GRRRRRR! The Master Slimies are here!!

[spaman--]

Yep! They come in spend a ton of money misleading our locals promising 75% off and contending that manufacturers will be on hand competing for their business. HAH! yesterday I had a young man come in my showroom driving a rental car. I say "can I help you" "nah I'm good" he says. HMMM? "you look familiar" " I do"? "yeah" "maybe from when I was on the road selling spas"? I ask. "No not me" he states. I stand there watching him look at every model on my floor. I just stand there with my arms crossed looking at him for 10 minutes. Finally he says "how long were you on the road"? I tell him thanks for coming clean. Of course he was one of their roadies they had sent to to do some recon mission. We decide to run a little anti out of town show team ads on the radio. Fast forward to today, myself and one of my warehouse thugs go up to do some recon for ourselves. Sure enough 2 of the guys I know from the road as I sit and pry info from them a guy comes up and starts taking my picture with his phone and yackin something about hearing my ads on the radio about "dont buy from the outta town roadies" Blah blah sompin or rather. I said "boys good luck".

Bottom line is they were in classic mode, Down East and Master Spas scattered everywhere. a few little nobody cable and tortilla vendors. Oh and don't forget the token '10x'10 landscape guy. What a disgrace!!! I am embarrassed for them. However I have a plan to defray a little of that business our way! I will share it on Monday as I don't want to divulge any of my evil secrets just yet. Don't worry I will take some pics for you to see.

I swear this team they have up there looks like a bunch of carnies straight from the county fair. One guy looked so stoned I don't even think he knew he was in Colorado.
I thought our industry was getting better about the calibur of sales people we have in the field, but in this case  I was dead wrong!! A buddy and I were in Harrisburg last year for a ten day home show and I worked against this skinny little weasle in the Hawkeye booth, today I mentioned seeing him there.Would you believe he denied even selling Hawkeye spas at that event in front of his smarmy buddies?  I said "are you that embarrassed" or "were you that high"? He said " I have never been there".Maybe its time for some of these guys to lay off the dope!!

[Spatech_tuo]

I thought our industry was getting better about the calibur of sales people we have in the field, but in this case  I was dead wrong!!

You weren't completely wrong. The product those traveling Master sideshow barkers represent may be a spa but from a sales strategy standpoint they're probably more similar to those guys who run 3 card Monty "sales presentations" in New York subways.

[Vinny]

I used to work in Manhattan and I saw a construction worker win at 3 Card Monty ... The dealer didn't want to pay up until all the other construction works saw what was going on and was backup for the guy who won, it was an interesting scene.

[IL Parrothead]

I was going to start a similar thread.  This weekend is the 2nd "pool and spa show" in the last couple of months.  Of course, as usual, Master is doing everything in their power to hide that they are behind it.  You have to dig deeply to find out that it's Master and Master alone.  You know, even if their tubs were the Cadillac of spas, I could never buy from them.  It's just sleazy!

[James]

There is a part of me that is so grateful that I do what I do in a smaller market. So far Master has not set its sights on our fair town.

I think every town and every market has a spa dealer that, for whatever reason, hurts all of us who are doing our best to provide excellence in retailing.

My advice to any consumer is try and do as much research as you can and use all the tools available to get an idea of the company you are considering doing business with.

For instance:

A quick BBB search of hot tub retailers within 20 miles of Redding, Ca shows approximately 5 spa retailers that are open and doing business.

Of those 5 retailers, 17 BBB complaints have been generated over the past 36 months.

Of those 17 complaints, 15 of them belong to ONE company.

As a consumer, that would indicate to me something beyond just a random dissatisfied customer but rather a chronic pattern of consumer unhappiness.

That alone would keep me from purchasing from that company regardless of the pop up TV and 2 million jets.

The real sad part of the equation is that one company’s poor customer service really does reflect on the industry as a whole. Those of us who dig deep and go the extra mile to help the industry are unfortunately lumped along side those who hurt it.

I recall a "Rosanne" episode. John Goodman had hit an all time career low and had to go sell hot tubs at a fair.

Try as we may, some out there still perpetuate this image.

[Mendocino101]

James,

Thats a nice post and one thing that does seem to get lost on a few people here is why are we as dealers bothered by these shows and the company that promotes them. Because we as dealers know they hurt us as well as those who buy from them. No matter what song and dance someone wants to spin it to. There is no upside to almost anyone who buys at these shows or those dealers whose town they come to. In the end it is lose lose for all but the company promoting the shows.

[spaman--]

A little feed back as the day progresses we have been slammed and the feed back is that people enjoy stability and professionalism. This show was obviously thrown together in a few hours and it certainly looks like it. If your going to do a show dress it up nice and make it look classy. Here's an idea, instead of promoting your show as "manufacturers competing for your business" why not be truthful and say "we are coming to your town to do a 3 day promotion where we will be discounting Master Spas at a discounted price, come and check us out". The customers whom I have spoken to are disgusted that they would be as so ignorant to insult their potential customers intelligence.  

