Golf shop attitudes

[Bakemono36]

I would have told you the same thing. I sell grips installed. You want to buy just the grips themselves, get them elsewhere and enjoy eating the shipping costs yourself.

and I would have told you to shove your grips where the sun dont shine and spent my money elsewhere from now on.
If you can afford to cop an attitude and say, "I sell grips installed, if you dont want me to install them you can shop else where" you are obviously so rich that you dont need my business.

 

[LyleG]

And I would have told you to have a nice day and gone back to work, and never have given it another second of thought. There is no money in selling grips by themselves, so why would I bother doing it? Shops makes their money on labor, not materials. You want to build it yourself, dont go to a club builder and expect him to kiss your ass for $5 of business. Its just not worth the trouble.

 

[fisher]

And I would have told you to have a nice day and gone back to work, and never have given it another second of thought. There is no money in selling grips by themselves, so why would I bother doing it? Shops makes their money on labor, not materials. You want to build it yourself, dont go to a club builder and expect him to kiss your ass for $5 of business. Its just not worth the trouble.

First off, this is not a club builder. Its a retail shop that sells clubs, bags, balls, shoes, accessories and everything else to play the game. They offer club fitting and a few other services as a small part of the business. Golf grips are no more a specialy item than are a bag of tees. Its a commodity item. If you're going to have them on display you had better be happy to sell them to anybody at a fair price and not be a dick about it.

"kiss your ass for $5 of business" Actually this was more like $100 worth of business and who knows I might have bought something else while I was there. Who knows, next month I might decide I want a set of $900 irons or a new driver. Guess what, I won't be going back there. Tomorrow I might run into a friend who likes my clubs and wants to know where he can get them......I will be sure to tell him where not to go. See how it works.:beach3:

You might not give it a "second thought" when you act sarcastic or snooty to a customer but rest assured that customer doesn't forget it and you can bet he tells his golf buddies about his bad experience with your shop.

 

[LyleG]

I dont care if its a retail store or not. Most places dont sell grips uninstalled, simple as that. Why should they change their policy for you? If they do sell them, they charge a premium. For this premium you get the goods immediately. You want to pay internet prices, have the retailer eat the shipping cost and still get premium service. This is a very unrealistic expectation. So IMO you are the one being unreasonable, or you simply have no idea how to run a profitable business. As for a cheap DIYer not coming back to my shop, or telling his cheap buddies not to come here either is doing me a favor.

 

[nututhugame]

First off, this is not a club builder. Its a retail shop that sells clubs, bags, balls, shoes, accessories and everything else to play the game. They offer club fitting and a few other services as a small part of the business. Golf grips are no more a specialy item than are a bag of tees. Its a commodity item. If you're going to have them on display you had better be happy to sell them to anybody at a fair price and not be a dick about it.

"kiss your ass for $5 of business" Actually this was more like $100 worth of business and who knows I might have bought something else while I was there. Who knows, next month I might decide I want a set of $900 irons or a new driver. Guess what, I won't be going back there. Tomorrow I might run into a friend who likes my clubs and wants to know where he can get them......I will be sure to tell him where not to go. See how it works.:beach3:

You might not give it a "second thought" when you act sarcastic or snooty to a customer but rest assured that customer doesn't forget it and you can bet he tells his golf buddies about his bad experience with your shop.

Totally agree here. Being a snob about $5 of business will absolutely lose you much more in the end. Being that way for any amount of business will yield the same result. Sell the damn grips for just over cost and have a good conversation about golf while the guy is in your shop. Grips are not going to make or break a golf shop. Developing good relationships and repeat customers will.

 

[nututhugame]

I dont care if its a retail store or not. Most places dont sell grips uninstalled, simple as that. Why should they change their policy for you? If they do sell them, they charge a premium. For this premium you get the goods immediately. You want to pay internet prices, have the retailer eat the shipping cost and still get premium service. This is a very unrealistic expectation. So IMO you are the one being unreasonable, or you simply have no idea how to run a profitable business. As for a cheap DIYer not coming back to my shop, or telling his cheap buddies not to come here either is doing me a favor.

Maybe they should change their policy for the better of their own struggling business. I also don't understand this whole premium garbage... a shop should buy grips wholesale at the same time when they place all their other orders and pay shipping once for everything.

