other sports, equipment plays a big roll, but not as big a roll as SKILL. No pair of shoes is going to make you a better free thrower in basketball, no football helmet is going to make you a faster wide reciever. But in paintball, your equipment is crucial. Skill plays a large part dont get me wrong, but the player/equipment BOND is what makes paintball so unique. And that bond is very subjective. Just my $.02

[Tom Sparkman]

I live in SoCal and I've also noticed the trend.

I once drove 75 miles to ANS in Simi Valley looking to buy an HPA setup. The owner Pete, went out of his way to ignore me - going so far as to help regular customers that just walked in after my family and I had been standing around for 10 minutes. Funny thing is, I bought my first gun from ANS when it was located in Santa Clarita.

I'll never shop there again
Tom

[Jack_Dubious]

I went to Starbucks this morning for a latte. After handing me my coffee the girl behind the counter smiles at me and says "Have a Nice Day"...

This weekend I was at a field and the girl taking the money and registrations barely looked me in the eye and acted like she hated being there when I tried to buy snacks or paint.

Coffee =$2.50

Paintball = $20 field + $20 air + $40 extra paint + $$$ etc.

There is something wrong here....


JDub


ps- also the entire staff was really unfriendly, unless you were someone they knew. It was a field in San Diego, and i was just visitng...but If im ever in the area again..i definately will NOT go back. I dont name names....but I can say it rhymed with the word Melocity :P

[zbody]

No better feeling than to be a repeat customer at a shop and the owner and employees remembering your name when you come in. If any of you are lucky enough to be in oklahoma city I would highly reccomend Shaggy Bros Paintball. Their customer service and selection is excellent. On the rare occasion they didn't have what I was looking for they ordered it within the week. I have been in Phoenix for a year now and have yet to find a shop like it.

I just buy off of the internet now. I have had such great transactions with Modifiedpaintball now that I don't really need to find somewhere else.

[theraidenproject]

Originally posted by SprayingMango
The closest store to me is about 20 minutes away, and they have maybe 2 angel parts, the rest are for Cockers/spyders/etc. Very few mag parts. But they rarely ever let people hold/touch the markers they have and the place seems like its run by an old woman and 3 or 4 young teenagers. Most of them are "cocker fans" and they like to walk around and show off thier Dye cockers. One of the kids is very open minded and loves the sport in general, he is the only one I have respect for.

Please LMK what store this is so I know not to waste my time there. I've only been to two stores, because I do the majority of my purchases on the net. The first one is Paintball Depot, somewhere in NW Jersey, I forget where. The guy at the counter that helped us and installed a flatline and rt kit for my friend was curteous and helpful. He even remebered us when we were at the field the next day, which is a surpride, considering most retail people only see people as a "sales". The other one I've been to was Fireball Mountain on Rt. 1, Lawrenceville, I think. I was only in there for a minute to find out about fields in the area, but it was long enough to find out that they have a decent selection, and helpful sales people (or at least the one person I breifly conversed with).

[Kaiser Bob]

Originally posted by theraidenproject


Please LMK what store this is so I know not to waste my time there. I've only been to two stores, because I do the majority of my purchases on the net. The first one is Paintball Depot, somewhere in NW Jersey, I forget where. The guy at the counter that helped us and installed a flatline and rt kit for my friend was curteous and helpful. He even remebered us when we were at the field the next day, which is a surpride, considering most retail people only see people as a "sales". The other one I've been to was Fireball Mountain on Rt. 1, Lawrenceville, I think. I was only in there for a minute to find out about fields in the area, but it was long enough to find out that they have a decent selection, and helpful sales people (or at least the one person I breifly conversed with).

Which PB Depot? Theres one in Ledgewood (off the big highway next to an ice cream place) and the one in Hackettstown off of 57 next to a cell tower lol. I frequent the Hackettstown one and the guy is very nice. The guys in the Ledgewood store werent really that friendly to me as opposed to the guys that walked in that they knew.

[theraidenproject]

I'm calling my friend now to find out which one. It's busy, but I'll have the answer in a few minutes.
*edit* - It's Hackettstown.

