June 10, 2017
► We have a short Reward$ email going out next week; with a $5.00 coupon with only a $19.00 purchase. As usual, just follow the rules.
► Customer Feedback: Customer Gayle K. from Medfield, MA rated her general shopping experience as Excellent. “Very helpful sales associates, no pressure, gave me their card… call if and when I make a decision.” Did any of our team members do an unusually good job? “I can’t remember her name – lovely girl and spoke to her several times over the phone.” Sales help was rated Excellent. Operations people and communication were rated Good. Product performance: So far – great. Hope quality holds although I did buy the floor model and one “mesh” chair had a tiny hole. She would recommend us to a friend. “Would like to know if I can order additional products from the same manufacturer in the future.”
► Advertising, specials, and promotions continue from last week: “Pool and Patio Sale”
► There were 45 One-of-These Awards for May; 14 for Customer Service. Finalists were Mia, Anne-Marie, Ryan, Ally, and Jim. Owner’s Choice was Mia, and the Drawing Winner was Alex.
► In the last two weeks, we have sold an extraordinary amount of Econo Shock. Too bad for a few reasons:
- It really isn’t a very good shock.
- It is really difficult to get more, because only a few stores in New England carry it. And, except for us, they are the big chain stores that just place one order a year and run out whenever they run out. We had a second pallet due in August, and we are going to need it this week!
- We might have that pallet very soon, but it’s hard to be sure. I caught a truck on its way to the factory.
- So we may run out for a period of time: a week, a month, or more. Since it’s an advertised item, you may have to apologize and give out a raincheck.
► No one has been buying the Active 30, Apollo, Apollo Plus, and C4 auto cleaners, so I’ve marked them down substantially, first come, first served. And, the Factory Rebates are still good on a few of them!
► We are trying to update the Grill program: prices, signs, program page, sale page, online prices, etc. We are trying to do it fast, which means we cannot do it well. So, you may see most of the changes Saturday morning, though it could be Monday or Tuesday. We did clarify the FREE accessories promotion on Wednesday, June 7, to coordinate with the vendors. Our online prices could be a little off, but we never should put our actual selling prices online, so consumers should not care. It is possible that we will have some temporary grill signs, if they were never started until yesterday! I appreciate your patience.
► The features spreadsheet on the new Automatic Pool Cleaners (2017A) has been revised – there were a lot of mistakes – to match the literature.
► Events during the next couple of weeks:
June 10-11: Customer Appreciation Days: Free Gifts with any purchase, while they last.
June 14: Pool School 102 ~ Introduction to Pool Chemistry, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
June 18: Father’s Day ~ FREE Gifts for fathers, future fathers, and fathers-at-heart, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
June 24: Happy Birthday Patrick and Rose: FREE birthday cake in the coffee shop, while supplies last.
► From Anne-Marie: We now accept American Express. This was officially turned on Tuesday, June 6th.
► All In A Day’s Work by Reader’s Digest:
Kramer vs. Kramer was a Dustin Hoffman/Meryl Streep film about a bitter divorce. During a break in the filming of the courtroom scene, Dustin Hoffman approached an actual court reporter who had been hired to sit behind the stenography machine. “Is this what you do?” he asked. “Divorces?” “Oh, I did them for years,” the woman said. “But I burned out. I couldn’t do it anymore. It was just too painful.” She added cheerfully, “I really love what I’m doing now.” “What?” Hoffman asked. “Homicides.”