informed employees, knowing what you stock an the parms of the fishies needs are, knowing what fish can live with others, how big etc etc , most people in the hobby will know what they are looking for, an thus will be there choice to purchase , the key in what i'm saying is to have knowledge to tell to the people that are just starting out, if you know what you are talking about , an they rely on what you are telling them, an they have no problems they will believe what you are telling them , an THEY will be back, keep an get quailty stock, unlike the big chain stores can or will do, (IE tonight i seen neon tetra disesae in a tank with there stock to sell, so that means the chain stores are to big to control this , or don't care what the sell in the name of a dollar) Be able to order anything a person needs or wants at a fair price. like what i found at frank & pegs a piece of driftwood for $8.57 ( which i think they made a mistake) , then when i was in need of some substrate that was 35 a bag everywhere , i went there to buy it, an drove farther to get, they where fair to me , SO I REMEMBER THAT!!!!!!!!!!!
LFS survey
- Thread starter Irish563
- Start date
:iagree: That's one of the things that we appreciate about our lfs - plants, veggie clip, hose adapter, even gave me 4 tetras that came in a batch of cardinals that they couldn't positively ID, but I really like them. I can't remeber all of the little things that they have given us. they did give us a $50 discount on the last tank we bought from them because I couldn't decide between the 29 and the 37 tall. the 29 was $45 cheaper than the 37 tall, and the discount made it cheaper for me to get the 37 than the 29.
DUST! even if you have to hire a tiny little old lady to come and do the dusting for you twice a week, get it done! i really really hate going into a store that has dust on the product or even on the shelves. if i don't want to touch it, i'm not going to buy it. if you know you have a product that doesn't sell well but you don't want to stop keeping it in stock, only keep a few bottles/bags/whatever on the shelves, so that grime doesn't build up on it.
ewww.
ewww.
spirals
i will eat you in your sleep
lol good idea, but there will never be a time where there's nothing else that can be done, there is always facing (straightening products) or cleaning or observing or...
for me...(what i would focus on if i had my choice and will focus on if i get my promotion)
1) Educated staff/Motivated staff- Provide info for them, life spans, tank sizes, diets, etc. Something I'm working on is making life size paper models of larger fish (such as Oscars, Pacus, etc) so that people can actually see how big these fish get and why they can't go into small tanks. Maybe make cards on each species that has a basic run down of temperament, sociality (is that a word?), temp, ph, etc so that new employees won't be clueless when someone asks about a specific type of fish.
2) Knowledge of products- workers won't instinctively know which products are best, so maybe have some sort of comment box or suggesting box where customers can rate products.
3) Cleanliness - clean tanks = happy fish = happy customers
4) Books/Magazines- yay for reading material! also don't yell at customers if they are flipping through the books, and let the employees know that its ok to reference books if needed.
5) Refusal to sell- make sure its ok to refuse to sell something to the customer! Perhaps even make it in big bold letters on a sign somewhere "Employees reserve the right to refuse sale if it believed fish will be sold to an unhealthy environment"
6) good products/products that work- make sure everything carried is top quality and won't harm things in the tank. Nothing more frustrating then buying a medicine and having it kill your ..i dunno...snails...because you don't know which medicine is better etc.
7) Make it pretty! - Maybe this is just because i work in a more sterile environment, but I enjoy having fish stores be pretty, nice decorations, maybe some artsy decor, etc.
1. Keep the employees who don't know anything about fish away from the fish...make them responsible for ringing up customers, stocking shelves, etc, and keep a knowledgeable person near the tanks at all times. Give them a "badge" if you have to. One of the reasons that I switched stores was...the guy who was supposed to be in charge of the aquarium area was never there AND I knew their stock better than he did.
2. Mark quarantined tanks in some way or another "Under observation, not for sale" is a polite way of doing so. If possible keep a few small tanks in the back room for seriously ill fish. Today I saw an iridescent shark that was so covered in ick that it looked like it had been rolled in rock salt...and a koi that had such a serious case of external parasites they trailed a full centimeter...I almost cried.
3. You can't stock everything...but make it VERY obvious that you will special order. Put signs in multiple places...I've worked in retail long enough to know just how blind people are.
4. Sell products for all budgets. Yeah it would be nice to stock the best of everything, but some people are just plain cheap and if you only stock the expensive stuff some people will just go somewhere else. If you're lucky only about a quarter of people are ever going to ask for input.
