Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a way to talk to the various companies that I do business with in one place? A place designed for businesses, rather than consumers? I would totally dig that, and go to that. It might be a giant commercial, but it'd be cool to check out what the companies are trying to sell me in person rather than in a magazine or over the phone. I'd really love to do something like that.
I just got back from such an event. A major distributor hosted an open house for FLGS owners at a hotel/convention center in their home city. They held seminars and discussion panels as well as had an exhibit hall and a demo day where owners could talk to reps for various companies in the flesh as well as check out games up close to see how they worked. These hands on experiences are great ways to determine if a game is right for a specific store's environment, as well as gives owners a great tool for selling games.
This event is a pretty big deal for most FLGS in the Midwest region, with most stores attending or sending a rep; if not sending a large number of staff (I saw three stores that sent multiple reps/staff members). There were some stores from out of the area (NJ and SC, along with Florida). All of these folks were FLGS owners, managers or staff, and they were all attending this event to learn new things and better their store and community.
The distributor does a great job of gathering reps from a large number of players to attend the show and put on seminars and demos. Reps from WotC, Fantasy Flight, Looney, Chessex, Privateer Press and many others were on hand to show off their product, show us how their games worked, and to give us helpful information on sales and how to improve them.
Despite knowing in advance that the reps are all going to give the "company line", it's a good environment for getting a feel for the corporate attitude of a specific publisher. It's also an easy way to see how a company partners with the FLGS types and whether owners are a valued part of their business plan.
As an attendee of this event, I noticed a very interesting and obvious dynamic almost immediately. There was a meet & greet with a buffet and booze the first night there (cash bar, but still, there was liquor) and there were quite a few reps from assorted companies on the floor mingling and socializing as we all ate, drank and mellowed out. These reps were friendly, outgoing, interested in our businesses, and visible. They made a point to invite attendees to their seminars and to check out their display booths, as well as to come and play their games during demo night. They were definitely selling, but in a way that was approachable, and I noticed.
Most of the seminars that were offered were pretty good. They offered at least a passing nod to store involvement in building and growing customers for the products they were trying to push- a specific example includes Privateer Press; whose seminar was overflowing and had several examples from the audience on how PressGangers can promote games in store effectively as well as how to build brand awareness past the model games they offer, which often leads to better sales results and higher profits for small stores.
There was a particular company that acted completely differently. Their reps were non-existent at the meet and greet. The seminar they held was labeled as a way to increase sales in store; but was in actuality an aggressive sales pitch for their new revised (again) direct sales program and a "painting tutorial". The painting tutorial didn't involve any actual painting instruction- they handed out a model and five little dabs of basic colors and left the seminar attendees to their own devices. The premise behind the painting session was that if you can paint, you can sell more of their product; but they didn't offer any cues on how to make that leap. In short, the seminar totally ignored the needs of the FLGS owner.
Even before this event, the contrary company had raised our ire with the sales of its newest release. We had spoken to our sales rep the week prior to a highly anticipated new release and mentioned the numbers of items for the line we wanted. We believed this conversation entailed a pre-order and reserved copies of the items in question, and had no worries about supply. Orders opened on Monday, and when we spoke to our rep on wednesday, we were suddenly not getting the items we had "pre-ordered" the week prior and nothing was available to us as the company had sold through their very limited print run on the first day.
It's been a very long time since I have seen TheDude lose his temper in such a vitriolic and abusive way. I do feel bad for the rep, who is very green and hasn't dealt with TheDude and his fits of pique before this encounter. However, the entire issue was over the way this company treats the FLGS operators in comparison to the way they treat regular consumers. We simply don't appear to be part of their business model at first blush. It's frustrating to operate as the third tier (or even lower than that) of their customer building operation when every other company in the industry treats owners as the first rung of their growth strategy.
