Paintball store customers

[MoeMag]

[ahellers]

i asked for a discount at kmart the other day.
but i was buying a grill, and it was the floor model, and it was put together all crappy,
so i got it off from 70 to 45, or somthing like that.
oh and i alwase ask for a military discount anywhere i go... i mean i dont make much money so ill take what ever i can get.
t

[MoeMag]

You are completly in line.

Floor models usually get something off unless it is a high end gun or something that is as it would be te moment it comes out of the box... and definitly when we cannot find the box for it.

Military discount will usually get you something, but ID required.

I would not mind you asking for either of those situations.

[ahellers]

sweet next time im in AZ im comming there to buy somthing off the floor w/ my military ID (and YES the coast guard IS military)
t

[Lohman446]

Standard rule of thumb: If a salesperson approaches you the price is negotiable to a degree. I routinely negotiate major items even in big box stores etc. Though I don't get remarkable deals its not common for me to pay full price. And while I am one of those people who basically just ask to ask (if I want something I'm buying it) I am seldom told no. I've learned that it is sometimes expensive to not ask.

That being said I cannot even tell you what I pay for most paintball items. The store keeps a running tab and I just pay it off at the end of the month.

[Skittle]

The best wasy to tell them no is to simply say "sorry, thats the best I can do" most people are ignorant garbage and dont realise that their $20 isint paying your bills.

Honesly, just say no. If you beat around the bush or act unsure of yourself they'll probably think you can but dont want to. Tell the truth, "Sorry, but I cant do anything... It's only a 20oz tank if I gave everyone something free on a $20 purchace, I'd be out of buisness." or a simple "No, sorry" will suffice.

[quasimorte]

car sales man only not

ok here are two methods of doing this that work fairly well for me. i sell high end game room furniture so i have a little wiggle room but not much. both methods are done in the atitude of helping the customer not selling the cutomer, as no body likes to be sold you always leave the customer with a choice. the first method is to deflect the customer.

customer: what can you do for me on this stuff?

you: well sir, i can't do anything on the gun or the tank, but most people eventually upgrade their guns to some degree. if you like i can show you the most common upgrades and what we have to help in each area. I might be able to work something out on those parts.

This depends on weather or not you can for the upgrades. if not accessories are always a good thing to switch to. you know the guy might need a whole set up, mask, pack, squeegies, ect. so see where you might be able to give him a few bucks and work off of that item. customers can get pissed if all they hear is no.

the second method relies on your status in the store. this works really well if you have two locations. basically you act as if you are trying to get the guy a deal and call up your "boss" he must be off sight and never give the guy the phone.

customer: what can you do for me on this stuff?

you: well sir, i don't have the authority to really do anything with this but let me put a call into my manager/boss/the owner, and see what i can do for you. (call up the other location and basically have the other guy say no as loudly as he can so the cuatomer can hear)

this usually works for those customers that keep harping on the discount, it passes the buck to someone else. this second method may seem dishonest but in truth if you have no room to move on the prices this is just showing the customer that you are willing to try. besides allot of times if you aren't the owner you might be able to get him something if the owner is feeling nice.

these are alot like the high pressure sales pitches car salesman use, but you aren't trying to sell them you are offering a choice on what they can do to get a better deal. work it through in your head how you can do each and see what you feel is honest and nice enough for your customers. offer the customer what would be their best option, don't tell them that they have to get anything.

ps don't call the boss when he is paying bills

[PumpPlayer]

^^^ Excellent!


The internet is a huge influence on brick and mortar stores in the paintball world. Somewhere around 80% of the paintball-playing community is online and a vast portion of those have at some point made a major purchase ($100+) from an online retailer. You're also dealing with a crowd that, statistically, is largely in the 12-18 year-old range. Kids work hard for very little money and they need to see it go as far as it can.

I have been at good stores and bad stores and there are a few things that all good stores seem to have in common.
* Good stores know their customers. The community isn't that large and you see the same people repeatedly. Good stores know their customers, greet them when they walk in the door and can show them what's new, changed in price or changed quality (for better or worse) since the last time they were in the store.
* Good stores don't pressure sales and they know that a good customer makes them money every time they come into the store whether or not they buy anything. A buddy of mine went into the same store and looked at the same marker (a then ~$650 'cocker) for about 6 months before he bought it.
* Good stores service their sales. Markers break, seals blow and tanks need hydro testing. A good store will offer service on products they have sold free of charge or at a discounted rate to encourage customers to come back. A store near me offers free service on every marker they sell and parts come at a discounted rate. They also offer one free timing/tune-up per year. As a result, they sell more markers than anywhere else in the area including Walmart (or so they say, I don't know where their data comes from).
* Good stores make you feel good about your visit whether you purchased anything or not. The store near me almost never charges me when I take my 3.5 OZ tanks in to be filled. I'll buy $200 of gear and paint at list price but the $5 of free CO2 (that they don't pay much for anyhow) is what makes me feel good.


Customers always want a deal. That's just what good customers do.
A good store will solve any issues simply by giving their customers a quality service. No store can match the prices of an internet outlet. It's just not going to happen. Service is why customers go to stores. Assure your deal hounds that they're getting good service when they buy from you and they'll come back.

Discounts on accessories is the best way to give the customer a good deal. The store near me gives 30% off any accessory including barrels when you buy a marker (same marker only, though - no buying a Tippmann and getting a bunch of parts for your DM). Their A-5 sales really rake in the dough when kids add a barrel, a stock and maybe some other accessories. The kids get a decent deal and free service for the life of the marker. Everyone wins and that's why I keep going back to that store.