5. I can't find stuff like compact fluorescents at the big chain stores near me, but I can at the smaller lfs, and they'll special order any equipment that I want. That's a big plus to me even if they are a bit more expensive than purchasing online. Be smart about it though...demand for items like that usually isn't huge so purchase one or two of different sizes and don't order more until those sell.
6. Keep a good variety of "newbie" plants, but keep them looking nice. It's very unappealing to see plants with a bunch of dead/half dead leaves on it.
7. Good labeling is very important.
8. Care sheets are nice, but add yet another cost to the formula. Start with a "Setting up your first tank...a guide to cycling" style sheet, and remember that unfortunately the vast majority of people won't be willing to cycle fishless. You can recommend it...it doesn't mean that everyone will. Keep things simple and newbie friendly...the goal is to educate, not scare people away. If the first sheets work well, then expand to things like "How to care for your Betta", etc
2. Mark quarantined tanks in some way or another "Under observation, not for sale" is a polite way of doing so. If possible keep a few small tanks in the back room for seriously ill fish. Today I saw an iridescent shark that was so covered in ick that it looked like it had been rolled in rock salt...and a koi that had such a serious case of external parasites they trailed a full centimeter...I almost cried.
3. You can't stock everything...but make it VERY obvious that you will special order. Put signs in multiple places...I've worked in retail long enough to know just how blind people are.
4. Sell products for all budgets. Yeah it would be nice to stock the best of everything, but some people are just plain cheap and if you only stock the expensive stuff some people will just go somewhere else. If you're lucky only about a quarter of people are ever going to ask for input.
5. I can't find stuff like compact fluorescents at the big chain stores near me, but I can at the smaller lfs, and they'll special order any equipment that I want. That's a big plus to me even if they are a bit more expensive than purchasing online. Be smart about it though...demand for items like that usually isn't huge so purchase one or two of different sizes and don't order more until those sell.
6. Keep a good variety of "newbie" plants, but keep them looking nice. It's very unappealing to see plants with a bunch of dead/half dead leaves on it.
7. Good labeling is very important.
8. Care sheets are nice, but add yet another cost to the formula. Start with a "Setting up your first tank...a guide to cycling" style sheet, and remember that unfortunately the vast majority of people won't be willing to cycle fishless. You can recommend it...it doesn't mean that everyone will. Keep things simple and newbie friendly...the goal is to educate, not scare people away. If the first sheets work well, then expand to things like "How to care for your Betta", etc
the point about encouraging local breeders to bring fish to you to sell I agree with wholeheartedly. Okay, so you don't want tanks full of bog-standard guppies, but many breeders will concentrate on rarely seen or forgotten species that large chains don't oftne stock.
I've finally managed to get Tilapia mariae again after not seeing them for 10 years
I've finally managed to get Tilapia mariae again after not seeing them for 10 years
Location, location, location (if this hasn't been mentioned already)
Get a map of the area and mark where all the pet stores/aquarium stores are. If an area lacks anything like that (even a WalMart-ugh!), find out if that might be a good area in whuch to set up shop. In Albuquerque, all the shops seem to be on the east side, near the foothills of the mountains, or on the far north end of town, with one or two on the far west side, all at ~30 min or more city bus ride(s) away (I have no car). The pet shop I go to (Clark's on Lomas) is the closest, but it's still something of an expedition. I would love a pet store situated a lot closer or even in the downtown/old town area, where new condos and townhouses are being built every day, both new and conversions of old buildings to "lofts". There is a lot of storefront space in my area that has been for rent for months if not years. Seems some enterprising pet store (even a big-box) could make a deal to open a place, advertise it well, and gather in a lot of customers.
Get a map of the area and mark where all the pet stores/aquarium stores are. If an area lacks anything like that (even a WalMart-ugh!), find out if that might be a good area in whuch to set up shop. In Albuquerque, all the shops seem to be on the east side, near the foothills of the mountains, or on the far north end of town, with one or two on the far west side, all at ~30 min or more city bus ride(s) away (I have no car). The pet shop I go to (Clark's on Lomas) is the closest, but it's still something of an expedition. I would love a pet store situated a lot closer or even in the downtown/old town area, where new condos and townhouses are being built every day, both new and conversions of old buildings to "lofts". There is a lot of storefront space in my area that has been for rent for months if not years. Seems some enterprising pet store (even a big-box) could make a deal to open a place, advertise it well, and gather in a lot of customers.
