> At 09:30 PM 8/29/96 +-1000, Dr Bruce wrote (in reply to Julie):
> (snip)
> >If your aquarium store is one of these GOOD ones support them with your
> >custom and recommend them to others. Tell the opposition that you saw their
> >display of Native fish and were impressed. We know how nice our fish are
> >but we need to educate a wider sector of the public..
Word of mouth is how we get the vast majority of our customers. Good
service is how we keep them. Tell your friends about your fav store and
you will be helping them to stay in business; tell your friends to avoid
bad stores and word will get around, hopefully either forcing them to
improve or shutting them down. Even the good stores have room for
improvement. We just began construction in a monster remodeling job. It
only gets better... :-)
> What could regional groups/individuals be doing to educate the "wider sector
> of the public"? Doing talks for schools and the like? Displays at cultural
> events/agricultural shows? Setting up tanks in Hospitals? I must say that
How about working w/ a fav shop to sponsor an after hours workshop on
keeping natives? You could kill 2 birds w/ one stone, promoting the store
and the fish, and getting the store to do more w/ the fish as well. The
shop would get good PR and develop a customer base for keeping the fish.
ANGFA (or whatever group) would get good PR as well, plus would further
thier aims of getting folks interested/educated in the care and keeping
of natives. It's hard to pitch to the stores, but if you really work out
all of the details (custom plan things for each particular shop) and
sell it on the merits of what good such workshops can do for their
business, you may find that it will work out nicely. Keep the # of
participants small and plan on doing several, rather than generating a
poss. mob scene. Also, recommend that the owners give a "that night only"
discount on the fish/supplies you use in your talk/demo. (Say, 10 - 15%),
and you may find yourselves w/ an annual/semi-annual event. Some shops on
the East Coast (USA) do these workshops, aided by the employees/local
clubs and they are great (if done right).
Julie Z <><