Author Topic: Pat Duggan ( Bowlingballmall.com) on the state of bowling, proshops, and the future.. (Read 8581 times)

Juggernaut · « **on:** March 27, 2009, 09:35:38 AM »

This is a reply post that Pat Duggan made in a thread about bowlingballmall and its purported demise. Pat also stated that www.Bowlingballmall.com is indeed alive and well.

I thought this was worth more people seeing, so I cut and pasted it here. I hope Pat doesn't mind.

quote:
Thanks for the reply. You are correct, we are going to do something soon about the site. The site is outdated, but in honesty we do have many of the items instock still. Our site is outdated, but to say we are done, kaput, toast, is an outright lie.

We we one of the first online websites around. We offered fair prices that usually with shipping was the same as a pro shop or maybe 10.00 cheaper at the most, and that would be mostly due to the fact the customer did not have to pay sales tax. We did a robust business and everyone was happy.

We offer more than just changing boxes, we spend time with our customers giving advice and help, (I have spent over 2 hours with a customer before), as I love to teach and help bowlers. Spending over 10 years on the PWBA tour with my wife Anne Marie and some of that time as a ball Rep for Storm, we do have insight that can be benefical to a bowler, and immensly enjoy giving back and helping bowlers.
Along with Fred Borden, in 1996 we were first to use C.A.T.S. as a teaching tool, and set up a C.A.T.S. lane in Salt Lake City at the ABC tournament and in 1997 in Reno we also set up Lane 81 with C.A.T.S for the WIBC and gave over 1400 lessons with the women. We also did the A.B.C. Tournament and the W.I.B.C tournaments in 1998. We have over 50,000 happy customers who constantly stay in touch. We work off of word of mouth and repeat business.

A few years back we were going full steam ahead with a new design and pushing forward when, we decided that we did not want to participate in the destruction of brick and mortar shops. So we went a different route and have been selling mostly older equipment online, and have fun actually helping customers get that old favorite ball they wished they could find one more time.

We also had personal reasons for slowing down the website as we had an elderly family member that we had to take care of on a daily basis for the last 4 years, who just passed this Jan.

We do intend to update the website before the fall season, but make no mistake we have a lot of inventory old and new.

But please hear me bowlers. These cheap prices are a cancer. It is like seeing a beautiful home and it looks great on the outside, but inside it is being destroyed by termites and it slowly falling apart. This is what is happening to the Brick and Mortar Pro Shops. Make no mistake, good people, people with knowledge and who really care about the bowler are being killed by these discount online bowling sites. The pro shop business is not a get rich quick business for most, and it is hard to make less than 40% gross margins and still make a decent living. Just look at the numbers. Most pro shops in this country do less than 100,000 in sales a year, but many are operated by knowledgable, caring, people. These people have family, kids that what to go to college, eat, etc.

One day you will walk into a bowling center and things will look like they did decades ago. The guy at the counter will tell that when the mechanic gets time he will drill your ball and give you a lesson.

In my humble opinion bowling is slowly turning into a total recreational leisure time activity, the sport end is slowly but surly dieing and going away. Not having qualified, knowledgable proshop operators will be the demise of bowling as a "SPORT".

I am also an advid golfer, 4 hdcp. I cannot purchase any top of the line golf ball, golf club, golf shoes, any cheaper online than I can at a brick and mortar shop. The PGA and golf manufacturers have made sure their club pros are protected and that they can make a decent living and are there to help and promote the game of golf, they are the first line ambassadors for their sport, and get the income and respect they deserve from their industry. This is not the case the the bowling industry.

Okay, I wrote a book, but this has been on my chest for over 6 years. Please think about this bowlers, short term gain, for long term loss.

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Norm Duke was right

Good transactions list in my profile

My Bowl.com member page

Mike Austin · « **Reply #46 on:** March 31, 2009, 02:14:07 PM »

quote:
On the flip side, here's what I'd like to see pro shops work on as far as improving customer service, because not all of them are angels (note: I would say the majority are very professional, but anywhere between 25-40 percent of shops I've visited in the last five years suffer from one or more of the following problems):

1) General overall poor attitude.
2) Thinking that I'm a dumb*ss about layouts and/or my own game.
3) Pushing certain gear over others because they're a "Brand X shop," not because it is or isn't the right gear for me.
4) Getting pissed off when I offer suggestions or talk about what I've found works for me or what doesn't. (example: Had a driller get very huffed at me for objecting to his suggestion of a pin-down, 2.5-inch drilling on an aggressive ball. Told me that's what I needed, period.)
5) More attention to detail in their craft. Hitting the chalk lines consistently would be a good start.
6) Trying to drill their customers' balls the way they drill their own (i.e., stretched span vs. relaxed or vice versa, using their layout for me and ignoring my PAP, etc.).

As I said, this doesn't describe a majority of shops. But it does describe enough of them for me to consider it statistically significant. For some reason, bowling pro shops and golf club fitting shops seem to draw an inordinate amount of guys that have an incredible amount of arrogance coupled with the social skills of a fruit bat.

I can come here and ask questions and discuss issues with reasonable people, and gain knowledge. But how many league bowlers, even high-level ones, utilize this resource? Not many. A lot of them trust their drillers inherently and may not be getting the full picture.

Jess

Unfortunately, I agree with you Jess and feel this is a problem in the industry. I think this is why I, and others stress taking care of your pro shop guy if he is one of the good ones. They can be few and far between. The points Pat is making is going to have the good ones fewer and farther.

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THIS SPACE FOR RENT

Author Topic: Pat Duggan ( Bowlingballmall.com) on the state of bowling, proshops, and the future.. (Read 8581 times)

Juggernaut

Pat Duggan ( Bowlingballmall.com) on the state of bowling, proshops, and the future..

Mike Austin

Re: Pat Duggan ( Bowlingballmall.com) on the state of bowling, proshops, and the future..