May 19, 2012
► Customer Feedback: Amy and Carol from Marlborough, NH stated that their general shopping experience with us was Excellent. “We had excellent advice and service from Seth – good selection of pool tables to choose from.” “Seth was terrific. We live an hour away so he always accommodated us with phone calls, assisting with items we were interested in.” Sales help was Excellent, “Seth answered all our questions in depth (& we asked him a lot), was patient and never pushy. He is very knowledgeable and accommodating.” With regard to communication – “Our connection through Seth is how we communicate – he always calls when he says he will.” Product performance is Excellent. “We had a great team set up our pool table. It rolls perfectly (Mr. Cues).” What do we do really well? “Seth is knowledgeable and awesome. In addition, you have a wide selection of items that interest us, good prices.” “Just wanted to add my commendation for Seth. He continues to provide outstanding customer service for us. He is knowledgeable, friendly, patient, reasonable and responsive. We are big fans of your store because of him!”
► New advertising and weekly specials start tomorrow: “Seasonal Beats Them All”, and “Gas Grill Sale”. There are two ads running. Lots of discount pool supplies will be on sale, along with a coupon for really low prices on sand and DE. There is a copy of the coupon in the coupon envelope. Note that it expires 6/2/12, and it is limited to four bags per customer, per day.
► We have a new special order book on Viking log furniture. You can mostly use it to sell log pool tables like the Ponderosa, plus game tables, chairs, cue racks, and lamps to match.
► NC51 Climber automatic pool cleaner is about to get a $35 factory rebate; from 5/19/12 to 6/17/12.
► Belated Happy Birthday to Kyle two days ago, and Happy Birthday next Wednesday to Seth.
► We are currently out of Baqua Spa Oxidizer two-packs, for apparently two reasons: putting two-packs instead of singles into spa packages, and counting cases of two-packs as 12, when they are really 6, last fall.
► TheCanterbury gazebo now has two price tags on it. They redesigned it, and lowered the price by almost $1,000. So special orders are now $4,999, and we lowered the floor model to $4,797. I added the most obvious differences to the price signs.
► Saturday, 5/19 is the last day of the Baquacil sale, sand & DE sale, the high quality automatic pool cleaner sale, and the discount pool supply sale that has been running. The discount automatic pool cleaners will continue as a Memorial Day sale for two more weeks.
► We are about to run out of the Maintain #120 Flex Vac. The factory broke the mold and it will be 2013 before they make more. We may run out of the other styles, as we wait for the senior pool staff to decide what should replace it.
► We added some cross reference material to the Heat Pump and Gas Heater page to translate BTU’s to gallons or pounds of propane, and CCF or therms of natural gas. By the way, that information is universal, so it applies to fire pits, gas grills, furnaces, and anything that burns gas and you know its maximum output in BTU’s per hour.
► Would anyone have an idea why so many people have signed up for Seasonal Sense? Have we explained how much money they are losing by not joining Seasonal Reward$? Or, are we just telling people that we have it when they don’t want to give us their email address? If that is the case, I hope they get mad at you and not me.
► See if this sounds familiar: The History section of the Special Gift Certificates asks the cashier for how or why they got it. Anne-Marie goes so far as to pre-write for you: “Cashier: it’s an auction. Find out what customer paid for this: $_____”. I never say things in the Gull News unless I saw the problem in the store. I never repeat unless it’s a constant problem. So, starting now, this will be a deduction from Quarterly Bonuses.
► Only one deposit mistake and one warranty item without a name last week. Good job.
► There is an email line on the Pool School Reservation list. Please try to get it.
► The email line on our large receipt needs to have either an email address, or “Declined”. No exceptions.
► If you are going to make a cashier write up a contract for you, I am still holding you responsible for doing it correctly. It would be nice if a 17 year old could remember to write up a pool cover properly, but it’s the grown-up’s job to write it up properly.
► If you can not sign, date, and initial a note to someone here, just throw it away. What good is it to me when it’s not complete? I don’t have the time to wander around the building asking if anyone recognizes someone’s handwriting so I can learn more.
► D&P has just finished our first inground liner change of the year. Two more have signed contracts, and three more are likely to sign.
► If we get them finished in time, we should have two new pieces of literature. A short explanation of phosphates and times and reasons to remove them, and a revised Pool Tips on converting from chlorine to Baquacil, that works for the Economy Program and for the CDX Program. If you help people in the pool store, you should read them both.
► Every year, we get more requests for a Pool Opening kit like the one the customer is buying somewhere else (online or from that big chain mostly). We could make one, and it would make that customer happier. Why don’t we? 1. Because it seems so dishonest. As you know, pool opening chemicals are the same ones you will be using all summer. Adding an initial dose of a watered down algaecide (so that it comes to an even bottle) is more expensive than adding an initial dose of the algaecide you are going to be using anyway. A bottle of watered-down clarifier won’t hurt, but why use it if you don’t need it? 2..The chances for over-dose and under-dose on algaecide are really high if the opening kit one is the same type as your weekly, and you follow the directions for the initial dose of the weekly. Or, if it is a different family, and you don’t follow the initial dose directions on your weekly, now you will be too low all summer! For us, it’s a matter of honesty, and I’ll tell people that: it just doesn’t seem honest to add an opening kit to chemicals you already have.
► We just received Intex Ionization and Salt-System units. They are a new upgrade from their old, discontinued salt systems. They are definitely more expensive, but these are really much better units. The good ones have an item number ending in EG. The lousy ones end in no letter or in an E. All of the ones I find online are the old ones.
► I heard a genius on the radio the other day. The tourism director for a rural area at the Minnesota and Ohio borders. There is really lousy cell phone coverage there. So he is advertising for people to come on an electronics-free vacation. “Talk to each other, look each other in the eye”, etc. A local hotel followed his program and removed the televisions from every room and saw their business double! Once again, find what you are best at and appeal to people who care about it.
► Free copies of “Bits & Pieces” are available in the lunch room. Here’s an excerpt from a different one:
– Nobody will believe in you unless you believe in yourself. Liberace
– The opportunity for brotherhood presents itself every time you meet a human being. Jane Wyman
– There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up. Booker T. Washington
► Internet Humor: Some days you just can’t win: There I was sitting at the bar staring at my drink when a large, trouble-making biker steps up next to me, grabs my drink and gulps it down in one swig. “Well, whatcha’ gonna do about?” he says menacingly, as I burst into tears. “Come on, man,” the biker says, “I didn’t think you’d CRY. I can’t stand to see a man crying.”
“This is the worst day of my life,” I say. “I’m a complete failure. I was late to a meeting and my boss fired me. When I went to the parking lot, I found my car had been stolen and I don’t have any insurance. I left my wallet in the cab I took home. I found my wife with another man… and then my dog bit me.” “So…I came to this bar to work up the courage to put an end to it all, I buy a drink, I drop a capsule in and sit here watching the poison dissolve; and then you show up and drink the whole dam thing!… But, hell, enough about me, how are you doing?”