[pudge]

Check out this link to a story that ran in Minneapolis about a year ago...

http://consumerist.com/consumer/master-spas/hot-tub-dealer-sets-up-competitive-fair-where-its-the-only-seller-219550.php

[Mendocino101]

A little feed back as the day progresses we have been slammed and the feed back is that people enjoy stability and professionalism. This show was obviously thrown together in a few hours and it certainly looks like it. If your going to do a show dress it up nice and make it look classy. Here's an idea, instead of promoting your show as "manufacturers competing for your business" why not be truthful and say "we are coming to your town to do a 3 day promotion where we will be discounting Master Spas at a discounted price, come and check us out". The customers whom I have spoken to are disgusted that they would be as so ignorant to insult their potential customers intelligence.  

I agree just be upfront about what your doing.....There is a taste of arrogance and the belittling of the consumer who attends the shows with this attitude that "we can say just about anything and they will believe us. It reminds me of the speech Dennis Hopper made in water world..lol...the speech also makes me think of several politicians who think they can say just about anything and will be believed......

[spaman--]

O.K I just want to send a huge "THANK YOU" to Master Spas for all of their advertising and for putting together such a pathetic booth in Colorado Springs this weekend. I have now found the weakness of these shows and just want to tell the industry how to go about using these events for their own benefit. I have to admit at first I was a little intimidated by the tens of thousands of dollars they were throwing into the community. Once I walked in the doors and saw the disgraceful display I felt confident I could make a simple plan to use this to my advantage. I have a group of early twenties guys who are earning money for missions trips for the church. We employ 5 of them every Saturday to hold arrow signs through out Colorado Springs. You guessed it I put 2 of them right at the entrance to the Phil Long Center. My sign holders don't just stand there holding signs, they are animated, dancing, singing and praising God to music on their I-pods. The response from customers has been incredible. This weekend in particularly, Master had their own sign guys on the same corners, but neither had the animation and fortitude that our guys did. Imagine my guys arrows pointing away from the show and their arrows pointing toward the show. Customers drove from as far as 120 miles to see this "huge sale" put on by Master. I could not believe the relief that customers had that their Saturday had not been totally wasted on the pathetic display that was at the Phil Long Center, people actually thanked me for putting our sign guys outside their venue. Obviously the Master guys felt a little intimidated by our guys driving traffic right outside their doors and there was nothing they could do about it. The show manager offered one of my guys $200 to give up his sign and walk away.
 I now am searching for the next Master event near me. I encourage all dealers to welcome these dirtbags to your neighborhoods and meet them head on, visit the display and act accordingly. I learned in college psyche 101 that it is absolutely a must to act and not react in situations that you find uncomfortable.
  We did run some "anti-show" radio ads and are uncertain on how effective they were, but the extremely animated sign crew drove more traffic than I have seen in one single weekend in any showroom through out my entire career selling spas.

 A prime example is if you receive a coupon for a free meal at a restaurant you have never been to and it looks like the business has spent a ton of money putting it together you are inclined to check it out, but when you get there and see cockroaches  you are inclined to pay good money and eat at the 4 star restaurant across the street.

Its time we start making these events less profitable for the dirtbags running them and discourage their fraudulant behavior. Of course this is all just one Spa-Mans opinion and I certainly could be wrong!

[Richs100]

I like your style!   That was pretty clever!

[Chas]

This is good marketing. I am going to have a booth at every home show from now on - not to sell, but to hand out cards with a map to our local store. I may even put up signs and banners which announce that "you don't have to buy here to get a good deal" or some such.

We were in our first home show in years, just this past weekend. My back is still aching from all the work loading, unloading, standing and fighting the tent in the wind....

We sold a whopping two spas at the show, and got a commitment on a third but no $$. Then four folks walked into our store over the past few days to buy after finding out at the show that we are the only local dealer. I think I am going to work that angle harder next time.

Your sign story reminds me of something which happened a good many years ago -

My wife and I drove into the Costco parking lot one holiday and found it was closed. We were amazed that they would be closed, but we were even more amazed to find sign holders for Sam's Club at all the entrances to the parking lot. In fact, there was one person handing out one-day passes to go shop at Sam's Club for anyone who was not yet a member. That Sam's club had opened just a few weeks earlier, but when we got there the parking lot and store were jammed. Every checkout island was in full use, and they were pre-scanning carts to speed us through checkout. We joined. In fact, I put my Costco card on the counter, and they gave me an equal number of months free - I had six months left on my Costco membership and they added six months free to my paid year of membership. And they let me keep my Costco card in case there was something I needed which Sam's didn't carry. Amazing. Reverse psychology. Good marketing.

 8-)

[Bonibelle]

Brilliant, Spa man!! No wonder Stuart is so pleased to have you as part of his team