And on the Budweiser thing, the marketing is great. The reason it sells so good in my bar is the free crap. The shirts and ball caps. I think I gave away about 400 - 500 ball caps this year at Sunset. The kids love it.

Earnhardt I do agree with you. As a business owner myself, I think the most important thing is being visible to your CUSTOMERS. Talk to them listen to what they have to say, even if you don't want to you have to. As a bar owner, on some days the last thing I want to do is hang out with the regulars and listen to the changes I should make to my bar. Are my customers always right? No of course not, but if you give them a little respect and listen they will always return. What makes my bar successful? Visibility, people like to talk to the owner it makes them feel important. I just think the powers that be at Sunset need to do the same. That's my two cents.

It is great to read a post from someone who understands business.  A+

FREE is a magic marketing word.

You see it used all over. Buy the mattress andget a free TV. Why not knock of the price of the TV in the mattress.

I find the problem these days many good businesses closed down because of Big Box. I miss them as I call them mom and pop shops. They are great you paid a buck or two more but you knew that you are a valued Customer. They couldn't offer free stuff but they made sure to listen to your concerns and treat you good.

I just bought a brand new fridge from Home Depot and I got it OK but missing all the doors shelves. I call Home Depot the guy told me to call GE to get the issue resolved. I was mad as hell as I never bought the fridge from GE. I called GE (Mabe - They do all the GE Appliance stuff) They told me to call Home Depot.

I spent hours on the phone about 5 different people from Home depot promised to resolve it never called back we are talking managers, asst managers and employees. 2 calls to Home Depot head office to make complaints. Everyone passed the buck. I got the issue resolved myself.

GE (Mabe) was no better call after call to many people their. One guy was a supervisor trying to pretend he wasn't. The fridge still has issues and GE(Mabe) said a service guy would call last Tuesday still no one called to look at the fridge.

Guess what Home Depot District Manager Finally called and said here is a 100.00 gift card. Sure I took it as I lost 2 days of work because of them. I won't ever buy big ticket items from them. They may get a odd light bulb purchase. GE will never get my business as there is many other makes out their.

The whole point is I want to feel people value me as a customer. We all work hard for our money why shouldn't I get what I pay for. I see the commercials saying how good they are.

I'm not saying all places or every department in that store is bad but the one I was in was bad.

They are selling a product and so is a track so they should listen to their customers. I know you can't make a every customer happy good luck trying but listen to what they have to say and don't talk down to them with a line that was used. When you do that and you are a higher up. You make everyone that works there look bad and that is not the case but you always hear it come from the top and trickles down to the others. Soon you have other saying the same things to customers.

You can have the greatest product in the whole world but if you don't have customer the product doesn't mean a thing. Plain and simple

Your right Evan you cannot make everyone happy. Just the other day I had a guy return a takeout burger, Because it didn't have just Portabello mushrooms on it. I use a wild mushroom mix (twice the cost) and add the portabello shrooms to it. I tried to explain that to him but still no dice. I wanted to tell him he can shove that burger up his (you know what) but instead I apologized for it, and bought him his burger and a pint. So he finally left happy, and he was back the next day.

Scott it is so true. I used to work at Toys R US and I was the manager and I handled customer service. I always told the people in CS. If someone starts swearing or abusing you call me they don't pay you enough for this abuse. I handled customers and I went the extra mile for customers. One guy wanted a harry Potter train impossible to get with a couple weeks before Xmas. I could have told him sorry no one has one and called a couple of stores. I took his business card and told him I will call the buyer and see if he can locate it. We did and had it delivered to his sons house before Xmas as the father doesn't see the kid as he was divorced. He couldn't thank me enough and he talked to my boss and also sent a letter to head office about the service he got.

I had one guy I will never for get this one. I was called down to customer service. A guy bought a gamecube game and said his kid doesn't like it and wants a refund. We can't take them back as per the vendor. He came in telling and screaming. Called me names my employees names and I thought why should I do anything for you?
He ended up jumping on the game and still insisted on a refund and I said in a calm voice sorry but we can't take the game back as it is broken now as you jumped on it.

I have been in management since I was 18 so I have had tons of these people Yelling, Threatening, Swinging at me. Hey I has a knife and gun pulled on me.
People are angry and if you are not upset they get worse as they want you to be sucked into it and then they feel better. Sorry I'm calm in the way I handle customers.