[rodgersorganusers] Re: New Organ Blues
- From: noel jones <gedeckt@xxxxxxxx>
- To: rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 09:30:59 -0500
Two issues have emerged here:
1. Organ buyers are concerned they will be charged too much by dealers.
2. Dealers are concerned some dealers will not charge enough.
Al has a valid concern.
A "weak" dealership will be evidenced by poor response to service calls,
unfriendly personnel once you have bought (or even worse before you
buy). little presence in the community through advertising and events
and heavy discounting.
Why is discounting bad? The typical pipe organ rep often does it part
time, working as a church musician or teacher as such, and they get a
commission check when the church buys. They are not required to service
the organ, have a place where people can see new ones, keep new ones
around in stock, have people ready to answer the phone either in person
or by an efficient voice mail/paging system...
Rodgers could sell that way. Rodgers has felt, historically, that this
model sales situation benefits them and the customer. Cutting prices by
only having a sales rep could lower Rodgers prices...which would cause
Rodgers to sell more organs in some people's thinking. But the support
system would not exist...which would hurt sales.
Imagine buying a Rodgers and being told, when you called for service,
that you have to use a local repair firm...that may have no experience
and no connection with Rodgers...happens all the time in this business.
If the tech is willing to work on your instrument, he learns how to fix
it using your $!
But the real problem with discounting is that if the dealer does not
charge enough to maintain their sales and service organization the
business cannot succeed and are not there when you need them.
Saving money is good, being left out in the cold when you need help is
not and we all know that when we buy at a discount we can expect less
support. At Walmart you buy it and if doesn't work for you, you take it
back.
I have been in the organ sales business since 1977. I have never seen a
situation in which a customer was overcharged by a dealer. I have seen
situations where customers come in to discuss a trade in and they tell
us that their organ was $90,000 when they bought it but the dealer let
them have it for $45,000. The organ is almost always a $45,000 organ.
At this time price checking is a given with easy access to dealers phone
numbers...
noel jones
New link to Christmas Music at www.frogmusic.com!
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