Potential New Saltwaterfish.com Services

Consulting service sounds like a winner as long as you have people who know their stuff doing it. Phone orders sound like a mess just waiting to happen.

I went ahead and checked allow phone orders AND the consulting service...even though the phone order issue doesn't really affect me. I do know some other people that would benefit from that service though :)

Phone ordering would probably attract more customers if it's "put out there right." By that I mean simply advertising that you now have phone ordering strictly on this and other websites isn't going to get more people who are already on the web. If you maybe advertise locally, or in some type of magazine that might bring new people in, but with everything moving to online, not sure it isn't a lost cause.

The consulting service certainly sounds pretty cool and should attract people new to the hobby who are unsure. And also probably attract more senior aquarists, who like the fact there's the intent of responsibility from a vendor. However, I would consider the in-depthness of it possibly putting off some 'intermediate' customers who are just looking for a simple question, "can I keep acans under PCs?" But don't necessarily want to reveal everything about themselves.

Just last night I was trying to call. Sometimes a computer just does not work like it should and I wanted to order, I had never tried before. I plan on trying again tomorrow to place that order.

If you would have allowed phone orders you would be $150.00 richer right now. So I think it will boost your business. A consultant would be cool but I bet the line would be hopelessly jammed from new folks asking soooo many questions and not doing any research first.

From a customer service perspective, especially with a product that will vary. I think being able to call em up is vital. I also think you're fooling yourself if you think you're just going to have order takers. You'll get people calling you up for information no matter how you present that number. Then if you turn them away because the phone rep doesn't know anything other than how to take an order you'll have some ticked off people.

To me the only way to take phone orders would be to be able to offer advise about the fish in question. And maybe just that.

All of the above seem like good options. Historically, SWF has received some degree of flack for not being able to take phone orders, or receive customer service over the phone. Obviously the business hasn't hurt for this, but it may actually improve if the phone service is there. There was a time when many hobbyists were skid-dish with internet purchases, especially livestock. There are likely still some who are hesitant about it and a real person over the phone may well be the reason that they become customers of the store.

I would definitely advertise the services so that word gets out.

As for consulting, I see no downs with offering this to see if it's viable. Not sure how you would get folks to follow through with purchase commitments once the advise is given, though?

I agree that this will be an issue if the phone rep is not knowledgeable. However, you could do what the original owners did with questions of that sort....direct them to the forums! That is how I ended up here. LOL

Taking phone orders would lead to issues like streb mentioned but at the same time lack of any customer service has cost SWF a shot at a few thousand in business from me so maybe lumping phone ordering, customer service and consulting into one department would be a winning combination. Sounds expensive though.

I don't agree that SWF has no customer service, its just totally internet, not phone.

I don't agree either.....I have always received excellent customer service when I have had to call.....

If they're htinking about charging for how to I set up my tank calls, I don't think that will work... I would give em a short pep talk and direct them to the forum.

There can be little objection to adding the ability to havephone ordering and consultations. Problem is it worth the extra cost that will have to be passed on to all the customers. It is a tough business call, but I would do it if it were my business as I feel it will help you grow the business. To help keep your headaches and costs down I would very much limit the consultation and phone orderering times with a message when you are not available that directs questions to this forum. Could be a 'win-win' situation.

I like 1 and 2 -- but really like the idea of 2.

There is a lot of money out there but people just don't know what they're doing (in the hobby) and nobody wants to spend time to tell them.

Scenario that literally happend today:
I went to a LFS and there was a guy standing there and the staff was circling him but only asking "Can I help with anything?" and he'd say "Just looking"

I saw him starring at a fox coral and mentioned how awesome of a coral it was... we talked a bit about tanks..
I walked around the coral display tanks with him and we talked about a few different coral. I pointed out the acanthastrea lords to him and told him how well they grow when fed--told him about how well the ducans grow when fed and let him know about mysis shrimp--I also told him about how much luck I've personally had with SPS coral in my nano with the stock lighting.... and I also had a conversation with him on the calcium level in kent salt.

After we was done talking he pulled a member of the staff over and purchased everything I told him about. He probably spent 80+ bucks that he may not have because he just didn't know.

So long story short, I think it would be a really good idea and I could totally see how it could pull extra money out of people as long as the service is honest and they're not just pulling the traditional "You need 100 snails and 100 hermits for a 100 gallon tank".

I think this is a great idea. The bottom line is that even for basic phone order, you need to make sure that the rep is knowledgeable and will ask questions to ensure the safety of the fish. For example, if someone makes a call and wants to order a maroon clown and a percula clown. The rep should automatically ask if they are going to be in the same tank because if so, chances are that percula isn't going to live long. Or someone calls saying they really want a chocolate chip star, the rep needs to know to ask if its for a fowlr tank cause it will eat coral. The last thing you want is an angry customer calling saying " I ordered a peacock mantis shrimp from your customer service rep last week, it came, and killed all of my hermits!!! They should have told me it needs a species only tank!"

I selected consultation as well and wanted to select phone ordering, but I work at a call center and would urge you to seriously look into the real cost of phone ordering. People will call for every reason under the sun, other than ordering livestock. It will be a huge time and money investment.

I think they are both good ideas. Not sure if it would drive in more customers or not but very handy to say the least. I just got an order in from here yesterday. I got a blue hippo tang and a powder blue tang. I thought I was going to loose the hippo it was just laying on its side during acclimation yesterday. So I emailed them to see if they had any ideas. I still have not herd back from them. So I think if I could have picked up the phone and called rather thann email them the hippo would have had a better chance of suvival or at least my sanity would have been saved from trying so hard to save the little guy. However the hippo did survive and is doing fine in his 10 gal QT tank. All I did was add an air pump to the acclimation box and the tang is doing just fine now.

They do have a phone # So if there are issues you can call....most times you have to leave a message because the staff is limited (great, but limited) the only thing you can not do by phone right now is order.....

lol your right. The sad part is the phone# is right above the support@saltwaterfish.com that I clicked on to email them. You think I would have seen it lol.