[magman007]

you guys are lucky enough to have real paintball stores, the one i go to is a hunting store, that just happens to sell pball equipment. Well they had the lest knowledgeable guy working there, saying that the olny difference between mags and rt's were some cosmetics, and 300 bux. then he said that a smart mag was better than my rt pro, and that it never ever got shoot down. well, i pulled out my pocket chron and went with him to the back room, needless to say, he shut up. yet now, he is a reff at my local field! you can ask paintballer86, hees had the same run ins with this guy as i have, oh and heres the kicker, he claims to be an airgun design's certefied tech, yet he calls the company AID! he said aid about 5 times, then i tapped my hat (agd hat) and walked outta the store. i wish i had a real paintball store near me.!

[Dubstar112]

I really, dont have a paintball store. I live in Watertown New York, which doesnt have a feild within 75 miles.

There was one last year, within a 20 minute ride, but theyve closed down. They had awesome service, and good prices. The owner didnt have an actual store, it was a vender's trailer. However, inside there was some damned cool thingy's. The owner uses a Hyperframe mag, and reccomends mags with more respect than other guns. Either way, his good service comes from the service AGD provides him. I hope, he opens back up in the near future.

There is another store, which is about 75 miles away, actually two stores. One is Fury Paintball, and the other is Headrush. Fury, seemed to have good service. I havent bought any thing from them. But the employee's were attentive.

Headrush, which is about 70 or so miles, is an indoor field with neatly organized store- pro shop area. They have good service from my experience. I bought a few things from there. I would definatley go back here.

lets see it this way, if your looking for some business, come to watertown area, the economy is booming, and there is still lots of vacant - old wally world type of stores for an indoor, or plenty of out door space!

[WickeDKlowN]

i used to have a local store, but right after i got my mag, they closed down, and so did the field they owned. so now if i wanna go to a pb shop, i gotta drive like an hour to Pro-Team Products. if i dont feel like driving, i go to the local army/navy store for co2 and to the gun shop for paint, i used to get co2 at the gun shop but they were overfilling the tanks and my cousins valve blew on the way home one time. PTP seems to be ok, i havnt asked to hold any of the guns to see if they let you, and i havnt got anything other than co2 and paint there.

[Kaiser Bob]

Originally posted by theraidenproject
I'm calling my friend now to find out which one. It's busy, but I'll have the answer in a few minutes.
*edit* - It's Hackettstown.

Yeah the guy there is Dave (not Artler the owner) hes a really cool guy and actually knows quite a bit about mags although he is primarily a cocker guy. Next time your in there ask him if he knows a kid with a tequila sunrise Emag and tell me what he says, dont tell him i asked though! :)

[theraidenproject]

That's really my friend's neck of the woods, but if I ever get over there again, I'll ask.

[FactsOfLife]

Originally posted by Jack_Dubious
I went to Starbucks this morning for a latte. There is something wrong here....



heh heh this is too easy....

But I have to give credit to this thread, the days of quality CS are pretty much over, except for a few isolated pockets.

Ethan at ProPaintball in Victor, NY is a standup guy. Didn't know me from diddlysquat, dropped what he was doing and showed me about 10 different markers before I decided on my impy. the guy is just great.

[shartley]

Let me tell you all a little story about what happened to me yesterday afternoon….
(I will keep the actual location and name of the company to myself as to not hurt them too bad… they will do that themselves with no help from me.)

There is a new Paintball Shop in the area so I decided to stop in and pick up a few things for my Son (Co2 Tank, new elbow, small odds and ends, etc.). I knew things about this group of young owners, so I did not expect a whole lot…. And I am glad I didn’t.

The store had few products to say the least. I walked into the store (my Wife and I being the ONLY customers) and went directly to the single glass counter at the far end of the shop. Behind the counter we found a young man (late teens early 20s) sitting on something short (don’t recall what it was) and fixing a Cocker. He had NO shoes on, and apologized for working on a marker.

I said that was not a problem. But thought to myself how the shop had been open for at least 3-4 hours and he looked like he was working on his own marker in his garage… NOT like he was running a reputable store.

I then made small talk as I told him the things I wanted. I asked him about fills, and he told me the price, which was not bad… but that he could only fill Co2 at the moment because his compressor was broke… that is unless I wanted only 2000 in my tank. And he offered to do that for free. (Note: I did have him fill it, but he could not even get it to 1500.)

He asked me what type of marker I had, and I told him an RTP. He then looked at me with a silly expression on his face. I asked him why he looked like that. He informed me that RTPs are gas hogs compared to Cockers. I asked him why that would even matter (if it WAS true) since even people who use Co2 often refill after EVERY game. He did not have a response.

