Before we start, I am a Dutchman, and we Dutch are renowned for our “greed” in free stuff… Know this before you read on, because it explains a lot. Something else what I find, is that when a company brags about being cool, I think you need to back it up, and when it comes to Dutch people… Let’s just say that when a Dutch guy smells free stuff, he turns into a Pitbull.
This is a story about our company CCGwinkel, Dutch greed, a company that backed up their bragging and making new friends.
We have the best of the best products…
I do get a lot of mails from companies that want to work together. They also say that they have the very best in products one could possibly want. This raises 2 questions:
- Why Haven’t I heard about the products before then?
- Why is nobody talking about it?
Because you just started and want to become more known is the answer. It could also be that you just have to push the Kickstarter a bit more, or want to take the KS to retailers like us, CCGwinkel.nl.
“Newfound Friends”
To scare off my “newfound friends”, I usually ask for samples. If the answer is (the most common answer) no, then the deal is off. Simply because if you don’t want to show your product to the one that should “push” the product, you:
- Are either too expensive or
- You are not sure if I’m worth the investment. Why have you contacted me then? Shovelling money, that’s it. The “one-sided deal”
I use this Dutch method because I got bombed by Chinese dice sellers some time ago. To stop them from mailing each day, is if you ask for samples. No one ever gives them, so they know there is no business. Scares them off before there is actual conversation. It could also be that their dice are just so generic that everyone has them already from another company. They could also be selling copies of Chessex, which is pretty common. Enough about the Chinese and more about my…
… REAL Newfound Friends
This is not a blog to show that I make sport of scaring braggers away. The bad ones want to shove product and leave me with it without further support. Yes, i’m talking about them same people that I told about in this blog.
Sometimes, just sometimes, there are surprises in the mail, like last week from Tin Hat Games. I heard of them because I was browsing a product portfolio of a new Distributor that had them in the ranks.
By pure coincidence they got in contact at the same time. Read the mail, pretty generic, so my answer was predictable: “Sure, send me samples, and I’ll take a look”. Sometimes, the reply to that mail is positive, and they send me some samples of their boardgames. Pretty big gamble, because the only thing I don’t have in the shop, are boardgames.
UPS at the door
Gave them the shipping address and waited… Surprised as I was, I got sent a shipping notification. Lo and behold, still wrapped product came in, so shelf product, not a tester. More on the product in the blog “here”, when it goes live.
I have a lot of respect for game studios that brag about their products and actually send samples. This not only improves the chance I will work with a company, but also shows that you back your own product and have confidence in it that I might like the game. It’s even better to see that Tin Hat looked at the products we already carry, and tried to get as close to the theme as possible.
How do I test the samples?
As you might know, I have a brilliant and dedicated team of “roaches” behind me, that, without them, I would have never got this far in the first place. We meet every week for a game night and when I get some physical stuff, I show it to them. They then fiddle with it or even take it home to use it (when applicable, sometimes I get scenery and bases and such).
They then come back with a verdict or in case of a game, play a round or 2 with the group to see their reaction. If this is positive, then the game has a 75% chance to reach the digital shelves of the store. If it is not well received, I will put it in a special place in the storage of the shop until I have enough.
When there is enough, I organize a “Buy shit, Get shit” week on the store. The customer buys a product, and you get random free product extra as a thanks for buying with us. Sometimes it’s a really expensive boardgame, the other time it’s a colourful bag of dice (just no Chinese)
The games from Tin Hat Games look cool enough to play with the family. There will be no sharing here this time. The other reason something doesn’t end up on the “Buy shit, Get shit” pile, is when the games will actually be sold in store, meaning I have a demo copy then.
This makes the circle round. If I spend my time trying to convince the customer it’s actually a cool game by showing why it’s cool, this means I back up my bragging about it. Just like the producer put it in my hands.
Coming back to me being Dutch
Yes I am Dutch, yes I kindly ask for samples when one tries to convince me about their product and yes, I rarely keep the samples for myself. Mainly because I have a wife that dislike loads of the hobby part of my job as a store owner, but also because I think sharing makes the world a better place.
Brutally spoken, shops that don’t at least share something once in a while to keep the customer coming back for more, are doing it wrong. A shopping experience should be fun and should want you come back for more. It isn’t always something like a game, it could also be a button of some sorts. It just confirms the natural “greed” in us humans (especially the Dutch).
The saying is: It’s the small things in life that matter, and if I, as a store owner can make your life a bit better, I will most certainly do.
If you like rants like this, be sure to let us know, and we will be ranting more about what we experience on conventions and in shop. Be sure to check us out with the link above and hope to give you a good read next week.
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