When it came time to hit the exhibition hall, TheDude and I took a "divide and conquer" approach. We went our separate ways, and I looked at a lot of games I had almost no experience with. I checked out Level 7 [Escape] from Privateer Press (a game that has a lot of potential for fun, but is just a little bit fiddly), talked to reps from Fantasy Flight (core rulebook for Star Wars Edge of the Empire RPG coming "soon", and guys in the factory figuring out ways to produce X-Wing faster), played a fantastically fun game called Attraction (check it out- you won't regret it!) and saw a lot of games that were interesting, but not right for our store or culture.
The expo hall was an interesting dynamic. There are two "big" companies that work as both publishers and distributors, and their displays could not have been more different. One company had a MASSIVE display (at least 5 tables, taking up a corner at the ENTRY of the exhibit hall) with several staff members, including a VP on hand to discuss releases, products and services. The other had one table that was set up in such a way that it was easy to miss, and only one staffer.
The big company with a huge display? WotC.
The folks from Seattle are genuinely interested in building a working relationship with store owners, and do incredible amounts of work to make buying from and dealing with them as easy as possible. One of their seminars talked about how getting more games into stores will increase sales, and the shortened version of the talk was "more play = more $". WotC WANTS owners to know what's going on with their products and services so they can effectively sell all of their offerings. They gave information on much anticipated releases and has an announced schedule for upcoming product all the way into SEPTEMBER. They are giving owners a six month window to prepare for new product, to talk up different formats and options, and INVEST in developing new customers.
The company with the one table display was also the company that gave the seminar with the "painting demonstration" and whose reps were barely visible throughout the event. The company that effectively gave a giant finger to owners?
Games Workshop.
I walked past the GW display at the exhibit hall multiple times. Every time I did, the rep was busy trying to fend off angry owners (TheDude was among them) who wanted SOMEONE- ANYONE to listen to the frustration and aggravation they felt at dealing with GW, especially in light of the "great Tau shortage", combined with new terms and conditions that limit purchases and purchase amounts, how owners can sell and how many shipments a store can get. (Just an FYI, if your local store doesn't have any Tau to sell to you; it's not because they didn't want them. It's most likely because GW sold them on the internet before they sold them to FLGS owners.)
The vast difference in how GW operates and treats owners compared to WotC, PP, Fantasy Flight or even Wyrd was impossible to miss or ignore. I've always been somewhat aware that to GW, the FLGS owner is something of the ugly stepchild in priority and balance, but I'd never seen it so blatantly or obviously shown. The very limited contact I had with this company at this event made me realize that they don't want or need our business. They deal with us because they HAVE to, and effectively make doing business with them as distasteful as possible because they CAN.
TheDude and I happened to be in the elevator with a gentleman who over heard us talking about a seminar that was mediocre. He asked which one, and why we felt that way. When he discovered the seminar was one that his company ran, he THANKED us for our opinions and invited us to leave notes or even drop by his booth later. The gentleman was a VP for WotC. In comparison, the GW rep was stuck with repeating that there wasn't anything he could do about our concerns, but he would pass them along.
The difference is staggering.
The problem as an owner is that GW offers a product our customers want. The company has a lock on a profitable line, and no matter how difficult or unpleasant they are to do business with, they make us money- and lots of it. Simply not carrying their product is not a smart business move, no matter how infuriating it is do be stuck in that position.
They not only offer a product that is in demand, but the discount for dealing directly with them is large enough that it's pretty stupid not to do so. It might be different if the discount was just a few points and I could get all of the product line through a distributor. But the discount is HUGE and they throttle what I can buy through the company that put on this shin dig. So I deal directly with GW, even though it aggravates me to no end.
Stores continue to carry GW because customers continue to buy. The tournament scene, 'Ardboys, the Riders program and many other community building events and ideas are gone because GW does not want to build community- they want to build customers. It's up to the FLGS to develop a consumer from a wet haired kid into a smart and considerate adult player.
I'll address whether and how to take that on in the weeks to come with my community building series. I hope you'll join in, and let me know what you're interested in hearing.
No comments:
Post a Comment