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What makes a good hi-fi Dealer.
- Thread starter D Louth 77
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Someone who actually listens to you.
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Thanks Dev
I agree ,thats a good start.
Regards D Louth
I agree ,thats a good start.
Regards D Louth
dudywoxer
Regaholic
Not only listen to you, but also listens to his stock, some of them must know they don't all work together.
One who'll give you a guaranteed buy back/trade in price on what he's trying to sell you.
One who'll recommend gear he doesn't actually stock(but would source for you).
One who doesn't damage his credibility by talking crap about accessories etc.
One who'll recommend gear he doesn't actually stock(but would source for you).
One who doesn't damage his credibility by talking crap about accessories etc.
bottleneck
talks a load of rubbish
ok 
1) Will lend you stuff to try at home, with no sales pressure to buy it.
2) Will be passionate about 'fair import prices' rather than a convert $ into £ at a 1:1 ratio..
3) Will sell your trade ins on Ebay without commission.
4) Will not take the piss with repairs
5) Will give you the system you want, not the one he wants you to have/ likes himself
6) Will mix-in trade-ins/used/demo with new when customers budgets are pushed
7) Will try to stock excellent brands that don't have substantial UK presence already, to help choice/diversify.
8) Will be as excited and interested in HIFI as I am,.. moreso than my wallet
9) Patient and courteous, not arrogant or snobish
10) Will always reccomend a home dem.
11) Will volunteer to visit your home if needed (and not too far)
12) 'no quibbling' over returns, repairs etc
13) Be passionate about music, and sharing it with customers.
I could go on, but I think I already have!
1) Will lend you stuff to try at home, with no sales pressure to buy it.
2) Will be passionate about 'fair import prices' rather than a convert $ into £ at a 1:1 ratio..
3) Will sell your trade ins on Ebay without commission.
4) Will not take the piss with repairs
5) Will give you the system you want, not the one he wants you to have/ likes himself
6) Will mix-in trade-ins/used/demo with new when customers budgets are pushed
7) Will try to stock excellent brands that don't have substantial UK presence already, to help choice/diversify.
8) Will be as excited and interested in HIFI as I am,.. moreso than my wallet
9) Patient and courteous, not arrogant or snobish
10) Will always reccomend a home dem.
11) Will volunteer to visit your home if needed (and not too far)
12) 'no quibbling' over returns, repairs etc
13) Be passionate about music, and sharing it with customers.
I could go on, but I think I already have!
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cooky1257 You really do have an issue with accessories. I am almost afraid to comment ,but i will . Yes there have been some ridiculous claims over the years Peter Belt being one (most famous/infamous),but i have played around with enough stuff to say that a lot does work. Why? I don't always know and quite often the inventor does not know fully either. Should they BS ,no but ,people need to be persuaded to try . Any good dealer should be able to filter out the crap and let you try the good;even if they can't fully explain it.
The problem with your second point is its not as easy as that for the dealer. If they don't deal with that brand ,trying to can be hard . Demands from the brand ,may include stocking the whole range (to get the one piece you need),minimum order(demo plus two to go)etc. Any good dealer will look at your request and examine it and the brand and they ,via you may find something amazing they had missed . However they may know of a number of reasons (other than margin) why that product is not right. Poor reliability,bad back up service,to many model/version changes,poor resale etc.If it is so good they should be doing it already but may not be able if someone else local to them is doing it already.If they aren't doing it then their understanding of it will also be poor and hence they will not be able to fully appreciate how it may or may not relate to you. Quite often things can be complicated.
Hi bottleneck good list ,only one item causes me an issue . The Dollar pound thing is done to provide a margin for the importer/distributor and provide a margin for the dealer who does the product. The US has no export agreements/policy so US manufactures don't allow for other countries to sell their gear (most feel that the US is a big enough venue already)this also makes the resale cost here to be dearer. European brands all have an export cost ,which allows similiar pricing through out as well as the EEC rules. Exchange rates and the value of currency will always have an affect on product pricing(at least it is Dollar to Pound,it good be worse). If a Dealer imports a product for his shop only then yes,it can allow the cost of the item to be closer to the country of origin price. But it is up to them if they want to do that. In that case maybe hitting them for more discount might be an option(but only if they don't provide the best service,this does cost). If you live in the US ,European prices are going through the roof at the minute,so its worse for them in many ways.
Unknown brands is a big risk,and very hard to sell,unless of course people have open minds and more often than not they don't.
