Shop Hours vs. Appointments

[Jon Hiltbrand]

Hi All,

This question is mostly aimed at others running a one man shop, but I would welcome any input.  

A few months ago I moved my shop from my home into a storefront.  When my shop was at home I worked by appointment only (or at least customers called first to say they were headed over).  I have been keeping regular hours in the storefront, but I'm not sure that this is the best way to go.  I had a customer walk in the other day seconds after I started gluing on some binding.  He seemed rather interested to watch and didn't seem to mind the wait, but this seems likely to happen often.  I have a hard enough time getting to the phone when I'm mid-repair. 

How do the rest of you handle this?  Appointment only?  Regular hours?  If I had to guess I would say that most of us work alone and have found that one of the other works better.  Hoping you guys can help me weigh the pros and cons of each.

Thanks,

Jon

[Benjamin Brockway]

This is an interesting topic to me and I'm curious to hear about other folk's experience(s):

I have operated a one-man repair shop in Minneapolis for the past 3+ years out of a 500 sq/ft commercially zoned building (yes, a very small building). I've tried everything from having extended walk-in hours 9am - 7pm seven days a week when I first opened shop to locking the door at all times, pulling the little sign out of the window and being available by appointment only.

Currently I try to keep up with a web presence of one or two posts a week and highly encourage scheduling an appointment / letting me know before stopping by even if it's a simple text; but my door is almost guaranteed to be unlocked Tues - Fri 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 2pm. I have a little sign that says "Back in 15 minutes" on one side and "KNOCK" on the other, just in case I need to run an errand, take a break or can not risk being interrupted. I do not have a sign in the window at the moment because my shop is busy and it's nice to stay discreet if you can. This approach has been working out pretty good but adding a nice looking sandwich sign to the equation and having that sit out front during my walk-in hours is in the near future.

Cheers!

Ben

This is an interesting topic to me and I'm curious to hear about other folk's experience(s):

I have operated a one-man repair shop in Minneapolis for the past 3+ years out of a 500 sq/ft commercially zoned building (yes, a very small building). I've tried everything from having extended walk-in hours 9am - 7pm seven days a week when I first opened shop to locking the door at all times, pulling the little sign out of the window and being available by appointment only.

Currently I try to keep up with a web presence of one or two posts a week and highly encourage scheduling an appointment / letting me know before stopping by even if it's a simple text; but my door is almost guaranteed to be unlocked Tues - Fri 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 2pm. I have a little sign that says "Back in 15 minutes" on one side and "KNOCK" on the other, just in case I need to run an errand, take a break or can not risk being interrupted. I do not have a sign in the window at the moment because my shop is busy and it's nice to stay discreet if you can. This approach has been working out pretty good but adding a nice looking sandwich sign to the equation and having that sit out front during my walk-in hours is in the near future.

Cheers!

Ben

[Jon Hiltbrand]

Thanks, Ben.   Minneapolis?  Are you a Southeast Tech graduate also?

I've got one of those "Be back at..." signs with the little clock that I use sometimes.  Nearly everyone calls ahead anyway.  This isn't much of an "impulse buy" type of industry. 

I don't have a sign yet either, but I did stencil and paint my two front windows. Business is going so well as is I don't see the need for a sign just yet, but I do plan to get one up this spring.

Thanks for sharing!

[Benjamin Brockway]

Yes. I'm a Southeast Tech graduate. I've worked in the back of a retail store before too and had very little problems with interruptions, but the folks who worked in the showroom were very respectful to me and the work I was doing. The advantage of working out of a commercial space is that you are more visible and can appear to be more approachable to the public. Having shop hours can be good for business. You just have to figure out what works for you.

[Jon Hiltbrand]

So far I would have to agree that hours / commercial space is good for business.  I guess it could partially be that my new shop is much more centrally located than my home shop too.

I may just have to experiment a bit and see what works. 

[Ian Pender]

I prefer to work by appointment, and do so when I'm doing work out of my own home. I also do work during the week at a retail music store, and currently keep regular hours there, but the interruptions really hurt my productivity. We have a lot of customers who like to chat aimlessly about gear, and unfortunately for me, they always want to chat while I'm mid bridge reglue (seriously, every time, without fail). I've been having some success with encouraging more of my customers to call ahead, but in a busy retail shop, it's sort of implied that you can just drop by.

[Jon Hiltbrand]

I worked by appointment only when I worked at home too.  I can't imagine running regular hours at a home shop... is anyone doing that??

It's not that I don't enjoy talking to my customers.  I feel lucky to have interesting and diverse customers and I like getting to know them.  Its just an issue of timing - like your bridge reglue chats.  I never had this kind of issue at the home shop because I would never start a bridge reglue if I knew someone would be there soon.

[nathan clark]

I've always gone with appointments, even when I had a store-front in a commercial building.  I've worked out of my home shop next to my house for the last 7 years mostly by myself.  It's hidden away such that you have to look for it to know I'm here which really suits me at this stage in my life.

I started my career doing repair work at a busy guitar retail store.  That was a tough job because customers stopped by whenever it was convenient for them so I would get interrupted pretty often.  Also, the sales guys would sometimes try to help by acting as a buffer between the repair shop and the customers which took away my ability to do consultations in situations where I would have preferred to set reasonable expectations.

Most of the week I work by myself so appointments help me stay focused and productive.  I'm considering trading in the appointment model and training an assistant who could work at "the counter" selling my inventory of guitars, doing minor set up work, repair consultations and filling out work orders.  That's probably going to be a ways off, if I ever do it.

[Jon Hiltbrand]

Hiring someone to take care of the customer service side of things could be great.  When possible, I like to give my recommendations / diagnosis to the customer when the drop it off (rather than call later with a quote).  I'm not sure this would be possible for an "counter" employee without extensive training or previous experience.  It would definitely boost productivity though! 

[Robbie Collins]

You could always have limited drop-off hours like 3-5pm and use that time for setups or other non-glue tasks, book keeping, ordering, research, bill paying, email, cleaning and reorganizing, etc. Make the other hours available by appointment.

[Jon Hiltbrand]

Thanks, Robbie.  I think this is an excellent idea.  Just need to figure out what the best hours to run are.

[Donald A. Fortune]

Hi Jon  -- get a load of this one -- I knew a fellow that had a store at one time or another -(might still have it but Im not in that part of the country any more) 

He had a sign in the window of the door next to the handle  that read--

If there is a light on inside and someone is there we are open--

if not we  are  closed                                                   just a thing I saw - not necesserly how you should do it do it but I just thought you would like to see what I saw--

best to you in your new endeavor -- peace, Donald 

[Jon Hiltbrand]

Hi Don.  That's hilarious!  If I had a sign like that guy I might as well be open 24/7!  My lights are always on.  I spend an obscene amount of hours in the shop, but I love what I do so it works out.  I can't say that I enjoy every job that I get in, but I enjoy enough of them that it doesn't feel like I'm "working" nearly as many hours as I do.