SnowBird Update: Meet John Logic, Store Owner and Problem Solver of Snowboard Connection

Kevin Wong December 30th, 2008

Meet John Logic, Store Owner and Problem Solver of Snowboard Connection from Artefact on Vimeo.

Meet John Logic. As co-owner and all around great guy of a popular local board shop, Snowboard Connection (Snocon), he works hard everyday solving problems as they walk through his doors. To him and the rest of his staff, it is about solving problems. We came to John to talk to him for 60 minutes about what makes Snocon a special place for him and his customers. The video above shows some of the highlights from our conversation with him. Below are additional notes from the interview.

Observations From The Field

Motivations

• Motivated to get people excited about snowboarding, or board sports in general
• Motivated by Nordstrom quality service (sales approach, policy and culture)
• Snowboarding is more than a sport, it’s a lifestyle
• Desires to make Snocon a place to hang out and socialize
• Major challenge this coming year is a decrease in consumer spending for an already expensive recreation

Behaviors

• Exist to solve people’s problems. Finding the right match based on customer’s experience and equipment
• Snocon reaches out to their community through events that they hold in store
• Some customers tend to make decisions solely off of aesthetic design of the graphics vs actual usefulness
• Girls shop by color where guys shop by brand
• Once a customer has a bad experience with a brand, they don’t return to it
• Limit to 3-4 choices at any one time, otherwise it becomes overwhelming for customers and they lose attention
• They serve beer in store as a gesture for trust and comfort

Roles

• Energizer
• Problem Solver
• Community Leader
• Decision Maker
• Facilitator
• Connector

Environments

• Limited in store brand presence to keep Snocon brand the more predominant one
• High online brand presence to sell products through ecommerce channel
• In store experiences offer a perspective that customers can’t get from just reading (trying out boots or boards)

Technology

• Vendor links and P2P business is the most efficient use of money for their online marketing
• Point of Sales (POS) and the E-Commerce site are the same. Everything is web based
• Brands design and provide fixtures for Snocon to use in store as a way to advertise and market
• Computer available on the floor to look up products via web

Our favorite insight? Snocon is driven by the quality of customer service other retailers like Nordstrom offers and competes with them on delivering that level of service for board sport products. It goes beyond just an amazing return policy, but also how personal sales staff interact with their customers to make sure that their customer’s needs are satisfied without blowing the budget.

He also runs a blog that regularly updates readers on new promotions, upcoming events and even a memo style announcement to his fellow staffers. Check it out!

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