It's all about the customer...or at least it should be!

David Pogue has a great article in the Technology section of the NY Times last week. The article was titled "10 Ways to Please Us, the Customers" and it's aimed at electronics consumers. It got me to thinking about customer service (or the lack thereof) in the bicycle industry. This isn't going to be the most original entry but, as Oscar Wilde once said: "Talent borrows, genius steals!" Here's my list of ways our industry can better serve our customers:

1) Bike companies need to send bikes properly pre-assembled. If Sony and Samsung can ship 50" plasma TVs halfway across the planet Hodaka and Giant should be able to ship an assembled bike. Labor costs are killing the LBS and this in turn is ultimately bad for the consumer.

2) Create a real owner's manual. Most seem to have been written by lawyers and seem to be preoccupied with keeping the manufacturer from being sued. Seeing "...may result in serious injury or death" every other paragraph doesn't exactly instill confidence in the consumer. Terrifying your customers usually isn't good for business.

3) Create a real catalog. The 1993-1995 Bridgestone catalogs are considered collectors items for a reason. In addition to describing the bikes they contained a wealth of interesting information. Most catalogs are little more than a few race shots, some marketing hyperbole and a spreadsheet of statistics. While we're at it list the weight for your bikes. If your carboscandanium is really that light why not list the weight? True, it really doesn't matter but a lot of people want to know.

4) Return phone calls and e-mails. I'm amazed at the number of e-mails I've sent to various companies that have never been replied to. Whether it's a question about product availability or a technical issue it seems many vendors don't bother to reply. I guess it's because they don't want my money.

5) Sell bikes people actually will want to ride. Most people don't race so why do most road bikes come with the same gears as those used by professionals? Do you really think some 35 year old dentist is capable of pushing the same 53x12 as the pros? On the whole, tires need to have more air volume, saddles need to be wider, bars need to be higher, and gears need to be lower. You can do all of this and still have a slick looking bike. A few companies seem to have clued into this and hopefully more will follow.

6) Don't treat saddles as an afterthought. It's the primary point of contact with the bike. Be willing to spend more than $3 on it. While we're at it, stop speccing skinny ass-hatchet saddles. Those are great for skinny-assed racers but lousy for the remaining 99% of the riding public. Of course saddle makers may scream at the impact this will have on sales but that basically proves product managers are doing a terrible job when it comes to saddles.

7) Don't hire racers to drive your marketing. These people are used to getting gear for free so what in the world makes you think they understand the first thing about how consumers make purchasing decisions? Hire marketing professionals who know what they're doing.

8) Stop giving away your merchandise. Microsoft didn't give me an X-Box because I like playing Rallisport so why should Bike Company X give someone a bike to race on the weekends? It's shocking how many people are riding on stuff they got for free or at a steep discount. Bike racing for the vast majority of people is a hobby and hobbies are things you pay to do. I don't know of any other hobby that gives away so much product. This is especially true for Masters since most of them make more than enough money to afford to finance their hobby.

9) Drop the "dude" mentality. Could you imagine what it would be like if bankers, mortgage brokers, or car salesmen acted the way your typical bike shop employee acted? Yikes. Of course it doesn't help when the typical bike shop employee makes less than the typical Starbuck's barrista.

10) Think outside the box. Why do so many bikes end up looking the same? Every year it seems someone designates a hip color and all the companies come out with a bike in that color. One year it's orange, the next year it's flames. Stop playing "me too" in the graphics department. Again, it might help to hire people from outside the industry.