Games Dealers Play
“Life’s tough. It’s tougher if you’re stupid!”
(Attributed to John Wayne)
Pool Table World is pretty competitive. Not only do dealers have to fight each other, today, they also have to fight the internet. Also, the people in pool world are never going to be members of MENSA. They are usually just hard working people trying to make a buck, but because it is a very competitive industry, where their loss is someone else’s gain, many take it very personally and, sometimes they might just step over the line.
Let me explain this a bit more in depth. In an average city, if you want to buy a pool table, you might have two choices. If you wanted new carpeting, you might have fifty. If I was a carpet guy, and I walked into a bar and saw another carpet guy, I’d probably buy him a drink. I mean, what the hell, everybody needs carpet, and the pie is so large, everyone gets a share. With pool tables the pie is so small that every dealer has to fight just to stay in business.
There are two other problems in the pool table industry. One, is that there are only so many ways you can actually build a table, and everyone knows what they are. This means that there is almost no way a dealer can draw an advantage over their competitor's tables. And the one that hurts dealers the most, is that no matter how many different types of trim or colors of stain, to the consumer, soon they all begin to look alike.
It is because of all these different issues that most dealers can’t even see the ethical line their crossing. Believe me, it’s a pretty bad industry when, you stand out from the crowd for being an honest and ethical business person. By comparison, the car industry is the epitome of integrity. In our industry, a complement to one’s competitors probably goes something like this. “Yeah, Joe’s done a pretty good job, after kicking his heroin habit”.
What all of this means to you is simply this. When you go to look at tables, expect to be manipulated. Here are some of the more popular techniques.
Typically, pool tables are sold two ways. I call the first one the “three price theory”. In this selling practice, you have an individual price for the table, then an additional price for both the playing accessories and delivery and installation. In this way, you actually have three distinct prices to keep in mind. Other dealers prefer to sell tables as “packages”, which is the table, accessories and installation in one price. This is the easiest for the consumer but not the best way for the dealer, and here’s why.
The first question out of your mouth should be to ask the salesman if these prices are “complete” (table, accessories, delivery & installation) or are those three separate charges. Let me explain why this is important with an example. You and the wife wander into a store and fall in love with a particular table. Both you and the salesman know that you’re walking out with that table. However, if you had neglected to ask about accessories and installation, the salesman can say the playing accessories are included but the delivery and installation will cost you $250. The dealer could very well sell all of his tables in packages, but if you don’t see a sign or don’t ask the salesman up front, the end result is you can get nipped for an extra $250 for nothing.
One of the more commonly used techniques is the “this is our entry level table and it has “x” feature, but this is our most popular table because it has “y” feature. This technique is most often used when talking about slate, which I covered in the About Slate section, but there is another part to this called the “most popular” technique.
The typical billiard showroom usually contains about 10 - 20 tables. Like shoes, they come in different sizes with the most popular sizes being 7' & 8’, and a dealer can go broke trying to keep all of these size combinations in stock. How most dealers combat this is to buy a lot (in both sizes) of maybe three models. And these models become the “most popular”. To be fair to the guy, it really is a guessing game which tables will actually turn out to be the best sellers, but by playing the “most popular” game, for the dealer, it’s the safest way to go and here’s why.
After the salesman takes his “most popular” shot at you, you wander over to a really nice looking 8’ table. The salesman sees your interest and starts complimenting you on what good taste you have and how this is a much nicer/better table than the “most popular”. Then you drop the bomb on him and tell him you’d like that table in a 7’ size. He doesn’t have it in a 7’, you’re disappointed and you walk out the door. So as you can see, because the dealer has plenty of both sizes in stock in his “most popular” model, the move that benefits him (and not you) is to try and make you feel that everyone buys his “most popular”.
Don’t get taken in by this method. Out of an entire showroom, the dealer has only a couple that they really want to sell you, and the rest of the tables are mere camouflage. Also, even if you know what size table you want, don’t be so eager to share that with them. This way, the dealer will be forced into being more honest with you about the quality of each table. If you tell him you want an 8’ table he’s only going to take you to the models he currently has in an 8’ size.