I was just watching a vid on how to do grips so I can learn and the guy did it in under two min. while explaining how to do it. Charge for labor? How much? You could do 13 grips in a half hour... are you going to charge $30 for that? Business owners need to learn where to take their losses. Break even on a couple of grips with a smile on your face then turn on the sales prowess and sell them something else. As long as you stay friendly and knowledgeable you will sell them something today or maybe a month from now. And probably his friends too.

 

[LyleG]

I have been in business for 20 years. For grips I charge the price of the grip plus $3 per grip. I cant keep up with all the regripping I do. SO maybe you should start a business and see for yourself how fast you go under with your policies. My guess is you wouldnt last a full year.

 

[nututhugame]

I have been in business for 20 years. For grips I charge the price of the grip plus $3 per grip. I cant keep up with all the regripping I do. SO maybe you should start a business and see for yourself how fast you go under with your policies. My guess is you wouldnt last a full year.

So you get plenty of grip business.... how many people actually want to just buy grips at a decent price?

 

[fisher]

I dont care if its a retail store or not. Most places dont sell grips uninstalled, simple as that. .

Oh, Really???? Well here in reality land where I live I have no less than 6 places within easy driving distance where I can buy grips uninstalled without resorting to the internet. Let me list them for you.

Dicks Sporting Goods. 3 nearby locations that carry grips for the same prices golfsmith and golf galaxy sell them for online. 10 minutes away, 20 minutes away and 35 minutes away.

Golfsmith Retail Store 45 minutes away

Golf Galaxy Retail Store 40 minutes away

Golf USA retail Store 15 minutes away

Two mid sized private golf shops round out the 6. One 15 minutes away and one 25 minutes away.


Perhaps its different in the small town podunk market you are in Lyle the business genious but here we have plenty of choices. You sound like a really great guy to do business with. Remind me to stop by your golf mega custom shop some time as I'm sure you are a pleasure to deal with. But then again I'm just a stupid cheap DIY golfer who only spends about $2,000 a year on golf equipment and other items related to the sport.

 

[LyleG]

So smart guy, if you have all these choices available to you why didnt you go to one of them in the first place? Seems to me you are just bitter you didnt get what you want so know your crying about it. Let me get you a tissue.

 

[LyleG]

So you get plenty of grip business.... how many people actually want to just buy grips at a decent price?

I would say between phone calls and e-mails I get a dozen or so people a month wanting to buy grips and or shafts. I always tell them the same thing, try golfworks or golfsmith as we install everything we sell.
For taxation purposes its a huge pain to see parts retail. I have to fill out twice the paper work and charge 2 taxes and so on. By buying the parts and installing them it is far simpler from a business standpoint as well. This way i am strictly a service shop and not a retail shop. Different taxation, different zoning, bigger headache, and less profit.

 

[nututhugame]

Well then we are talking two different animals here. It sounds like you are more of a club fitter than a retailer. Either way would it hurt for a guy to respectfully decline while stating his policy rather than attituding a guy out of the shop. Every shop around here is as much retail if not more than anything else. Their stores are lined with product you can pick up and go... so is it too much to ask that they buy some grips in bulk and sell them at a decent price?

 

[fisher]

Lyle here has his own issues. It is obvious that he hasn't taken the time to read what was written before spouting off. Lyle seems bitter about his own line of work if you ask me.

As stated in the original post, I wanted to give the local guy a shot rather than deal with the chains or on-line. That being said though I'm not going to pay 25% more for the same item to someone who is arrogant and rude. I also stated, mr holier than thou super successful club guru, that if the guy had not been a dick about it I would likely have payed his inflated price rather than go elsewhere. Life is too short to spend your money at businesses that don't appreciate it.

 

[LyleG]

What you guys fail to understand is that the markup on grips is next to nothing. So a guy selling the grips by themselves makes so little money on them that it isnt worth carrying stock for the purpose of reselling. The only way to make money on grips is through installation. I dont care where you spend your money. I do my golf business because i like golf and talking golf with people. My golf business is one of three I own, and its the one I spend the least time on. However like any business I own, I intend to make a profit or i wont do it. Thats why I am still around while many others have failed.

 

[nututhugame]

fair enough.