When I was stationed at Hill AFB, Utah in the 1980s all my friends were skiers so I randomly walked into a sporting goods store and, with the help of a salesperson, bought some skies, boots and bindings. I skied for a few years and progressed from the bunny hills to steeper slopes and was never in any way limited by that equipment choice. (My technician at the time grew up in the Ogden Valley. One day we were shooting the breeze and he said that he skied his whole life but didn’t anymore and when I asked him why he said; “because the ski slopes are full of guys like you who don’t know what they’re doing”.) I imagine that if I had stayed there and continued to improve I would have replaced those skies with something into which I put much more thought. Last week I was in REI with my wife and while she shopped I took a look at the bikes. I was thinking that if I was in my 20s now, I would probably buy one of these light, skinny tire bikes with the strangely shaped tubes and, like those skis, it would work fine until I figured out enough about bike riding to thoughtfully replace it.
On Monday, June 30, 2014 6:45:31 PM UTC-7, Mathew Greiner wrote: > > You know, the whole should we or shouldn't we intervene discussion has > been fascinating, but it misses the point somehow. By being together in the > same LBS, we are participating--along with the sales staff and the shop and > any potential customers--in a shared experience of bicycling interest. > There's a question of one's attitude, of course, but it's easy to strike a > rapport with others in these situations. Friendly chitchat is only friendly > chitchat, but it could quickly emphasize the aspects of what a buyer > actually wants and needs, vs. whatever glitzy business is being dangled. > "Hey now, that IS nice. Would it fit 40mm tires, do you think? Those really > smooth out the ride for me. I ride more when I'm comfortable." Loyal > customers are customers that feel like they've been heard and dealt with as > individuals. > My parents recently joined Costco. On their first trip, they were > examining some product, clearly challenged by the choices, and another > customer walked past them saying that Brand X was the best after she'd > tried three others. It was the best, hands down. She said. Similar things > happened with repeat visits, and then they noticed themselves offering > their own opinions. Other than apparently being able to eat lunch for free > by circling the samples, I think this culture of recommendation is their > favorite part about the store. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