Selling Down to Sell Up
When I was a dealer, this was another popular technique. The idea is fairly simple. The salesman takes you to the most expensive table on their floor and explains the features. You choke on the price so he takes you to the next expensive and the next, all the way down the line. Two things are going to happen to you. The first, is that somewhere you are going to stop the salesman, and buy that table, and second, you’ve just spent more money than you wanted to. But don’t worry, they have financing!
And let me just add something. We all buy stuff on credit but we’re talking about pool tables here, not artificial hearts. Here’s a “universal truism” in the billiard industry. The more money you spend on a pool table, the greater amount you’re going to lose in the end. And here’s one other thing. Your goal should be to buy a table that meets your needs and that you can afford, and nothing else. But when you’re in a room surrounded by beautiful, shiny furniture it’s easy to lose your focus so stay alert. And the best example that you lost, is when you’re signing a financing agreement.
On Sale
In case you haven’t noticed, every major item we buy is on sale. Unfortunately, the sale isn’t just today and tomorrow but goes on forever. I hope you're experienced enough to know that something can‘t always be on sale, but if you’re not, I refer you to the quote (attributed to John Wayne) at the top of the section.
Pool tables are always on sale, and they have two ways of presenting this. The first way is to list the MSRP (manufactures suggest retail price), under that the dealer lists his “normal price” and then, under that, in bold letters is the “sales price”. Other dealers will simply put “regular price” and then list the “sales price”.
The point to understand is this: the bottom “sales price” reflects the normal selling price and the actual value of the table. It doesn’t matter what the top numbers are because they are meaningless!
My Paladin Ultimate sells for $1,895. I could put a placard on the table that says the “normal price” is $3,495 and is on sale for $1,895 but that is shear fantasy. The reality, is that my Paladin sells for $1,895. The idea of the $3,495 is to establish in your mind that the actual value of the table is much higher. What I have told customers is that if you did buy this table from a dealer it would cost you at least $1,000 more. Here’s the math…
Building one piece slate tables costs more money in time and materials than any other type of table. Because of this, the wholesale price (the price a dealer would pay me) is naturally higher than a normal three piece table. But because the dealer is paying a higher wholesale price, then it follows that the retail price is going to be higher, and it is for those reasons that we sell direct.
Rounding up $5, my Paladin sells for $1,900. If I had a dealer who wanted to buy 10 of my tables (and I’ve had a lot of these calls over the years) the best I could do is knock $2-300 off. This would just about pay for the crating and freight to his store which effectively means, his “wholesale” price is the same as what I sell my table for.
If a dealer pays a wholesale price of $1,900 for a table, I can assure you that the price he would have to sell the table for (and, this is fairly standard accounting practices in retail) is somewhere between $3,500 - $4,000, if not more! They would go out of business if they didn’t. However, to get the price they need, they start out by saying the table is $5,995 but now “On Sale” for $3,995.
However, in this example, please understand that the $3,995 price is just the starting price. It’s the price the dealer wants, but not necessarily the one they’ll take.
In this world, there are two types of people: Ones that like (or love) to negotiate and people that don’t. Personally, I fall into the latter category. I hate to crawl around in the mud and fight for every nickel. However, I do have very strong feelings about being treated fairly, and over the years, I have eliminated suppliers that I feel don’t. On the flip side, I have a lot of friends who can’t wait to negotiate. I have one friend who told me the story about how he negotiated a better price on a pair of shoes!
Pool table dealers know this (they should, they are some of the biggest “grinders” on the planet) so they have a little something just for all you professional negotiators out there, and it’s called “Pad”. Pad is exactly what it sounds like. They add (pad) money into the price (typically between $100 - $200) so you can feel good about your “negotiating skills” and they still get the price they want, without actually losing a dime. For those of you who like to negotiate, you should love this information, since it means that there is even more money you can get out of a dealer. For those of us who don’t like to negotiate, it’s tough. However, if you can’t accept the fact that someone else is going to get a better price than you, I have two suggestions. Take a friend along who loves to negotiate and turn him lose on the dealer. You can probably take your friend out for a nice dinner and still save some extra money. Or, you can buy from us.
