Walking Into A Brick & Mortar High End Audio Store

I can offer my perspective from the other side...I own an Internet business, selling jewelry (average purchase $1500), so my business competes against B&M stores - I try to poach customers based on price, and convenience, but I'm at the disadvantage of not being able to shake a customer's hand, or show them product face to face.

I can tell you that for B&W stores that don't take care of their customers, who provide poor, inattentive service, they are screwed - I will eat their lunch, and they should fear my business. But I'm also partnered with some B&M stores, and get to talk strategy with them, and the stores who DO take care of their customers, and provide personal, attentive, considerate, friendly service have nothing to fear from me. I'm a fly on an elephant's back to them, I'm meaningless. They will beat me 9 times out of 10 for a sale. Because people WANT good service, they want pleasant interpersonal buying experiences. They only come to me when they realize that there's no point paying more when they're not getting more, and I then win the sale.

For all you B&M stores out there, you should never concede that you're going to lose the sale to the cheaper, online vendor. It should be your mission to convince every customer who walks in your door - even those who you believe want nothing to do with buying from you - that YOUR shop is the place to be, and the place to buy from. If you take the attitude that buyers will buy online no matter what, it will become self-fulfilling and you will lose. I believe this because the only reason my business pays the bills is because there are enough of you out there who've already conceded defeat to online vendors like me.

And FYI - many of my customers are men, buying for their gals, so this isn't a "men are different than women" thing either.

You said it Cerrot, I completely agree. Relationships have value.

JWN, you're not wrong, you can get plenty of new or near-new equipment on Audiogon at great prices. But we're not talking socks and t-shirts here, items which you buy and forget. Audio equipment sometimes requires adjustment/repair, and it's good to have people in the business who are on your side. There's great value in paying extra and cultivating a relationship with a local dealer in case you need help somewhere along the line. Additionally, many/most B&M dealers also have a healthy business dealing in pre-owned equipment, in which case they can be competitive against Audiogon while still offering the benefits of a local relationship. When I was looking for an integrated tube amp, I couldn't afford my dealer's new Leben, but I could afford their mint condition pre-owned ARC VSi55. Now, I could have saved a couple hundred waiting for that to pop up on Audiogon instead, but I wanted a local resource in case I need help with tubes, fuses, whatever. I was willing to pay more to have a local "partner" I could call for help.

Also, many B&M stores have awesome trade-up policies giving you full credit on your purchases towards new gear.

Not to go off the reservation here, but we are social creatures. We're built to move around, interact with others, shake hands, have eye contact, talk, share ideas and commerce. We're not supposed to sit in one chair, in our underwear, avoiding sunshine, clicking a mouse all day having things brought to our front door.

I know exactly what you mean, Jwm, we're on the same page. I agree there's a subset group of buyers for whom price is the only consideration - nothing else matters. I just wonder if too many salespeople prematurely "give up" on potential customers thinking that they are part of that subset group, when in fact all they need is the right salesperson to look them in the eye, speak to them respectfully, ask the right questions, and show them the value of an interpersonal relationship. Some people just have to be shown the way - until they've eaten in a Ruth's Chris, they think Applebees has the best steak :-)