We are pleased to have picked up the rather prestigious "National Dealer of the Year" for Denon products. Given the personnell quality of those very specialist dealers that are able to support a Denon franchise it is a particular accolade for a single position business such as ourselves to be in the running.
There is an increasing gulf in service performance beetween the specialist stores and the chains. Whilst without a doubt there are technically proficient individuals who work in the chain stores, they are not the ones who are awarded for their job performance by the internal incentive mechanisms, rather the accolades in the chain store systems go to the hardest sellers with the most rapid client churn.
In a specialist store the client is able to spend time and derive a reliable two way relationship that is vital to the proper set up and performance attainment of a component surround system.
One of the greatest difficulties of running a service orientated business in this market is the number of phone enquiries one gets for set up advice for equipment that has been purchased from the the chain stores and is lying in a frustrated heap of mis connected cables on the lounge room floor. Whilst it is not the policy of any specialist dealer to turn away an inquiry the time drain of these inquiries is such that they are becoming a drain on the ability of a business to service its own clientele. At the end of a normal saturday we always have half a dozen catch up calls to these people who are distinguished by set up issues of chain store brands.
The bottom line for us though is that we see every client contact as an opportunity and we will never deliberately turn away a person with technical difficulties. Even when certain chain stores have taken to asking their troublesome clients to call us post sale rather than try to sort the connection and use issues themselves!