As I mentioned earlier, one of the few advantages to being an owner is that you get to run your business the way it suits you. I also don’t like to negotiate and these two ideas are best illustrated in how I sell my tables.
I sell direct. As you can see, it is no where near what the retail price would be if I wholesaled to dealers, but it isn’t exactly the wholesale price either. I call it the “wholesale plus” price. My price is actually the wholesale price of the table, plus the added expense (and a bit of profit) of the additional costs I accrue in selling directly to the public, such as advertising. Essentially, what I do is add up all of my expenses, then add a what I consider is a fair profit for myself and that’s the price. And it is the price. With me, you can feel confident that the price you’ll pay, is the same price that the fifty people before you paid, and it will be the same price for the next fifty, or, until I raise my price. The closest to a sale I have, is, after looking at the same floor models for a few years, I want to change things, so I reduce my floor models $200. I don’t make a big deal out of this, and I don’t even advertise the fact I’m doing it. If it happens that you walk in and like what’s on the floor and if I’m getting ready to make a change, you can buy the floor model and save an honest $200 bucks.
I like this way of doing business. I feel it’s the cleanest, fairest and most honest way to sell. My goal is to make the best tables I can build, make a fair profit and treat everyone the same. What I will not do, is lie and gouge people for more money, even if I know I can. People ask me all the time if I can help them on the price and I explain to them the structure of how and why I sell my tables the way I do, and most people accept this and purchase a table, but not all. There are some people out there who simply refuse to buy if they don’t get a better price, and as much as I hate to do it, I let them walk. Most knowledgeable businesspeople would tell me this is a stupid way of running a business and they might be right. I know I’m never going to win the “greatest businessperson” award. I just strongly believe that I’m entitled to what is a honest (not excessive) profit and that you are entitled to be treated fairly. I know a lot of dealers who lie, mislead and gouge their customers on a daily basis, and most of them are by far more “successful” than I am. It’s just not for me.
In fact, what has happened a number of times, is that after the deal is done, my own customers have told me I should charge more for my tables. That makes me feel like I’m doing something right
Being a small business owner isn’t all that it seems. It's long hours, headaches, problems, and inconsistent paychecks, to name a few. However, it does have one very attractive advantage; you get to run the business the way you choose. This doesn’t mean that every decision is a good one, but it does let you be the one making it. The downside, is that if something goes wrong, there’s no one else to blame.
Scratch & Dent Sale
This is one of the most popular sales. It’s true, if you have a roomful of furniture, some do get scratched, and the way you rid yourself of these is advertise a sale. As far as a “sale” goes, this is usually one that actually can work very well. People reason that if they can save some good money on a table, who cares if it has a scratch or two. After all, it’s just for the family and will probably get scratched up anyway.
So far, so good. So you and the your kids visit the showroom. You walk over to a table and the placard reads:
Retail Price - $3,495
Normal Price - $2,495
Special Sale Price - $2,295
You look the table over and it does have a few scratches, but again, this is just a family table and not only are we saving $1,000 over the normal price, but another $200 to boot! I’ll take it!
Until a few minutes ago, most of you didn’t know that the extra $200 you think you’re saving is really the “pad” money. And as far as this goes, yes, it is “price manipulation” but at least you’re getting your “pad” money back without having to fight over it.
But this isn’t as far as it goes, the dealer is just toying with you. Think about it this way. If a dealer has 20 tables on the floor and 5 of them are scratched/dented and he’s going to discount those tables an extra $200 each. If he sold all 5 tables , he would lose $1,000 in profit, but will still have sold 5 tables. But then why spend $1,000’s of dollars advertising the sale? After all, by the time he pays for the advertising cost he makes almost nothing at all. If you think about this, on the face of it, it really doesn’t make any sense to you, but it makes all the sense for the dealer, and here’s why.
At some point, before your new table arrives there is a good chance you’ll get a call from the dealer informing you that someone screwed up and the table you purchased had already been sold. But, being the nice guy he is, he’s sending you out a new one at no additional charge. The other way this is played, the dealer doesn’t even bother to call you, he just lets his installers tell you what happened and hey, who’s going to argue. Now, your getting a brand new table without scratches, and you saved some extra money. You probably think, “Wow, this dealer really screwed himself!”.
