One of the major disadvantages of being behind the order desk is that, unlike the outside sales staff, your interaction with the customer/product purchased often ends at the point of sale. Of course there are customers who will frequently buy the same item, especially high volume production shops, but for the most part the home hobbyist will come in for a particular router bit and we might not see them again for months (even then it may just be to have the item sharpened). Add to this the fact that unless they have a “unique” personality (you know who you are!), many of the wood warriors start to blend together. This is why any time I “eavesdrop” an online conversation about particular items it always catches my interest, here is a recent example:
The blog entry he is referring to can be seen here and it’s really funny, totally worth reading. I wont bother going into the details of the problem they were talking about – he does a much better job of explaining than I would. But it dawned on me as I was reading it that we have the capacity to solve problems like this! We’ve got an engineer on staff, guys who have been working here, or in the industry for 10+ years … how great would it be if we could invent the solution? Maybe it’s a simple as a slit in the body with a matching plastic sheet – lay the sheet on the table, raise or lower the bit until the sheet lines up with the slit, and you’re set to cut! I don’t know for sure, but how amazing is it that with everyone online sharing frustrations and successes we get to “overhear” customer insights that we would have missed before.
Here’s hoping my idea makes me a millionaire by the time you read this …
Sarah
P.S. Just for reference purposes, here is the extract from our catalogue:
