HOW IMPORTANT IS CUSTOMER SERVICE TO YOU?

[Bruce Fowler]

Customer service is very important to any business. But.... That stupid idea that the customer is always right is a steaming pile of horseshit.

I agree with you on that count.

The customer frequently isn't right the key is to be diplomatic while helping them decide what is right for them. I told one longtime friend who always thought he knew best becuz "I study what the pro's ride" and no matter how many great boards I'd made for him over decades, if he was having trouble on late takeoffs, or spinning out, or couldn't make a cutback................. he always blamed the board. He was a shit stirring kind of guy that loved to debate everything just for the sake of debate. It didn't matter that he was a kook...... not a stand out in the water on any given day by any means. In fact one big day he was with me at a walk in secret spot, and I showed him how we had to time sets and paddle out from the top (not Indicator). The place only holds about 5-6 guys.

Long story short, another friend of mine said WHY DID YOU BRING HIM?!! He's just gonna be dangerous out here, not only to himself, but the rest of us."

One day he called when I was super busy mowing foam. I shouldn't have picked up but I did. He wanted to talk about his next board, then got into his usual spiel. I'd had enough, and told him "I'm not gonna make you any more boards............. when he asked me why, I said "it's just not any fun".

He ended up dropping his bullshit, and did end up getting boards, but not while wasting my time.

 

[PeakMaster]

"I shouldn't have picked up but I did. ".... Wish i had a buck for every time i did that.

 

[Patrick Riley]

Great thread, topic, and input. A while back I ended up ordering a board from Matt Holladay from Heirloom surfboards in Central Florida. I had followed his work for a while and we were both fireman so there was already a bit of a connection. I actually ordered a board from him when I hadn't even really planned on a new board just based on a few conversations we had.

We started talking back and forth for a while and I was so impressed by his input and feedback that I sold a board I hadn't planned on selling in order to get a board I didn't plan on ordering. I was so enthralled with the feedback and surfer/shaper loop that transpired that I was sold on his work ethic and attention to detail. I ended up getting a beautiful board that worked well and I am forever sold on his operation and customer service. I ended up recently selling that board as I just didn't jive with it (no reflection on Matt) as I lost some weight and I wanted to have it foiled out a little more.

The important takeaway is although that board didn't end up a perfect fit, I wouldn't hesitate to order from him again (I actually would be had I not been able to find the Cooperfish Nose Devil), or recommend his operation to anyone looking for a custom board.

 

[Driftwood]

I suggest to people, that when they order, if they NEED A BOARD BY A CERTAIN DATE............ TELL THE SHAPER AND EVERYONE DOWN THE LINE A FALSE DATE THAT GIVES YOU WIGGLE ROOM.......... OR MORE LIKE 3,5, 7 DAYS FROM THE REAL DATE.

My old glasser is a great friend, and a great human being, but I lost track of all the times a customer would be at the shop to pick up their board and it still needed a rub out, or the gloss coat hadn't even been brushed on yet.. or worse. And this despite my cheating on the due date and giving reminders.

Outside of my close friends that shape, the only two surfboards that I would really love to get from an established shaper are a HPNR from Jim, and a NVM from Bruce - hats off to you both.

 

[Bruce Fowler]

I appreciate that and I'm sure Jim does too.

I've spoken on media sites in the past about "turn rate" for a surfboard company trying to make a living using guys that are paid "piecework" aka by the piece. Obviously the more pieces made each day, week, month..... the more that worker makes. The Rent or Mortgage comes due every month with regularity so that should be enough incentive to go to work to keep your cave, tread water, etc. .

For a lot of guys, they just can't get the volume in this day and age. Back in the days when the 60's labels were cranking out insane numbers of surfboards each month, esp. as it neared summer and the East Coast was about to wake up, this was the time to get your ass to work each day.

I knew a glosser who worked at one of the big labels and he told me "the glossing room was a big, long, skinny room with a door on each end, a big fan that we could dial down to a real slow crawl just enough to move a little air out of the building. There were 25 board racks in a line and next to the door I would come into, there was a mixing table, brushes, tape and razor blades.

I would tape everything off, then mix up big bucket of the Reichold pink finishing resin, catalyze it just right per the day's humidity & temperature and go down the line and shoot glosses on 25 boards. After the last one, there was a small table with acetone and I would do a prelim clean on the brush then hang it suspended by its handle in a stainless steel gallon can. The handle poking thru the top with a hole in the brush handle that I'd slip a 16d nail thru to keep the bristles only positioned in the acetone. The bristles could never hit the bottom of the can -it was a very expensive brush!" (Thanks to Wayne Miyata Master Glosser & Pinliner for teaching me this method that I would use for many years and to this day.)

"The resin on the boards would be flowing out perfectly. Once in awhile, I might have to go back and flick some tape on a board or two that a sheet of resin was starting to hang from the tape. I had it really wired, so that was a rarity. Then I'd head out the back door. I'd flip them and do the other side before lunch, then two more cycles before going home. It was a great gig pocketing $100 a day back then".