I hate to admit this, but decades ago, when I had my two retail stores, I had a couple of these sales. I remember one sale where I sold the same table over 15 times! I had a much larger dealer friend of mine in Milwaukee who sold over 100. If that isn’t bad enough, I had one dealer tell me that because this type of sale was so successful, he’d scratch the tables himself, just so he could have another sale.
Bait & Switch
Bait and switch is where a product is advertised at an incredibly low price to get you in the door and once you arrive, the product is either sold out, or is such junk it really can’t fulfill the purpose for which it was advertised. But they do have plenty of a more expensive version of the product. Thankfully, due to the efforts of the Consumer Protection Agency, this is now illegal.
Finally, I debated with myself at great length if I should even include this section on sales tactics. I finally decided that if you had a better understanding of the sales process you might be able to protect yourself. I wish I could tell you that in this section, I’m “painting with a very broad brush” and that most dealers really do have your best interests in mind but that’s simply not the case. They really do have only two goals: maximize their profits and make sure you don’t walk out the door and go to their competitor. I certainly understand their reluctance in talking about the litany of future problems you can have with a table, the same way I can understand a car salesman not telling a customer that the car they are about to buy has a garbage transmission and will need to be replaced at 70,000 miles. But what I don’t understand is why.
If you are a pool table dealer reading this, I’m sure you’re going to hate me for writing this section. But let me tell you guys this: I strongly believe the average person places a higher value on honesty than money. When we’re buying something, we’d like the whole story, warts and all, because that way we feel we can make an informed decision. Sure, you might lose the odd sale, but you also might discover that most will still buy a table from you, and if anything else, you’ll sleep better. But lets be fair, just us guys talking, with decades of pool table experience between us, we both know you won’t change. Because at the bottom of it all, you simply can’t get out of your own way.
And for all of you potential customers, the best advise I can give you is re-read the quote at the top of this section. And good luck.
(Attributed to John Wayne)
Pool Table World is pretty competitive. Not only do dealers have to fight each other, today, they also have to fight the internet. Also, the people in pool world are never going to be members of MENSA. They are usually just hard working people trying to make a buck, but because it is a very competitive industry, where their loss is someone else’s gain, many take it very personally and, sometimes they might just step over the line.
Let me explain this a bit more in depth. In an average city, if you want to buy a pool table, you might have two choices. If you wanted new carpeting, you might have fifty. If I was a carpet guy, and I walked into a bar and saw another carpet guy, I’d probably buy him a drink. I mean, what the hell, everybody needs carpet, and the pie is so large, everyone gets a share. With pool tables the pie is so small that every dealer has to fight just to stay in business.
There are two other problems in the pool table industry. One, is that there are only so many ways you can actually build a table, and everyone knows what they are. This means that there is almost no way a dealer can draw an advantage over their competitor's tables. And the one that hurts dealers the most, is that no matter how many different types of trim or colors of stain, to the consumer, soon they all begin to look alike.
It is because of all these different issues that most dealers can’t even see the ethical line their crossing. Believe me, it’s a pretty bad industry when, you stand out from the crowd for being an honest and ethical business person. By comparison, the car industry is the epitome of integrity. In our industry, a complement to one’s competitors probably goes something like this. “Yeah, Joe’s done a pretty good job, after kicking his heroin habit”.
What all of this means to you is simply this. When you go to look at tables, expect to be manipulated. Here are some of the more popular techniques.
Typically, pool tables are sold two ways. I call the first one the “three price theory”. In this selling practice, you have an individual price for the table, then an additional price for both the playing accessories and delivery and installation. In this way, you actually have three distinct prices to keep in mind. Other dealers prefer to sell tables as “packages”, which is the table, accessories and installation in one price. This is the easiest for the consumer but not the best way for the dealer, and here’s why.
