Is the moon full or something?

[harryball]

Well I got another call from a guy that had a question about how we make our bat houses. His voicemail was a little odd, he was asking what kind of router I used or some such. I called him back and he point blank told me... "I ordered one of your kits and I'm trying to reproduce it, can you tell me what bits you use, what kind of router and how you get the grooves cut?"

Really? :rolleyes:

I was polite. I told him basically what he wanted to know but he seemed stumped on how he would be able to cut the grooves with a hand held router. I told him that's why I don't use a hand held router.

/RB

[SterlingDevelop]

You told him basically what he wanted to know?

Why would you do that?

You must have the patience of Job.

I admit that I deal with people of that ilk less graciously.

[shilala]

The other guy was nuts. This guy has balls.
Ya done good dealing with him. I wouldn't be surprised if he calls back, though. He's on a mission. :)
Sorry for your luck, my brother!!!

[Joe Porter]

You should have told him that you don't use a hand held router untill you've had a couple of drinks first....joe

[danhamm]

You should have told him that you don't use a hand held router untill you've had a couple of drinks first....joe


"Yes" or more...lmao...

[donek]

The best thing to tell people who wish to enter your market is how you use to do it. That way they will always be following and you will always be leading.

[jerry_stanek]

You should tell him that you use a chisel to cut the grooves and it took a long time to perfect the process.

[bob_s]

Do you really cut all of those grooves one
at a time with an antique tooth plane?

[CNYDWW]

I cannot tell a lie. I drill all my pocket holes by hand with a stepped drill bit and a manual drill.

Sorry
Had to do it.

[harryball]

I was trying to be a little gracious. He did buy a 3 pack of kits (verified that) and I want (or is that choose?) to believe maybe he was donating his time to build bat houses for a local kids group that helps disabled children who can't afford bat houses nor qualify for governmental bat house assistance.

Anyway, it just kind of took me back a little. Thought I'd share. I can hardly wait for the NEXT call, it'll have to be good!

/RB

[pkirby]

I'm sure you'll have some real good calls tomorrow on Friday the 13th ;)

[tappsman]

I think that you handled this call great. Yes, the guy was a bit ballsy asking you how you make your bat houses but at least he had invested in a kit. For everyone that calls with those type of questions there are probably another 99 who steal your idea off your website or sales literature and you don't make a nickel off of them. His calling and asking you questions on how you make them gives you the opportunity to explain to him how critical the grooves are for a good bat house and that the grooves are virtually impossible to make without a CNC router costing many thousands of dollars.
It's probably my sales background but I feel that any time you have someone asking about your product is an opportunity to tell them why you can do it better than anyone else. You may want to find out what his intentions are in building bat houses. If he is planning to sell finished bat houses you may be able to convince him that it makes more sense to purchase your kits and assemble them that to start from scratch.

[Brady Watson]

you may be able to convince him that it makes more sense to purchase your kits and assemble them than to start from scratch.

Yes...never miss an opportunity to sell.

-B

[bob_reda]

The bad part is that the moon is always full...we just can't see all of it :eek:

Bob

[harryball]

Yeah well, every now and again there are a few customers I'd love to show a full moon. :p

/RB

[gene]

At least i was just joking around when i asked for the cut files and where you sold them. There is no way i would call a manafacturer of a product and ask anything to the reproduction of their product. I can only ask how high your blood pressure went?

[burchbot]

There are many people like that in the world, that is the bad news. The good news is they are quick to abandon their plans, as soon as they realize how much work is involved.
Dan

[harryball]

Yeah, I very much suspect his production run will be short lived. It has prodded me to change my kit design though. I'm going to do to it what I did with our finished houses, add more curves! May take me a little while but when I get the new design out there will be almost no way to "reproduce" it using conventional shop tools.

/RB