So I'm relating this story in the sense that we can all learn from each other what works well and what doesn't. In this case the sheer volume allowed Wayne to make really good money back in the day while keeping the total cost for making each board a worthwhile reason for being in business.

Every shaper has their own formula, and some work better than others, but at the end of the day if you can make a good quality product at a fair price, quote, and keep, a reasonable delivery schedule and treat your customers like gold, you stand a much better chance at being successful, or, if nothing else, respected, for being a professional in a very competitive industry.

 

[Bruce Fowler]

Brian got back to me from his earlier inquiry, here is Part 2 of that interaction and a further example of "customer service".
------------------------------------------
Hi Bruce

Thanks so much for the reply.

What you stated in your 1st paragraph nails it exactly. For the wave I am planning to ride this board mainly, that is exactly what I enjoy and am looking for.
I have no doubt some of your more modern designs are all around better boards, but I am after that drop, drawn-out bottom turn, pump, pump, fly down the line, deep rail turn, and on and on.
You have definitely given me something to think about in possibly adjusting some other areas of my quiver. I will give it some more thought and be in touch.
I appreciate your time.
Hope all is well!

Brian
---------------------------------------------------------------
My pleasure.

It's not always a matter of just closing the deal or getting another order.

Can I make you a board like that? Of course, I rode them for years and know exactly what is entailed in making one. I loved that swinging pendulum, hurtling mass with me right behind it directing where it will go on a wave.

For a while now I've thought about doing some more early to mid 70's boards like this which I would include under my "Time Capsules" category. John Bradbury was the most influential local shaper that I prescribed to growing up. Although I am a completely self taught shaper, riding JB's boards were the epitome of that experience we are discussing. Those boards worked so good and I will have fun bringing them back into my offering for that style of surfing.

That model will be an homage to JB who richly deserves the nod.

You kinda got me pumped up to grab a blank and shape one up, so thanks for the inspiration. People have asked me to do them, so I guess the time is NOW!

Have Fun, Pray 4 Surf,
BF

P.S. Here's a read I think you might enjoy.
https://shredsledz.net/2017/07/crea...42rhMG6qk2yCnKCh0MCOXMiyI5XFAiQ1GA_XnVMYHUJDc

 

[Makawaosurfer93]

Shapewright built a board for me and had it at the glasser's for an inordinate amount of time. I think surfore was already reaching out to me about the delay. Jim shipped it out to me in NJ and took $150 off for the delay. Could not have been more apologetic. THATS customer service.

 

[shapewright]

My old glasser is a great friend, and a great human being, but I lost track of all the times a customer would be at the shop to pick up their board and it still needed a rub out, or the gloss coat hadn't even been brushed on yet.. or worse. And this despite my cheating on the due date and giving reminders.

Outside of my close friends that shape, the only two surfboards that I would really love to get from an established shaper are a HPNR from Jim, and a NVM from Bruce - hats off to you both.

When I had my Cocoa Florida factory I experienced the same thing you refer to.
There were glossed boards stacking up in the hallway, a walk in client would show up looking for a board and see something they liked.
My manager / polisher would reply with the “ Dude I can have it for you in 2-3 hours “.
The potential customer would walk, go to one of my many competitors and buy off their rack, I’d tell him, James I can’t sell from an empty Apple cart.
It didn’t last much longer for him working for me

 

[Bruce Fowler]

I remember my quasi partner and dear friend the departed Bob Krause telling me "I'm the best sander in Santa Barbara".

I had a great factory set up at The Surfing Underground. He had a 10'x20' shaping room equal to mine next door. Dick Brewer came to town one week end and borrowed my room and loved the set up. He shaped a sailboard for his nephew, then we glassed it.

We were heavily into windsurfing. Part of the problem I guess. Krause "BK" would turn on the big fan in the sanding room after cutting all his sandpaper, there would be a stack of boards to get sanded..... then he would walk out and be checking the trees for wind.............. I'd be mowing foam........ a little later, sure enough, I'd check the sanding room and he had bailed to go windsurf Leadbetter!

The next time he told me he was the "best sander...." I replied "yeah but to be the best you actually have to do the work".

The next group of boards Bruce Brown's son, Wade, was sanding for me.

 

[shapewright]

My first summer on the east coast I worked at the Eastern Surfer in Oceancity Md. as the ding repairman.
One morning they asked me to open up the shop while the owners surfed, I went for a big pancake breakfast instead.
The surf blew out almost immediately and heading to the shop passed my Corvair van at the restaurant.
Of course when I finished my leisurely breakfast and got to the showroom, there they were !
They told me to get my pay card and pack up my tools, I was done, I asked if they’d give me another chance.
The answer was, we gave you that chance when we hired you.
Never forgot it.
But, it also opened the doors for me to find board builder on the east coast and the rest is history