customers not knowing how to properly use a call..

[Jon @ JRwoods]

Interesting read, I might have to try a quilt just to say I have done it! 

I remember being the guy that couldn't blow a call, I figured out the Big River flute, but wanted to learn a short reed.  I went to more than one show and looked at lots of calls.
I even told folks there that i didn't know how to call.  But I wanted to here them run their call.
I wanted to know/hear that their call would make all the sounds I wanted to hear.  And I did ask more than one person "Wait, how did you make it do that?"

[Damen @ MD Calls]

Jayson it has been on my mind for awhile also and its just a touchy subject.. I'm just goin to try and judge the person and go from there.. But that's what I would do too, just offer limited toneboard styles and make the appearance different.. Custom has to be limited to a point.. Thats why we chose the LA tone board because it has a lot more adjustment on the spot with the chance of ruining something a lot less..

Chris, it makes your heart just sink when someone picks YOUR call up and doesn't know how to blow it.. Talk about free advertising at a show!!  We just immediately pick a call up and blow it just to show passers by that they are good sounding..  On a positive note, when customers come up that can call and grab one and run it like their on stage, and says "man these sound great and look sweet"!! it makes you feel just as good as a flock of mallards committing to your spread!!

Our other problem is when people walk by and you hear them say I don't make enough money to buy one of those calls..  They can't even see the prices and just judge by the looks!! From the research I have done most of our calls are cheaper then most "big names" and moderately famous call makers.. I guess we just hang a big sign that displays our prices!!

[jayson.g]

I may not know anything about sewing machines but i definitely know about shows and conventions. I work for my wifes parents and they own a convention display company. We set up over 150 shows a year and deal with thousands of people and get a lot of feed back. Put something small and free right inside the front line of your booth. % 75 of people go to shows just to "trick or treat". Basically hang out with friends and family and get something small (under $20) or collect free stuff. You would be surprised how many vendors tell me they get way more leads/sales just by putting a bowl with suckers or something stupid out in their booth. When joe schmoes girlfriend/wife or friend or kid walks up to ask for a sucker he says "Sure. Hey would you mind if I take a second of your time to show you some of the calls I make and give you a sample of what kind of sounds they can produce?" I've been told people feel bad and its harder to just walk away without hearing you out after they have just taken something for free from you or when they are just inside of your booth instead of walking by out in the aisle. Then at least you get the chance to demonstrate your products.

[Brian at DDT Game Calls]

Ha, try it you may like it

see it was a small one, tried to make it manly

[FS Custom Calls]

   This is cracking me up.  The quilt thing is awesome.  I did oragamy for a bit.  Little lady like but I thought it was fun.  As for the call end of this conversation, I have yet to find a person that I could not tune a call for.  They just may make a quack but thats ok for them.  Ask questions and get to know them a bit.  They will feel alot more comfortable about not only buying a call from you but also you giving them some subtle advise.  Every year on my arkansas trip I prop tune 50 call for people.  I get a kick out of it and get paid in beer.  (you dont want to be the last in the evening).   Some can call already, some not so much.  But apparently, from what my buddy tells me, no one else will take the time to do it for them.  That is where the custom call maker comes to the rescue.  Offer them all the time it takes to make them sound like a million bucks and they will tell everyone.  Orders come in and the big guys lose business.  Not that we hurt them much.  Turn people away by embarassing them by saying you dont have a call to fit them, and well, as the saying goes, takes 100 customers to make a good name, one to ruin you.     And I may break out my oragamy again now that at least one person wont make fun of me.

[Brian at DDT Game Calls]

ha hey go for it, sorry we got off subject for a bit

[dogcatcher]

Ha, try it you may like it

see it was a small one, tried to make it manly

That is a nice looking wall hanger quilt.

Nothing wrong with knowing how to sew, my parents were of age during the depression and WWII, they knew about hard times and being self reliant.  They made sure we knew all of the life skills needed to survive in tough times.  I learned to sew because my mother taught me along with my brothers and sister.  Then when I was in the Army I found a part time business, the post laundry wanted money for repairs, so I found an old Singer sewing machine to fix my uniforms and charged others to fix theirs.   My mother made sure we could cook, do laundry, keep a clean house etc., while our father made sure we could do carpentry work, farm, weld, mechanic work etc..   There was no throw away society in the old days, you used everything until it broke and then fixed it and it went on and on.

Marvin

[Joe aka COLD @ J. A. Kolter Calls]

HA!  I've started sewing on a Singer treadmill back in '52.  I sew all my double draw string call bags yearly, I'm talking hundreds.
I also know how to cook and bake.  My rubarb custard pie is to die for.   That's what you get raised by a single mother and three sisters.

[Aaron at Wingerts Woodworks]

I'm a young pup but learned to sew (buttons and basic stuff) in junior high in home economics class.  My mom was battling cancer when I was in junior high and was in no shape to cook.  My dad could barely boil water, as his mom never taught him anything of the sort.  When her energy allowed, my mom taught me to make all of her recipes, as my dad wasnt' interested in learning.  As her cancer progressed over the years I was the designated family cook.  Not that there was anything good about her eventual passing, but one humorous part of it was that my dad came to the realization that I was in college and wasn't home to cook for him, so he was going to starve.  I remember coming back from school a week or two after she died and my dad was enthusiastically cooking her spaghetti recipe.  He told me that he had spiced it up a little bit and tried something different.  Cinnamon.  Lots of cinnamon.  It was the worst thing I ever tried, but I ate it over his half-cooked noodles.

My boys aren't going to grow up helpless.  They'll learn skills in the home and in the garage if it kills me! 

[Callen]

This thread is definitely a prime example of the combination of THO's friendliness and helpfulness. 

As for the customer not being able to run a call. It has been mentioned, but it sometimes is not their fault. Different makers' calls run differently. Sometimes they just need to get used to yours. But it never hurts to grab a call and show them what it can do. Just be careful not to offend when doing it. For instance, (grabs call off shelf) "This call is a little raspier if that is what you are looking for. (Insert great calling sequence)."

Cody

[FS Custom Calls]

God I hope this thread keeps going on the road it is on.  I need a good laugh right now.

[Chris at Owens Custom Calls]

I always tell them a new call is like dating a pretty girl. She looks great, but you have to spend some time together to see if you are compatible

[Damen @ MD Calls]

I like that Chris!! With our calls I guess I would have to classify them as an open water call but with a little practice it can be used as a timber call.. Where we hunt the overly loud call is not necessary.. But I also like to have a little something at my finger tips in that "just in case" scenario!! We use it as a timber call and always can get the highball if we need too outa the calls!!

That's great advice..
Damen

[Brian at DDT Game Calls]

Food for thought, when I first started working on sewing machines i told a lady that her machine was bacially not any good and I could have said her daughter was a ^&$&$ and not gotten in as much hot water as I did, never told anyway else that, reworded it so that being said if someone has an old call be carefull with your words about it!!

[Short on Cache]

I have sat down and spent an hour or so with some guys teaching them to call when they bought a call. The end result for me is a customer that thinks my calls are the only ones in the world worth blowing because they have never made a call sound like that before. If they are offended and think its the call, then most people know they cant call so I dont bother with them. My fear is a guy leaving with a cal that "thinks" he can blow it. Then he blows it for his friends and they think it sounds like butt. Seems to me a tutorial is win win.