I asked him if he had any barrel condoms, and he handed me one that had his shop’s info on it. I asked him if he had any that did NOT have any store branding on it, and he said “No, that is how we make money. Good luck finding any without it on it.” Of course, a few minutes later I brought in my RTP and it had on a JT Barrel Condom with NO store branding on it.

I asked him if he had any barrel PLUGS without store branding on them. He then said “No, we don’t even carry barrel plugs because you can’t use them at tournaments and no fields will allow them anymore.” This is odd, since I see fields allow barrel plugs all the time… tournaments are a different matter.

I then started making small talk about AGD since he had only ONE AGD marker and it was labeled simply as “Mag”. It was an old style RTP, old body, old grip. Mind you, this store JUST opened up and was selling old product.

I commented about something (I don’t recall) and he started his big production. What do I mean? Well, according to HIM, The SFL will be coming out with a C&C job, or something on those lines (he mentioned BOTH as one marker). I asked him if he meant that the SFL will have the Level 10’s the same as the C&C would have when they are ready. He said they already did.

Needless to say, this was starting to get me a little hot under the collar. I asked him how he knew this and that he was mistaken. He told me that the Owner of Bad Boyz Toyz (sp?) already has one with level 10, and that you can get them all over Europe that way. He also preceded to tell me that Tom personally sent him a picture of the new C&C’s 6 months ago, but did not release them to the public because “we know how these things are kept under wraps”. As if HE had some connection to Tom personally.

I didn’t want to break his heart by telling him that AO has had pictures of the entire process from the first milling on. But my Wife could tell I was about to lose it.

He then asked if I went up to Adventure Games when Tom was up there a month ago. I told him that I thought he was mistaken, and that Tom was NOT at AGPaintball a month ago. He then said I was correct, it must have been a couple months ago since there was still snow on the ground. WHAT? Tom went to AGPaintball LAST YEAR. He has not been back since.

Needless to say, he had more “impressive” stories to tell, and they were ALL BS. He asked me if I posted at AO, and I said “Yes.” He asked me if I went there often, and I replied “Yes, you could say that.”. I then asked him if he knew the screen names of the most active posters on AO, and he said “Sure.”

I asked him to name some. He named “Tom, Rob, and Jon.” (but by name, not Member name) No Manike, No Shartley, no FOO, etc. (thought you would like me adding FOO in there. ;)) He also said he talks all the time with Jon. There was more BS from him, and I then asked him if he knew who Shartley was?

Well, this froze him up pretty good. He then started giggling like a schoolgirl. He then said that made sense why I had such a nice setup with my RTP (which he commented on as soon as I brought it into his shop), and that the 68/4500s were very hard to get. He then asked me about my signature image and said he could not ever tell what it was. This threw me for a moment.

He was talking about a small image I use on ANOTHER paintball forum that I Moderate for. LOL He even made mention of something that has not been discussed in about 2 years (my status as an active player). This showed that he did NOT come to AO often, and only glanced at the other forum now and again. Not to mention RumbleMe.com (not the same site mentioned before) that I moderate for as well.

He also showed that he knew NOTHING about Mags. I DID tell him however that he had NO competition in the local area for tank fills. LOL Which was true.

My wife handled the transaction and half pulled me out of the shop. LOL She then told me that she never even got a receipt. LOL My wife was even less impressed than I was. I was not worried about a receipt anyway, after relaying this story to another shop owner I was informed that I could have gotten all that stuff at their shop without paying a dime.

Moral of the story? If you own a Paintball Shop, don’t BS your customers. You don’t know who they may be, or what they may know.

I will more than likely use this shop for fills, but that is all. And only because they are so much closer than my normal shop (who is not insulted that I would use them for fills.. LOL).

And my Son has a bunch of friends who have taken up Paintball because of him, and I will direct them to that shop for fills as well… but for products… we will go someplace else. (Note: He did replace a seal on my Son’s Spyder very well though. ;))

Also this shop uses a saying something like “Others sell it, we live it.” (or something like that)

Just thought you would all enjoy that as much as I was aggravated by it. ;)

[liigod]

free stuff from a shop?! where?!!

[shartley]

I did not say FREE... I said I would not have to pay a dime for it. That in itself does not denote FREE.. just no money passing hands. ;)