Shop Hours vs. Appointments

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

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Permalink Reply by Ned Knepp on January 7, 2015 at 10:04am

You might start by thinking about which tasks take the longest uninterrupted period of time to complete. That would give you an idea of where you might slot your "open" time. It seems to me that being "open" when people are available could be a good thing. Maybe something like 11 AM to 1 or 2 PM for three days a week and 5 PM to 7 PM two days a week then morning on one of the weekend days I hesitate to suggest it but I can't help but wonder if having "open" hours that fall after people get off of work might not be a bad idea, even if it only a couple of days a week.

( See how I managed to take away either lunch or dinner every day of the work week? It's a gift. )

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Permalink Reply by Jon Hiltbrand on January 7, 2015 at 12:24pm

You are right about varying the "open" hours. When working by appointment, I've had customers come as early as 7am and as late as 10pm! I like to be flexible, but I'm not sure I want to be that flexible. Morning hours for several days and evening hours for several days might be best. I may make at least one weekend day "open" for most of the day as many of my customers seem to come then anyway.

Thanks, Ned!

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Permalink Reply by Alex Glasser on January 7, 2015 at 5:48pm

Hi Jon,

Interesting question. It's something i spend a lot of time trying to dial in. I run my shop by myself. I rent a small shop. I have machines and tools here. The way i do things is by appointment only, Friday and Saturdays between 9 and 5:30, only. Then I work Monday through Thursday and get things done. I try to schedule appointments back to back, usually figuring i need a half hour per customer. This way on Fridays and Saturdays I can be fun and on point with my customers because I'm not stressed about getting back to a neck reset or some crazy restoration project. On fridays and saturdays ill usually focus on set-ups, electronics, things that if i get interrupted, i can jot down on a piece of paper where i was and then come back to the job after I'm done with my customer. I am available through email and on the phone throughout the week, but only open friday and saturday. Sometimes, i make exceptions, because you have to be flexible, but i generally follow this rule and it really made me way more efficient in my shop. its easy to explain that to a customer and they are usually excited when they find out the reason for the wait and/or limited appointment days is to help the customer get my undivided attention and also get the guitar back on or before the due date i give them. Scheduling this way has also made my own scheduling of work easier. what i mean is ill disassemble guitars on a monday for example, because i know i may need six hours of uninterrupted work. anyway, hope that helped.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Hiltbrand on January 7, 2015 at 7:20pm

Hi Alex,

Interesting idea. I have a small shop also and one HUGE advantage that I see in having limited hours (or limited days, as you do) is that I don't need to leave one of my benches open for inspection and quoting. I've been trying to do that since I moved into the shop and it is frustrating trying to juggle jobs that need to sit for hours (aka anything glued) with a limited number of benches. I only have one bench that is accessible from all four sides, the others are along walls, so that is kind of my go-to bench for anything that won't be sitting for long periods of time (quoting included).

Thanks for sharing!

Jon