How Can Local Bike Shops Improve Customer Service?

Question

What strategies can local bike shops adopt to improve their customer service while remaining competitive?

Answer 1

At local bike shops, customer service can be elevated by availing training on appropriate sales, and product orientation to the personnel working at the shops. The employees understand what the customers are looking for or need and can guide the customers accordingly. The shops should also encourage their employees to acknowledge their areas of ignorance, and seek information from those who know it. They can hire full-time employees, specialists for these categories, and make sure that such employees are available for every shift instead of trying to make all employees learn a long list of products’ descriptions. This will help such shops in turning out to be of a better service to the customers and stand in competition with the online shops.

Comments

Bike shops in my area (a huge road and gravel biking market are) can’t seem to do basic maintenance jobs. I have given up on them after a botched brake bleed and pad replacement.  I spent the extra money on-line to buy tools specific to my bike (one of the well known brands) and do the work myself.  My bike now rides better than when I was leaving the maintenance to the shop and I am saving money

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At first I thought your opinions might not be giving shops enough credit but as you talked I agreed more and more. I find my local shops friendly but not as knowledgeable as they think they are. Example: one shop told me Shimano Di2 is practically obsolete compared to SRAM because it’s not wireless. I explained the shifters are now wireless and that the only wire is from the battery in the seat post to the derailleurs. He was the shop owner and  didn’t read the memo on this change. I’ve seen several more examples of this and I chalked it up to so much new technology but if you expect people to trust the shop, you should know the product or say you don’t and check (like you said).

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When I was a kid in the 80's,a trip to local shops were incredibly fun and inspiring. I still have that feeling for bikes,but,the shops now are completely lame.

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Suppliers are too restrictive on who can order parts, making it somewhat difficult at times for a small, mobile, or out-of-home shop to start. With shop space being so expensive, the investment needed for inventory and everything else, the barrier to entry is very high right now. This means we have too few shops for the demand. So you wait for 2 weeks to get a bike fixed (or longer), then you get it back and they either missed something or did it wrong, etc etc. It's very frustrating and it can be enough to make people wonder why they are doing this sport. It becomes economically exclusive and that creates all its own problems.

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In the Dallas area there is a chain of bike stores that dominate the market in the Dallas area. I’ve bought several bikes there and get repairs done there. The people there are knowledgeable and go out of their way to be as helpful as possible. The customer service there is exceptional, better than any other business I deal with. I don’t doubt that there are bike shops that suck but that is not my experience.