Thread: What do you want from a professional tool shop????

G'day.
All of the above.
Add to the list.

Service to country buyers.

Accurate freight costs.
Electronic payment system.

"No questions asked" Warrantee Service.
Online PDF catalogue with pricing Similar to Hare & Forbes.

All of the above

For me and others like me or even the woman woodworker who rolls the stroller in the door ACCESS.

If you have trouble moving yourself between stock and displays try taking a shopping trolly through you'll no what I mean.

As I live near by its one of the reasons I have never called in.

hi Trevor,

thanks for your feed back, we service the country areas thru our website & i can understand what you mean about service out that way for the high end users due to the amount of orders we get on our website from those areas. Freight is hardest to judge for the country areas, we get orders from places i have never ever heard of. With freighting tools to those areas we work out the cheapest method available when we know what the customer wants...

As you know there are many dramas with freight eg. aus post will not deliver parcels over 1m long or 20kgs

As for the no questions warranty policies- there is a select group of people out there that have ruined it for the genuine guys by making non legitamate claims when they know that it is not a manufacturers fault & that they abused the tool to cause it to fail


VEK TOOLS
50 Cumberland hwy
Smithfield, NSW, 2145
ph: 02 9756 3464
www.vektools.com.au

Courtesy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not being talked down to like we know nothing at all. I may not know the jargon for what I want to achieve but I know what I want to do and if I get treated like a, a....., I'm so going to go someplace else forever, or else I'm going to come back and seek out that salesperson and rub their face in their bad attitude until they learn their lesson.

Common Sense eg I had a salesperon tell me that buying a washing machine based on size (dimensions) was silly - and that was straight after I had told him that the washing machine had to fit through a narrow doorway.


Cheers
Wendy

Originally Posted by rufflyrustic

Courtesy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not being talked down to like we know nothing at all. I may not know the jargon for what I want to achieve but I know what I want to do and if I get treated like a, a....., I'm so going to go someplace else forever, or else I'm going to come back and seek out that salesperson and rub their face in their bad attitude until they learn their lesson.

Common Sense eg I had a salesperon tell me that buying a washing machine based on size (dimensions) was silly - and that was straight after I had told him that the washing machine had to fit through a narrow doorway.


Cheers
Wendy

Very well said Wendy

Funny how some front doors of stores wont even let you through them.

pricing that includes GST!

The three most important factors to me are:

Product knowledge coupled with experience or at least sales people who know when they are out of their depth.

Good Service - not feeling like I am an inconvenience when I walk into a place with a pocket full of money. Some places where the bosses and employees think the paper work takes priority over customers do not get my business and are the victims of my revenge for months afterwards. I bad mouth and discourage people from shopping at those places. No second chances where I am concerned.

Having stock. Nothing worse than choosing the tool and then being told it isn't in stock but they can send it (at my expense) at a time that suits them. If I had wanted it later I would have walked into the shop later!

I don't need bright lights and cardboard cutouts, I consider they are just gimmicks.

All the places I deal with satisfy the above and get my custom and praise.

I think it is good that you are asking your customers and hopefully potential customers these questions.

Better pricing ... competitive pricing ... on Festool.

I'd like to see retailers speaking publicly - not just privately - on the reasons why everyone has the same pricing and they're not able to discount.

Maybe Richard Pratt should have a conversation with the Festool importers.

Simple, in the following order:

1. Product range and knowledge of it
2. Have it in stock, or be able to get it within a couple of days and without me having to ring you every couple of days to find out where it is.
3. Have the products you sell out on display with the current price clearly marked.

The last is important to me because I prefer to look through the stuff myself and compare models without having to constantly ask how much etc. But I don't care if it's a fancy display, or just a shelf with the products on it and a price tag. And my biggest pet hate (are you listening Mitre 10 Pambula?) is having old and unrelated price tags under the item. If you're too lazy to go around and remove or update them, just put a price tag on the item itself. It's not hard.

Honest opinions about a product, not just coz its the one you have the best relationship with theimporter with and thus have better margins on it...

If I ask for an honest opinion on a product I expect honest answers not marketing wank...

Im sick of being told :

"our price on "x" is better than product "y" your looking at"

"U dont need feature "A" very often so why not buy this one... its much better.."

"to be frank we get a lot of returns on "Q" you're better off with this one..."

"Im not just telling you this becuase this is the one I sell..."

Places that carry on like the above I make a point of not buying from... even if I end up buying the one they recommend. Slander and sheety service gets up my nose...

thanks for the opportunity to provide some feedback... BYW - some of the blokes here are both well informed and smart and have lots of cash to spend on tools. being treated like a wanker in a shop by some pimply fred is no fun... I'll go spend my $1000's elsewhere thanks very much..."

cheers

To me it is customer service. I like friendly and helpful customer service. I want someone to offer me help first and then leave me alone.

NOT

“That is a router mate” or “That is edge trimmer”

Smartxxxx. I might be Chinese but I am not totally stupid.

Straight from your list these four will influence my purchase.
Product Knowledge
Product range
Pricing
Product stock levels

Pet hates are lack of courtesy and being told there is no stock when I have made a decision. Also staff slagging off manamgent or other staff - keep it in house.

It will be interesting to see what you view as the most important to lure a customer.

Originally Posted by wheelinround

For me and others like me or even the woman woodworker who rolls the stroller in the door ACCESS.

Why does it have to be a woman who's pushing a stroller! Just cause I go out for a roll with the boys doesn't mean we don't want more tools. I can fit a whole lot of power tool shopping in the dually!

Sir you have a company you can be proud of. Dont change for the sake of change and DONT get some half smart Sydney business consultant to come in stuff your business and charge you a fortune to do it. What you are doing seems great keep your staff and you will have time to seek better deals to offer better deals. Having done an amount of business with your company I am yet to come across one of those young upstarts just genuinely helpful and HONEST employees. So honest in fact he talked me out of buying something I was determined to get. Don't worry I had x dollars to spend so went to next item on wish list.

Product Knowledge: I think above answers that

Displays : Doesn't effect me am interstate buyer

Shop layout : as above

Product range: FANTASTIC could always have more

Pricing: I buy from Qld need we say more

Product stock levels: never had a problem

Service: great bunch to deal with

Tool sales: constantly check online

Demo days: again doesn't effect me however if you want to fly me down I am sure I'll buy.

My 2c worth
Rod