The first question out of your mouth should be to ask the salesman if these prices are “complete” (table, accessories, delivery & installation) or are those three separate charges. Let me explain why this is important with an example. You and the wife wander into a store and fall in love with a particular table. Both you and the salesman know that you’re walking out with that table. However, if you had neglected to ask about accessories and installation, the salesman can say the playing accessories are included but the delivery and installation will cost you $250. The dealer could very well sell all of his tables in packages, but if you don’t see a sign or don’t ask the salesman up front, the end result is you can get nipped for an extra $250 for nothing.
One of the more commonly used techniques is the “this is our entry level table and it has “x” feature, but this is our most popular table because it has “y” feature. This technique is most often used when talking about slate, which I covered in the About Slate section, but there is another part to this called the “most popular” technique.
The typical billiard showroom usually contains about 10 - 20 tables. Like shoes, they come in different sizes with the most popular sizes being 7' & 8’, and a dealer can go broke trying to keep all of these size combinations in stock. How most dealers combat this is to buy a lot (in both sizes) of maybe three models. And these models become the “most popular”. To be fair to the guy, it really is a guessing game which tables will actually turn out to be the best sellers, but by playing the “most popular” game, for the dealer, it’s the safest way to go and here’s why.
After the salesman takes his “most popular” shot at you, you wander over to a really nice looking 8’ table. The salesman sees your interest and starts complimenting you on what good taste you have and how this is a much nicer/better table than the “most popular”. Then you drop the bomb on him and tell him you’d like that table in a 7’ size. He doesn’t have it in a 7’, you’re disappointed and you walk out the door. So as you can see, because the dealer has plenty of both sizes in stock in his “most popular” model, the move that benefits him (and not you) is to try and make you feel that everyone buys his “most popular”.
Don’t get taken in by this method. Out of an entire showroom, the dealer has only a couple that they really want to sell you, and the rest of the tables are mere camouflage. Also, even if you know what size table you want, don’t be so eager to share that with them. This way, the dealer will be forced into being more honest with you about the quality of each table. If you tell him you want an 8’ table he’s only going to take you to the models he currently has in an 8’ size.
Selling Down to Sell Up
When I was a dealer, this was another popular technique. The idea is fairly simple. The salesman takes you to the most expensive table on their floor and explains the features. You choke on the price so he takes you to the next expensive and the next, all the way down the line. Two things are going to happen to you. The first, is that somewhere you are going to stop the salesman, and buy that table, and second, you’ve just spent more money than you wanted to. But don’t worry, they have financing!
And let me just add something. We all buy stuff on credit but we’re talking about pool tables here, not artificial hearts. Here’s a “universal truism” in the billiard industry. The more money you spend on a pool table, the greater amount you’re going to lose in the end. And here’s one other thing. Your goal should be to buy a table that meets your needs and that you can afford, and nothing else. But when you’re in a room surrounded by beautiful, shiny furniture it’s easy to lose your focus so stay alert. And the best example that you lost, is when you’re signing a financing agreement.
On Sale
In case you haven’t noticed, every major item we buy is on sale. Unfortunately, the sale isn’t just today and tomorrow but goes on forever. I hope you're experienced enough to know that something can‘t always be on sale, but if you’re not, I refer you to the quote (attributed to John Wayne) at the top of the section.
Pool tables are always on sale, and they have two ways of presenting this. The first way is to list the MSRP (manufactures suggest retail price), under that the dealer lists his “normal price” and then, under that, in bold letters is the “sales price”. Other dealers will simply put “regular price” and then list the “sales price”.
The point to understand is this: the bottom “sales price” reflects the normal selling price and the actual value of the table. It doesn’t matter what the top numbers are because they are meaningless!
My Paladin Ultimate sells for $1,895. I could put a placard on the table that says the “normal price” is $3,495 and is on sale for $1,895 but that is shear fantasy. The reality, is that my Paladin sells for $1,895. The idea of the $3,495 is to establish in your mind that the actual value of the table is much higher. What I have told customers is that if you did buy this table from a dealer it would cost you at least $1,000 more. Here’s the math…
Building one piece slate tables costs more money in time and materials than any other type of table. Because of this, the wholesale price (the price a dealer would pay me) is naturally higher than a normal three piece table. But because the dealer is paying a higher wholesale price, then it follows that the retail price is going to be higher, and it is for those reasons that we sell direct.
