What does it take for a dealer to lose a client?
Longacre
Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
There has been a lot of discussion about what a dealer can do to gain clients, provide good service, etc. Is there anything that a dealer can do to lose a client (not intentionally), even someone who has had past dealings with that dealer? For example, there have been studies done in the legal world about what annoys clients the most when dealing with a lawyer. On the top of the list is lack of communication, and even basic things like returning phone calls. I can relate to that when I am trying to get a contractor/service provider to call me back when I need a repair done at my house. I can also relate to anxiously waiting for a doctor to finish his mint julep at the country club to call me with my medical test results. So what are the biggest pet peeves of clients that might make them refuse to continue to work with a dealer?
Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
0
Comments
Bingo!
I would add that if a dealer repeatedly sold a relatively green customer low quality coins passed of as high quality (either intentionally or unknowingly), especially at high prices, that would be a reason to not work with that dealer once the collector realized what was going on.
Obviously, any fraud, theft, bad checks, etc. would be grounds for a client bolting.
I can also relate to anxiously waiting at the country club, finishing a mint julep, for a doctor to call me with my medical test results.
Well, most of us do not drink mint juleps at the club like you apparently do (
The perception that the dealer views them as a "live one" who will buy inferior material at inflated prices.
Yeah, not responding to phonecalls or emails would be right up there. Also, being generally cranky or rude or treating me like my business isn't worth much. I don't have a lot to spend at any given time, but if you add it up over years and years, it is probably worth having. The dealers I like the best seem to "get" that.
Losing an auction consignment after it was received (have heard of one sad story in this regard).
Not executing a bid properly as a representative of a bidder at an auction.
Not giving a favored client first shot at some choice coins when you first get them in (John J. Ford lost
Mrs. Norweb as a client over a situation like this back in the 1950s.)
dont get me started
I am not saying that a dealer doesn't add value, but those that do not will loose their customers. Having no experiences with a dealer is just as bad as having bad experiences.
Robert A. Heinlein
2. Being arrested for fencing stolen goods
3. Being arrested for treason, espionage, or terrorism.
CG
Sat my stuff down, walked out.........never to return.
Positive BST: WhiteThunder (x2), Ajaan, onefasttalon, mirabela, Wizard1, cucamongacoin, mccardguy1
Negative BST: NONE!
that the dealer is sort of looking out for their best interest
in the collecting field. A good dealer can do that and still make
a fair living.
Camelot
I don't think he likes you.
I would have left as well.
Back to the question.
I try to spend money with a dealer that gives me first shot at something really cool that just came in.
When they stop giving me that chance, I tend to spend my money where they do.
That said, I never burn a bridge.
You just never know when you might need to cross it again.
One thing that does it on the first strike is pulling out the Blue Sheet on a Sight Seen transaction. Thats a automatic "Poof You Are Gone".
Ken
This fellow buys bullion gold from time to time, and like many folks from his country, the bickering over price is part of the deal. He will argue price for half an hour, starting out at $35 or $40 under spot. By the time its done, he's happy, I'm worn out, and life goes on. Once in a while, I have to holler "OUT"! On several occasions, I've made it stick for a few weeks, but I can't stay mad at him. He's a real corker.
And it ain't my shop. That does carry a little weight. hehe
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Me being a first-time customer, the simple words in reply to me asking how much something was: "I'll take it out if you buy it." or anything of that sort. I'll reply "In that case, no thank you" and walk off.
I don't buy from one dealer I see every month is because he tells me that a $20 coin is expensive.
Me: "How much is XXXXXXX?"
Him: "Well, it's expensive."
Me: "How much?"
Him: "$20"
2. Dealers who are too busy to return your phone calls.
also dealer does not want to make a two way markwet in the stuff he sells
<< <i>This may sound kinda simple, but a regular client should feel
that the dealer is sort of looking out for their best interest
in the collecting field. A good dealer can do that and still make
a fair living. >>
Here's a jelly donut for your sage advice.
Take care...Mike
that the dealer is sort of looking out for their best interest
in the collecting field. A good dealer can do that and still make
a fair living. >>
yep; its a lot like having a goose that lays gold eggs. first law of business is that you NEVER screw a good customer. I know a gun dealer or two who would do well to heed that adage.
Dealer rude, inattentive to customer.
Via mail list:
Grading "optimistic"
Undisclosed problems.
<< <i>Dealer never pays a premium for varieties, toning, etc. but always wants a big premium for such things if he offers them for sale. >>
Amen to that; I just tell em I was born at nite but it warn't last nite. Most of them seem to automatically size one up as a sucker or a moron.
Not remembering a repeat customer is rather irritating.
No flexibility in prices turns me away for ever. My experience with Harlan J.Berk is such.
Wipping out the grey sheet for each coin I ask about tells me the dealer is looking to raise the price as high as possible.
A web site with very few coins available.
A dealer that speaks to one customer in a language you don't understand and then both smile at you.
A dealer that tries to tell you things you know are not true.
Dealers with bad breath or body odor.
Two dealers talking and you can't get service because they are to busy.
If you tell a dealer at a coin show there is another dealer with the same coin as this one for a lot less and they tell you to go buy it then.
etc. etc. etc. etc.