Guild 2013 -- dealers

[jcwu]

I knew they were coming 16 months ago

Wow, now THAT'S restraint, not dropping any hints all that time!

 

[adorshki]

When checking Guild's website, there is no indication (yet) of how to locate a dealer by series/models.....which implies that one can buy any Guild model from any of the dealers listed. Finding a dealer by location is misleading.

Won't be the first time the website's out-of-synch with reality. It's usually the last place to be updated for that "mundane everyday stuff", as it's surprisingly expensive to professionally maintain a webpage. (We tore that subject up , a while back, before the last webpage makover). In fairness, they've been a whole lot more diligent recently than they were just a couple of years ago, but mainly it seems to be product promo news and info.

According to what Bing just described as the new rules, one would have to check with all/several dealers to find a model s/he wanted. Confusing at best, huh? :?

Yep, and I'm thinking it may be a whole lot simpler to simply put a disclaimer on the list that says something like "Note not all dealers may stock all products. We suggest contacting the dealer of your choice for more info". It lets the consumer know they might have to look around a little, and doesn't require some kind of massive "brand by dealer" matrix which would probably be more confusing to the average consumer as well as more maintenance intensive to keep current.
Also allows a dealer to give customer most up-to-date info about what they can get, even if webpage is out-of-synch. :wink:

 

[Bing k]

I knew they were coming 16 months ago

Wow, now THAT'S restraint, not dropping any hints all that time!

:lol: :lol: I didn't have enough information to know what I was talking about. At the time Fender was transitioning some overhead personal so of course product policy gets left on the carousel some days.

 

[Bing k]

When checking Guild's website, there is no indication (yet) of how to locate a dealer by series/models.....which implies that one can buy any Guild model from any of the dealers listed. Finding a dealer by location is misleading.

Won't be the first time the website's out-of-synch with reality. It's usually the last place to be updated for that "mundane everyday stuff", as it's surprisingly expensive to professionally maintain a webpage. (We tore that subject up , a while back, before the last webpage makover). In fairness, they've been a whole lot more diligent recently than they were just a couple of years ago, but mainly it seems to be product promo news and info.

According to what Bing just described as the new rules, one would have to check with all/several dealers to find a model s/he wanted. Confusing at best, huh? :?

Yep, and I'm thinking it may be a whole lot simpler to simply put a disclaimer on the list that says something like "Note not all dealers may stock all products. We suggest contacting the dealer of your choice for more info". It lets the consumer know they might have to look around a little, and doesn't require some kind of massive "brand by dealer" matrix which would probably be more confusing to the average consumer as well as more maintenance intensive to keep current.

Also allows a dealer to give customer most up-to-date info about what they can get, even if webpage is out-of-synch. :wink:

I don't want to over blow the confusion factor here. I believe the Guild dealer network will be stronger than in the past. I believe it will also have more indication from the company about where the product line is headed. Which is a good thing IMO. The brand is seeing a resurgence because of well-made interesting product to the musician consumer. We sit around here and question marketing all the time. But the brand is growing in popularity. The members here have played a part in contributing to the growth and popularity.

You are correct, the web presence is going to play a big part in informing consumers about what is available, where.
We're working on upgrades at this time to make our own web presence more consumer friendly.

Toni, let's hope it's not confusing for the consumer because in the end the consumer's shopping experience is what brings her(correction ) back as a repeat customer.

 

[fronobulax]

Very interesting. I will be talking to my local purveyor of Guild acoustics (GAD and NH) later today and see what he says. I know in Ye Olden Days he was very happy to get an order from us because it helped him meet his quota but the cash tied up was our deposit and not his capital. I also know that even when ordering New Hartford product he talked to someone in Scottsdale and he noted that he pretty much had to talk to a different person at Fender for each of the Fender product lines he carried.

 

[Bing k]

Very interesting. I will be talking to my local purveyor of Guild acoustics (GAD and NH) later today and see what he says. I know in Ye Olden Days he was very happy to get an order from us because it helped him meet his quota but the cash tied up was our deposit and not his capital. I also know that even when ordering New Hartford product he talked to someone in Scottsdale and he noted that he pretty much had to talk to a different person at Fender for each of the Fender product lines he carried.

FMIC's expansion of Guild and the corresponding separation of instrument types is not a new thing in the business.

At Fender, there is "Fender" and then there is "specially sales" such as Guild, Jackson, Gretsch, SWR, Hamer, Ovation, and so on. Two different inside sales departments