Rounding up $5, my Paladin sells for $1,900. If I had a dealer who wanted to buy 10 of my tables (and I’ve had a lot of these calls over the years) the best I could do is knock $2-300 off. This would just about pay for the crating and freight to his store which effectively means, his “wholesale” price is the same as what I sell my table for.
If a dealer pays a wholesale price of $1,900 for a table, I can assure you that the price he would have to sell the table for (and, this is fairly standard accounting practices in retail) is somewhere between $3,500 - $4,000, if not more! They would go out of business if they didn’t. However, to get the price they need, they start out by saying the table is $5,995 but now “On Sale” for $3,995.
However, in this example, please understand that the $3,995 price is just the starting price. It’s the price the dealer wants, but not necessarily the one they’ll take.
In this world, there are two types of people: Ones that like (or love) to negotiate and people that don’t. Personally, I fall into the latter category. I hate to crawl around in the mud and fight for every nickel. However, I do have very strong feelings about being treated fairly, and over the years, I have eliminated suppliers that I feel don’t. On the flip side, I have a lot of friends who can’t wait to negotiate. I have one friend who told me the story about how he negotiated a better price on a pair of shoes!
Pool table dealers know this (they should, they are some of the biggest “grinders” on the planet) so they have a little something just for all you professional negotiators out there, and it’s called “Pad”. Pad is exactly what it sounds like. They add (pad) money into the price (typically between $100 - $200) so you can feel good about your “negotiating skills” and they still get the price they want, without actually losing a dime. For those of you who like to negotiate, you should love this information, since it means that there is even more money you can get out of a dealer. For those of us who don’t like to negotiate, it’s tough. However, if you can’t accept the fact that someone else is going to get a better price than you, I have two suggestions. Take a friend along who loves to negotiate and turn him lose on the dealer. You can probably take your friend out for a nice dinner and still save some extra money. Or, you can buy from us.
As I mentioned earlier, one of the few advantages to being an owner is that you get to run your business the way it suits you. I also don’t like to negotiate and these two ideas are best illustrated in how I sell my tables.
I sell direct. As you can see, it is no where near what the retail price would be if I wholesaled to dealers, but it isn’t exactly the wholesale price either. I call it the “wholesale plus” price. My price is actually the wholesale price of the table, plus the added expense (and a bit of profit) of the additional costs I accrue in selling directly to the public, such as advertising. Essentially, what I do is add up all of my expenses, then add a what I consider is a fair profit for myself and that’s the price. And it is the price. With me, you can feel confident that the price you’ll pay, is the same price that the fifty people before you paid, and it will be the same price for the next fifty, or, until I raise my price. The closest to a sale I have, is, after looking at the same floor models for a few years, I want to change things, so I reduce my floor models $200. I don’t make a big deal out of this, and I don’t even advertise the fact I’m doing it. If it happens that you walk in and like what’s on the floor and if I’m getting ready to make a change, you can buy the floor model and save an honest $200 bucks.
I like this way of doing business. I feel it’s the cleanest, fairest and most honest way to sell. My goal is to make the best tables I can build, make a fair profit and treat everyone the same. What I will not do, is lie and gouge people for more money, even if I know I can. People ask me all the time if I can help them on the price and I explain to them the structure of how and why I sell my tables the way I do, and most people accept this and purchase a table, but not all. There are some people out there who simply refuse to buy if they don’t get a better price, and as much as I hate to do it, I let them walk. Most knowledgeable businesspeople would tell me this is a stupid way of running a business and they might be right. I know I’m never going to win the “greatest businessperson” award. I just strongly believe that I’m entitled to what is a honest (not excessive) profit and that you are entitled to be treated fairly. I know a lot of dealers who lie, mislead and gouge their customers on a daily basis, and most of them are by far more “successful” than I am. It’s just not for me.
