LHS Business

[MrB1973]

:confused:
Well, after watching two of the three local hobby shops close in the last six months, I got to thinking....always a dangerous thing, I know.

What I was thinking is what, if anything, did these shops do wrong? And the answer hit me...believe it or not, in the form of Reality TV. Now, let's see if you can follow this madness...

In my estimation and experience in both the real world and here on this forum, it appears that the most important customer is the one you don't have. Given that there are a relatively fixed number of people participating in the hobby at any given moment, the existing hobby shops are left to their usual retail devices to attract said customer (sales, pricing, service, etc). But essentially, they are treading water in terms of passing around the business from the same X number of customers.

Thinking of things from that slant, it would be logical to say that in order to be successful in the market, your goal as a shop owner would be to attract new customers. The way I see things, people currently enter the hobby becuase someone they know is into it, and therefor are likely to shop in the same place (Bob enters the RC world becuase he is friends with Jim, ergo he shops where Jim shops).

Well, this is all well and good, but I have to believe there is a antoher way, and thus the reality TV connection. I'm sure most of you have heard of The Apprentice, some have maybe even watched it. Well, if you recall, on this past season one of the tasks presented was to create and present a workshop at the local Home Depot. So, I was thinking that someone somewhere should be doing this at a hobby shop.

Think about it..if there was an advertisement in the local paper, and word of mouth about a nice how-to demo at the local shop...that should attract people that maybe had an interest but was intimidated or didn't know how to do stuff. I know as a relative newcomer, I would certainly attend.

So, anyway, that's my thought for the month...I now turn this thread over to the public to do with as they wish...enjoy!
:cool:

[idrinknitro52]

I got started because my dad did it and if he didnt i dont think i would be here right now. Also if my dad didnt run rc and the lhs had a Demo Day type deal then yes i would be here. I am very surprised more shops dont have days where people can try products. Then the intimidation factor is gone, plus theyre now in your store looking at products. There is absolutely no downside that i can think of. It would help the hobby in numerous ways, yet the shops just havent done it.

just my 2 cents but those of you who own hobby shops should seriously consider something like this.

[Vato Loco]

I noticed that to! No buddy likes to promote the hobby to get more newbies! Case in point. I found this a while a go:
http://www.bandbhobbies.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=153&SearchTerms=swap,meet
I found this attude not just here but all over!
It's the, " Get it your self I don't have the time!" Crowed.

[RCfrodoRC]

i think it would be cool if my lhs had a demo, i would have to go and check it out. and drive some of the cars. and stuff. since i'm still new to the hobby and would like to get a nitro but want to drive and really look at it b4 i buy one.

[ducati777]

Demo days are a great idea. From what I can tell the only successful shops really promote racing. Typically they'll have a track. Thats the best plan from what I can tell, it attracts attention, and people break crap when they race at your track.

I stopped by the other day as a guy tried to get a lecto heli off the ground. Cheapo battery pack wouldn't cut it so I didn't get to see it fly, but I sure would show up for a heli demo day.

On one hand there is the cost of breaking all the models. Hand a noob the controls of a new Savage and you can bet money something will break. However all things in business cost money, so it could be viewed as part of promotion costs.

[Hobson]

HPI got their cars into the German version of Big Brother. :)

http://www.hpieurope.com/news.php?lang=en&issue=2005011701

[LandSharkGT]

The biggest problem with LHS is they don't stock the parts that you happen to need at the time so you go online to get them then realize that online is cheaper usually by a few bucks to hundreds of bucks.

[idrinknitro52]

To me it seems that it would be neglect for the LHS to not have a Demo Day. My parents own an ice rink here in indiana and we had a Demo day with all of the new products and we had door prizes and free food and drink. It was a new rink so it just got a bunch of people in the building. Even if one person decided to continue to come it was a success because we broadened our horizons.
It was great to see that many people looking at products, skating and just enjoying being in the building, and to me thats what it is all about. So those of you who own the LHS, broaden your horizons and bring newcomers to the hobby.

[MrB1973]

Not bad thinking guys, but where i was really going with this was a workshop type scenario...

For example, new guy buys an RTR RC. Great, he's into the hobby, probably runs his car/truck a couple times a week/month, etc. However, since everything in on his model was done for him, he lacks the hands on knowledge of things. So a painting workshop would be ideal as he could see a body go from clear lexan to painted/trimmed completion in a short one hour session. Or, he could see someone go through the basics of a post-run clean up etc...something like that.

Has anyone had an LHS do that?

I'm not discouraging the demo day idea..kind of like a microchosm of the RCX principle..

[idrinknitro52]

Thats true i do like that also. Like say that a newcomer buys a brand new rtr rc. Well with this car/truck/buggy etc. he gets a free half hour lesson on all the inner workings of his new vehicle. And to cover the cost of the lesson the shop would have a new customer buying more and more items. It sounds like a great program to me.
Plus if you advertise this then i beleive people who would be scared to get into RC would jump all over it. Just my 2 cents.