Regards D Louth
The problem with your second point is its not as easy as that for the dealer. If they don't deal with that brand ,trying to can be hard . Demands from the brand ,may include stocking the whole range (to get the one piece you need),minimum order(demo plus two to go)etc. Any good dealer will look at your request and examine it and the brand and they ,via you may find something amazing they had missed . However they may know of a number of reasons (other than margin) why that product is not right. Poor reliability,bad back up service,to many model/version changes,poor resale etc.If it is so good they should be doing it already but may not be able if someone else local to them is doing it already.If they aren't doing it then their understanding of it will also be poor and hence they will not be able to fully appreciate how it may or may not relate to you. Quite often things can be complicated.
Hi bottleneck good list ,only one item causes me an issue . The Dollar pound thing is done to provide a margin for the importer/distributor and provide a margin for the dealer who does the product. The US has no export agreements/policy so US manufactures don't allow for other countries to sell their gear (most feel that the US is a big enough venue already)this also makes the resale cost here to be dearer. European brands all have an export cost ,which allows similiar pricing through out as well as the EEC rules. Exchange rates and the value of currency will always have an affect on product pricing(at least it is Dollar to Pound,it good be worse). If a Dealer imports a product for his shop only then yes,it can allow the cost of the item to be closer to the country of origin price. But it is up to them if they want to do that. In that case maybe hitting them for more discount might be an option(but only if they don't provide the best service,this does cost). If you live in the US ,European prices are going through the roof at the minute,so its worse for them in many ways.
Unknown brands is a big risk,and very hard to sell,unless of course people have open minds and more often than not they don't.
Regards D Louth
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A dealer should have a basic understanding of room acoustics. Some of the half truths that go flying around at hifi shows and demo rooms really don't do their clients any favours.
I dont mean they need to be an expert, they should just know their limits.
Some dealers place more emphasis on system synergy than they do on system/room synergy. It's getting better but how many times have we all seen mega buck systems in rooms that obviously sound as harsh as feck.
I dont mean they need to be an expert, they should just know their limits.
Some dealers place more emphasis on system synergy than they do on system/room synergy. It's getting better but how many times have we all seen mega buck systems in rooms that obviously sound as harsh as feck.
Well you did ask what we'd like to see.....
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Hi cooky ,your right i did but some of what you ask is very hard to do and i was offering an explanation as to why it is hard.
Regards D Louth
Regards D Louth
lbr
monkey boy
- home demo facility is an absolute must for me, preferably over a few days at least, rather than a few hours with the dealer breathing down your neck (figuratively speaking of course)
- passion and knowledge are both also key
- a low key sales pitch is nice. I don't like feeling pressured
- everything else that bottleneck said
Picking up on a couple of points from above posts:
- a dealer who will recommend gear that he doesn't stock is an excellent dealer. I'm not bothered if he can't source it for me himself, but the job of a dealer is to provide his client with the best possible system for that client's needs. It shouldn't matter whether or not that dealer stocks the gear. This links back to my point above about knowledge - dealers know lots, hopefully they know about more than just the specific items they stock, a good dealer shares that knowledge.
- dollar to pound. A bugbear of mine
All too often I see retail prices in the States which equate, dollar to pound, to retail prices in the UK. There are two factors which will account for a price uplift - shipping (esp. for US manufactured items) and VAT/duty (as most US retail prices are quoted excl. sales tax). Taken together, for most hifi sold in the UK that would be about a 25% price lift. With the exchange rate as it is today (50.5p per dollar), that's 63p per dollar, not £1 per dollar.
Remember, that this is a comparison of retail price to retail price. The retail price in the US already has distributor and retailer margin built in. There is no reason why an international distributor should earn higher margin than a US distributor nor any reason why he should pay the manufacturer a higher price than a US distributor.
The export policy argument is a counter-argument against a price parity position, but no-one is arguing for price parity, just a fair price that reflects current exchange rates.
- passion and knowledge are both also key
- a low key sales pitch is nice. I don't like feeling pressured
- everything else that bottleneck said
Picking up on a couple of points from above posts:
- a dealer who will recommend gear that he doesn't stock is an excellent dealer. I'm not bothered if he can't source it for me himself, but the job of a dealer is to provide his client with the best possible system for that client's needs. It shouldn't matter whether or not that dealer stocks the gear. This links back to my point above about knowledge - dealers know lots, hopefully they know about more than just the specific items they stock, a good dealer shares that knowledge.
- dollar to pound. A bugbear of mine
All too often I see retail prices in the States which equate, dollar to pound, to retail prices in the UK. There are two factors which will account for a price uplift - shipping (esp. for US manufactured items) and VAT/duty (as most US retail prices are quoted excl. sales tax). Taken together, for most hifi sold in the UK that would be about a 25% price lift. With the exchange rate as it is today (50.5p per dollar), that's 63p per dollar, not £1 per dollar.