In fact, what has happened a number of times, is that after the deal is done, my own customers have told me I should charge more for my tables. That makes me feel like I’m doing something right
Being a small business owner isn’t all that it seems. It's long hours, headaches, problems, and inconsistent paychecks, to name a few. However, it does have one very attractive advantage; you get to run the business the way you choose. This doesn’t mean that every decision is a good one, but it does let you be the one making it. The downside, is that if something goes wrong, there’s no one else to blame.
Scratch & Dent Sale
This is one of the most popular sales. It’s true, if you have a roomful of furniture, some do get scratched, and the way you rid yourself of these is advertise a sale. As far as a “sale” goes, this is usually one that actually can work very well. People reason that if they can save some good money on a table, who cares if it has a scratch or two. After all, it’s just for the family and will probably get scratched up anyway.
So far, so good. So you and the your kids visit the showroom. You walk over to a table and the placard reads:
Retail Price - $3,495
Normal Price - $2,495
Special Sale Price - $2,295
You look the table over and it does have a few scratches, but again, this is just a family table and not only are we saving $1,000 over the normal price, but another $200 to boot! I’ll take it!
Until a few minutes ago, most of you didn’t know that the extra $200 you think you’re saving is really the “pad” money. And as far as this goes, yes, it is “price manipulation” but at least you’re getting your “pad” money back without having to fight over it.
But this isn’t as far as it goes, the dealer is just toying with you. Think about it this way. If a dealer has 20 tables on the floor and 5 of them are scratched/dented and he’s going to discount those tables an extra $200 each. If he sold all 5 tables , he would lose $1,000 in profit, but will still have sold 5 tables. But then why spend $1,000’s of dollars advertising the sale? After all, by the time he pays for the advertising cost he makes almost nothing at all. If you think about this, on the face of it, it really doesn’t make any sense to you, but it makes all the sense for the dealer, and here’s why.
At some point, before your new table arrives there is a good chance you’ll get a call from the dealer informing you that someone screwed up and the table you purchased had already been sold. But, being the nice guy he is, he’s sending you out a new one at no additional charge. The other way this is played, the dealer doesn’t even bother to call you, he just lets his installers tell you what happened and hey, who’s going to argue. Now, your getting a brand new table without scratches, and you saved some extra money. You probably think, “Wow, this dealer really screwed himself!”.
I hate to admit this, but decades ago, when I had my two retail stores, I had a couple of these sales. I remember one sale where I sold the same table over 15 times! I had a much larger dealer friend of mine in Milwaukee who sold over 100. If that isn’t bad enough, I had one dealer tell me that because this type of sale was so successful, he’d scratch the tables himself, just so he could have another sale.
Bait & Switch
Bait and switch is where a product is advertised at an incredibly low price to get you in the door and once you arrive, the product is either sold out, or is such junk it really can’t fulfill the purpose for which it was advertised. But they do have plenty of a more expensive version of the product. Thankfully, due to the efforts of the Consumer Protection Agency, this is now illegal.
Finally, I debated with myself at great length if I should even include this section on sales tactics. I finally decided that if you had a better understanding of the sales process you might be able to protect yourself. I wish I could tell you that in this section, I’m “painting with a very broad brush” and that most dealers really do have your best interests in mind but that’s simply not the case. They really do have only two goals: maximize their profits and make sure you don’t walk out the door and go to their competitor. I certainly understand their reluctance in talking about the litany of future problems you can have with a table, the same way I can understand a car salesman not telling a customer that the car they are about to buy has a garbage transmission and will need to be replaced at 70,000 miles. But what I don’t understand is why.
If you are a pool table dealer reading this, I’m sure you’re going to hate me for writing this section. But let me tell you guys this: I strongly believe the average person places a higher value on honesty than money. When we’re buying something, we’d like the whole story, warts and all, because that way we feel we can make an informed decision. Sure, you might lose the odd sale, but you also might discover that most will still buy a table from you, and if anything else, you’ll sleep better. But lets be fair, just us guys talking, with decades of pool table experience between us, we both know you won’t change. Because at the bottom of it all, you simply can’t get out of your own way.
And for all of you potential customers, the best advise I can give you is re-read the quote at the top of this section. And good luck.