[DML] No Subject

[magriese@xxxx]

>Maybe someone (Ed himself?) can explain why he chooses to do business
this way? I support his right to run his business however he wishes,
but I cant help but be curious as to WHY?!<

This is purely speculation on my part and is based on
experience with other businesses facing similar issues.

Any service business is based on the knowledge and
skills of the people working in the business. The
company makes money when people recognize the
value of the skills within the company and buys service
or parts or whatever from them. In order to bring new
customers to the business, an owner can strive to be
helpful over the phone, provide catalogs, advice,
and other services without fee, presuming that the
new customer will eventually do business with the
company. This kind of helpfulness can be abused
by prospective customers who take up the time of
the employees getting help and then purchasing
parts or service from someone else. In the worst case,
a company could spend all of it's time giving away
freebies and all of the customers would buy from
someone else. In the best case, every caller
is so impressed with the quality of service, they all
buy from the company. Reality is somewhere
in the middle. I am sure that DeLorean One, and in
fact all of the primary service centers, get lots of calls
from people looking for deals, workarounds, or other
lower cost solutions to problems that detract from
the business at hand and don't generate any income.
Some businesses can tolerate the distraction, others
can't or won't.

For the record, I have had excellent service from all
of the DeLorean vendors I have used, and I have
dealt with almost all of them. I have also bought
parts from all of them I have called. I don't think
that is a coincidence.

Michael A. Griese
Storage Software Development Manager
Tivoli Storage Management
Rochester, MN 55901
Internet: magriese@xxxx
office: (507)253-1853
mobile: (507)254-1859