March 22, 2014

►    Customer Feedback:  A customer from Dunstable, MA stated that their general shopping experience with us was Good.  Did any of our team members do an unusually good job?  “Andrew – attentive but not too pushy.”  Sales help was Excellent.  Operations, communication, and products were rated Good.  “Chairs and table – they work!”  What do we do really well?  “Good displays, helpful staff.”

►    Advertising slightly changes on Sunday, 3/23, with an additional ad:  “Hurry, Hurry, Hurry”. Everything else remains the same.

►    Next week is the final week of the March Patio Furniture Sale:  ending on Saturday, March 29.  Actually, everything else ends then, also.

►    PLEASE.  Every coupon that I create has your directions written on the bottom.  Generally, it probably says “Staple coupon to a copy of the receipt and send to the office.”  So please do so.  We waste way too much time trying to trace why we have coupons without backup, or coupon item numbers rung up without a coupon.

►    Since we are doing a much better job of selling a variety of pools this year, and we are so much cheaper than Namco, we will be stocking the Cayman in more sizes:  18’, 21’, 24’, and 27’.

►    We are beginning a completely new winter cover program.  While we do not have all of the samples yet, it should not matter to you.  Because of the clearance sale, the old covers should sell first.  All Swimline covers are on a yellow clearance page.  The new Target/Robelle covers are on a regular orange page.  The new mesh and leaf nets are on green.  The new Target/Robelle supreme covers are much better than the Swimline.  Rather than me go on here, look at the samples, and come to a “New Products” class.

►    We might have switched from GE to Wells Fargo financing by now – it will happen when Pat is ready.  Why?  The Wells Fargo will cover everything we carry, not just some things.  The biggest difference:  Pools!  The common options are roughly equivalent or slightly better.  Marquis is now supporting Wells Fargo.   And Marquis is running a special on financing:  “12 months No Interest” plan no. 1878.  This is only on Marquis Hot Tubs, only until        April 30^th, and there are lots of rules that we cannot change – this is a Wells Fargo sale.  I assume there will be signs someplace soon.  We also have regained the option to offer other financing if the customer is willing to pay more for the product.  That means you skip a sale or raise the price of the largest item, by enough to cover the upcharge.  The page in the program book will tell you more.

►    Marquis is also running a second online promotion in April:  a $500 coupon towards the Wish or the Spirit.  We will honor it.  Unfortunately, Marquis is not standing behind this – they expect us to do it!  They expect us to raise our prices by $500 to cover the coupon; which seems dishonest to me.  So it will kill all of your par to give the $200 delivery rebate and the coupon.  That means nothing else is available!

►    Happy Fifth Anniversary to Mia, on March 26.

►    To make your jobs a little easier, we have pasted the directions for requesting an insurance estimate on our website, in the Pool Tips area – called “Insurance Estimates”.  You still have them here in the store, and you have them saved to email in the Manager’s office.

►    From Stephanie, and the internet:

1.  It’s hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things literally.
2.  What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
3.  3 logicians walk into a bar.  The bartender asks “Do all of you want a drink?”  The first logician says “I don’t know.”  The second logician says “I don’t know”.  The third logician says “Yes!”