Re:
cheers guys! i hope it works out aswel! it's costing a fortune!
my customers have been really good so far, mostly basic bikes but a few gems. i'm doing alot of services that require a new chain/cassette and chainset, although it means only 60ish for those parts as the bikes are basic it means that by the time you add a few cables and brake pads and a bit of labour it's £100 in the till and the customers have commented on the difference in the feel on the bikes, i think they ride them into the ground and have no clue how bad they are until it's sorted and then they are shocked at the difference!
i'm quoting retail prices to them and if the bill goes over a certain value i'll do a little deal and with my labour rate being less than everyone else locally (because i can afford it to be) then my repair bills come in at a very good cost, which i think they need to as a customer with a £300 bike gets worried when you quote over £100 to repair it which may be quite realistic but they don't understand why it's that much and simply because unlike us on this forum they are not cyclists like we are, they're not in to it a such, it's a bike to ride with the kids on the weekend or a commuter that they don't care about.
so education of my customers is required but that's what i want, people i can explain stuff to and they see the value in it.
anyway, it's going reasonably well bearing in mind i've only been here 4 weeks although some companies don't want to deal with me because apparently i'm too near a couple of other shops territory wise, i pointed out that the nearest shop is 7 miles away and doesn't stock their products and the other shop doesn't either that's 12 miles away and concentrates on mail order anyway, so that kind of stuff is annoying when you want the products, but hopefully that will sort itself out once they understand the area and local inter shop politics!