[magman007]

what ever you do, dont try asking for a discount at sears in the appliance dept. we wont give you one unless its the floor model, and 9 times out of 10 if it is the floor model, and we cannot order any more, it will be marked down to close out just giving you a heads up

[-Tab]

ok here are two methods of doing this that work fairly well for me. i sell high end game room furniture so i have a little wiggle room but not much. both methods are done in the atitude of helping the customer not selling the cutomer, as no body likes to be sold you always leave the customer with a choice. the first method is to deflect the customer.

customer: what can you do for me on this stuff?

you: well sir, i can't do anything on the gun or the tank, but most people eventually upgrade their guns to some degree. if you like i can show you the most common upgrades and what we have to help in each area. I might be able to work something out on those parts.

This depends on weather or not you can for the upgrades. if not accessories are always a good thing to switch to. you know the guy might need a whole set up, mask, pack, squeegies, ect. so see where you might be able to give him a few bucks and work off of that item. customers can get pissed if all they hear is no.

the second method relies on your status in the store. this works really well if you have two locations. basically you act as if you are trying to get the guy a deal and call up your "boss" he must be off sight and never give the guy the phone.

customer: what can you do for me on this stuff?

you: well sir, i don't have the authority to really do anything with this but let me put a call into my manager/boss/the owner, and see what i can do for you. (call up the other location and basically have the other guy say no as loudly as he can so the cuatomer can hear)

this usually works for those customers that keep harping on the discount, it passes the buck to someone else. this second method may seem dishonest but in truth if you have no room to move on the prices this is just showing the customer that you are willing to try. besides allot of times if you aren't the owner you might be able to get him something if the owner is feeling nice.

these are alot like the high pressure sales pitches car salesman use, but you aren't trying to sell them you are offering a choice on what they can do to get a better deal. work it through in your head how you can do each and see what you feel is honest and nice enough for your customers. offer the customer what would be their best option, don't tell them that they have to get anything.

ps don't call the boss when he is paying bills

I think you are WAY too nice.

Hell's Angels (I think) have a saying:
You treat us good, we'll treat you twice as good. You treat us bad, we'll treat you twice as bad.

I doubt that's word for word, but it's pretty close.

Edit: You guys have no idea how hard that was to type. I'm a huge grammar nut, and now I feel like I've disgraced myself.

[Lohman446]

what ever you do, dont try asking for a discount at sears in the appliance dept. we wont give you one unless its the floor model, and 9 times out of 10 if it is the floor model, and we cannot order any more, it will be marked down to close out just giving you a heads up

I walked out of Sears because of an issue once . I was buying a lawn tractor, there was little doubt I was buying one. The salesperson had zero knowledge of the product they were selling, none. Now, being the nice person that I am, I asked a few technical questions here and there that got them really confused. When I asked for a discount and the salesperson had no idea how to respond I went and bought a Cub Cadet down the road. Funny the salesperson that stood there and did a "duh" lost my business. The one that simply said no did not. I think that was the last major thing I purchased that I did not get a discount on.

[quasimorte]

look at it this way if you go with method one you can get a larger sale even if your discounting a few items. If you go with method two, it shuts the customer up without having him get pissed at you because he now knows your status in the food chain. and besides allot of the guys buying at local stores need more than what they came in for and might be willing to buy from you instead of going online if they know they are getting treated right.

it's not about sales it's about customer service, anybody can sell something, very few people can service their customers right.

for example, our nearest compititon (sp) is our best advertising, because they don't sell right and we do, it's that simple.

[rkjunior303]

what ever you do, dont try asking for a discount at sears in the appliance dept. we wont give you one unless its the floor model, and 9 times out of 10 if it is the floor model, and we cannot order any more, it will be marked down to close out just giving you a heads up

Not true.

Sears will Price match.

We spent close to $20k there when my house burnt down back in 98 and trust me, we were able to haggle on price

[robnix]

* Good stores make you feel good about your visit whether you purchased anything or not. The store near me almost never charges me when I take my 3.5 OZ tanks in to be filled. I'll buy $200 of gear and paint at list price but the $5 of free CO2 (that they don't pay much for anyhow) is what makes me feel good.

I do the purchasing for my IT department. Recently we switched from Dell to a large reseller for our needs solely on the basis of service. There was none with Dell, I was told by my sales rep, that unless I was ordering 5 or more units, that there was no need to call him. The name for the shipping and billing address was never changed from the name of the guy I replaced to my name, support was a mess, and it would take two days to get a call back from our sales rep sometimes.

The new sales guy? He sat on the phone with me for 2.5 hours discussing software lisencing, knowing up front that it would be six months before I made any decisions. He always calls back ASAP if he can't answer right away, and he's gotten sales engineers from the companies who's product he's selling on the phone with me on that call, not tomorrow, or "let me set up an appt with them". It's his service that keeps me coming back, I pay about 10% more by going through him, but I feel confident that I can call him at any normal business time, and he'll do everything he can to help. In the big picture, we're most likely not a big dollar account for him, but he treats us like one, and that's aces in my book.

[evildead420]

I quite selling PB stuff about a year ago because of this issue, too many monkeys wanting discounts. even though I was literly selling cases of balls out my apt, they always wanted discounts since I wasnt "a real business" even though I got a resale license, tax cert. etc, they expect me to always discount or nogociate a price. I about had it. and barely made money, sucks that I know alot of prices wholesale and I see retail prices and makes me wish I still had a business license.

*check* for store use

and we still get calls from posting on warpigs. sucks you cant just edit it right when a change happens