Remember, that this is a comparison of retail price to retail price. The retail price in the US already has distributor and retailer margin built in. There is no reason why an international distributor should earn higher margin than a US distributor nor any reason why he should pay the manufacturer a higher price than a US distributor.
The export policy argument is a counter-argument against a price parity position, but no-one is arguing for price parity, just a fair price that reflects current exchange rates.
Are you a dealer then?
bottleneck
talks a load of rubbish
- dollar to pound. A bugbear of mine
All too often I see retail prices in the States which equate, dollar to pound, to retail prices in the UK. There are two factors which will account for a price uplift - shipping (esp. for US manufactured items) and VAT/duty (as most US retail prices are quoted excl. sales tax). Taken together, for most hifi sold in the UK that would be about a 25% price lift. With the exchange rate as it is today (50.5p per dollar), that's 63p per dollar, not £1 per dollar.
Remember, that this is a comparison of retail price to retail price. The retail price in the US already has distributor and retailer margin built in. There is no reason why an international distributor should earn higher margin than a US distributor nor any reason why he should pay the manufacturer a higher price than a US distributor.
The export policy argument is a counter-argument against a price parity position, but no-one is arguing for price parity, just a fair price that reflects current exchange rates.
...exactly my feeling, agree entirely.
Markus S
Trade
Not true for US brands.
A US manufacturer will generally sell to his European distributor for much the same price as he sells to his dealers. Understandable if you remember that a European distributor will most probably take less units than a good US retailer in a large city.
bottleneck, I f I ever should (God forbid) become a dealer, remind me not to take your custom.
ok
1) Will lend you stuff to try at home, with no sales pressure to buy it.
2) Will be passionate about 'fair import prices' rather than a convert $ into £ at a 1:1 ratio..
3) Will sell your trade ins on Ebay without commission.
4) Will not take the piss with repairs
5) Will give you the system you want, not the one he wants you to have/ likes himself
6) Will mix-in trade-ins/used/demo with new when customers budgets are pushed
7) Will try to stock excellent brands that don't have substantial UK presence already, to help choice/diversify.
8) Will be as excited and interested in HIFI as I am,.. moreso than my wallet
9) Patient and courteous, not arrogant or snobish
10) Will always reccomend a home dem.
11) Will volunteer to visit your home if needed (and not too far)
12) 'no quibbling' over returns, repairs etc
13) Be passionate about music, and sharing it with customers.
I could go on, but I think I already have!
Yes most of this
should also be passionate about hifi
+ stress the importance of good set up....speakers etc.
Despite what I suspect are (hinted at least
) anti comments regards vibration management/microphany, i think a dealer should at least point a newbie in the direction of a well constructed stand.My local dealer does indeed do that.
Shrewbury town centre ....not naming names.
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la toilette
Downright stupid
Of course he does, he sells them, for a profit
.Anyway, a shop is a shop is a shop IMO. They have things to sell, they try and sell them to you. I've met snooty, disagreeable, or poorly informed sales people in loads of different types of shops, and I've met pleasant, helpful, and well informed sales people in loads of different types of shops.
lbr
monkey boy
This assumes that distributors don't exist in the US doesn't it? If that is the case, and I'm not sure it is, then it begs the question why do we need them in the EU? Surely the consumer is just picking up the tab for a needlessly inefficient supply chain. I would hazard a guess that distributors perform a valuable role in both the EU and US.
In any case, without having sales figures for specific brands to hand I'm not convinced by the volume discount argument. The target market is considerably larger in the EU (c.500m people) than the whole of the US (c.300m), let alone a specific city (New York, 20m)
bottleneck
talks a load of rubbish
I'm also not convinced that there aren't USA equivalents of distributors. It doesn't sound right to me, given the massive scale (land-wise) of the USA.
If a manufacturer in California feels happy to distribute direct to a shop in New York - two thousand miles away, then they should feel the same about a shop/chain of shops in Surrey..
Markus, I'm ,more than happy to admit I dont fit into 'boutique' buying scenarios. I'd rather pay less and get more
If a manufacturer in California feels happy to distribute direct to a shop in New York - two thousand miles away, then they should feel the same about a shop/chain of shops in Surrey..
Markus, I'm ,more than happy to admit I dont fit into 'boutique' buying scenarios. I'd rather pay less and get more
Of course he does, he sells them, for a profit
Anyway, a shop is a shop is a shop IMO. They have things to sell, they try and sell them to you. .
I don't dispute that a shop is a profit making organistion but I would hope the seller's first concern is that he is offering vfm.....and the stuff he is suggesting is going to reward the buyer over a period of time.
I would hope he isn't JUST listening to the money going in his till......I dare say there are those as well.