the bees are gone (part 2)

some said that not only the bees are gone, even the trees are gone! so, let me put things in perspective...

if you want to get rich these days, doing hifi business is the last thing you would consider. so by that simplistic assumption, most of our dealers are passionate about hifi. having said that, there are certain things that we audiophiles would like the dealers to know:

[1] if we hang out in your shop once in a while does not necessary mean we are obligated to buy things from you. we can be interested in your company, your knowledge or simply we have nowhere to hang out when our missus do her shopping. of course, we would be nice not to disturb your customers or disrupt your business, or pass judgement about the gear that you are selling, or badmouth you behind your back.

[2] if we wear shorts and slipper doesn't give you the right to assume that we can't afford your stuff. in fact, most of us are rich enough to spend on hifi. it is a matter of which dealer we like to do business with. we only do business with people we like.

[3] if we support and worship brand "A" and if you happen not be a dealer for brand "A", doesn't mean you can criticize about it. there is this term we created in english and it is called "sour grapes".

[4] even if we can't afford your stuff now, it doesn't mean we can't afford it in another 5 years' time when we become manager, GM or director, or better still, a multi-millionaire. first impression counts, if you are hostile to us in the first meeting, chances are you are screwed and we will never buy from you in our lifetime.

[5] if we bought brand "A" from a previous dealer who has relinquished dealership and passed on to you, you have full obligation to repair my brand "A" should it be faulty or problematic. yes, we are willing to pay but stop being scornful, sarcastic, difficult and unfriendly and push all your responsibilities away

[6] sometimes, we know that we can get cheaper elsewhere and yet we buy from you because we expect good after-sale service so please don't frown on us when we bring back the gear for repair or check-up.

[7] and if you do come to our house, please stop picking on stuff we didn't buy from you and use psychological tactics to make us feel bad about our buying decisions. and if you don't like the sound you hear from our system, please refrain from criticizing it especially if that item was not bought from you. doing that will show that you have no respect and decency for your competitors. if you must comment, please give us constructive comments like how you can help to improve the sound without spending another RM5K on another upgrade.

[7] and lastly, if you can, invest on a decent showroom to showcase your stuff to the best of their ability.

if the audiophiles, the music lovers and the dealers and the media can all put their collectively efforts to promote, disseminate, share, exchange, discuss this hobby for the pure love of it, then the bees will come back and we would all expect a bountiful harvest on the hifi trees in the not-too-distant future ;-)