Beginning my stringing buisiness, any tips?

[Donny0627]

This is a draft of a handout I made for my buisiness

Quality Tennis Racket Stringing

Cost is $10 labor + the price of the strings (if I provide them).

The pricing on the strings that I provide are as follows:
Forten Nylon 16…………………………..…..$3
Prince Tournament Nylon 15L………….$6
Gamma Monoblast 16……………………..$8
Monoblast / Prince Nylon Hybrid..……$7
Monoblast / Forten Nylon Hybrid….…$5

If you are new to strings, I will be glad to recommend a setup for you.

Contact me at ***.***.**** for more information.


Any tips on this would be helpful, along with any other tips.


note: I am just looking to do this on the side, not full time or anything.

[airman88]

Seems like a very limited string selection. How are you planning on getting customers? A team or club?

[Donny0627]

i know to some people here that may sound like a limited selection, but where I live, all of the stringers only carry 2-3 strings.(and no, i am not in a little town in the middle of nowhere). There are roughly 250,000 people where I live and a large population of tennis players, so finding buisiness should not be hard considering my prices match or undercut every other stringer I know of.

As for where I am looking to get buisiness, I kinda wanna start stringing for my tennis friends(a lot of them), then growing my reputation by word of mouth and going from there.

Originally Posted by Donny0627

This is a draft of a handout I made for my buisiness

Quality Tennis Racket Stringing

Cost is $10 labor + the price of the strings (if I provide them).

The pricing on the strings that I provide are as follows:
Forten Nylon 16…………………………..…..$3
Prince Tournament Nylon 15L………….$6
Gamma Monoblast 16……………………..$8
Monoblast / Prince Nylon Hybrid..……$7
Monoblast / Forten Nylon Hybrid….…$5

If you are new to strings, I will be glad to recommend a setup for you.

Contact me at 814.833.9273 for more information.


Any tips on this would be helpful, along with any other tips.


note: I am just looking to do this on the side, not full time or anything.

Well not everybody wants cheap nylon carry either forton or Prince nylon.

[Donny0627]

Originally Posted by Parker512

Well not everybody wants cheap nylon carry either forton or Prince nylon.

well where i live everyone seems to care about name brands( ie. wilson, prince, bab, lux, etc, etc, etc), even though i dont. So, i am offering prince nylon for people who feel good about themselves because they use a well known string brand(the majority of people). then, I offer the forten really cheap for the people that know that value is in quality and not brand.

Originally Posted by Donny0627

well where i live everyone seems to care about name brands( ie. wilson, prince, bab, lux, etc, etc, etc), even though i dont. So, i am offering prince nylon for people who feel good about themselves because they use a well known string brand(the majority of people). then, I offer the forten really cheap for the people that know that value is in quality and not brand.

personally $ 3 buck different is'nt a bad deal. Carry Bab syn gut or at least som tecn. How about pro hurricane.

[Donny0627]

Originally Posted by Parker512

personally $ 3 buck different is'nt a bad deal. Carry Bab syn gut or at least som tecn. How about pro hurricane.

maybe later on but right now i am just getting started with little money and need to have as little expenses as possible. In my opinion, if someone does not have there own string prefereance and want me to use my string, then they probly dont want to pay for something like pro hurricane

[jim e]

I would think that you would have a basic typical synthetic gut string like PSGD, Babolat Syn. gut, or Tecnifibre syn. gut. Its your basic string for someone who does not want to go very cheap with a tournamet nylon.

[Steve Huff]

I'm assuming you have a quality machine since you're stringing for others, and calling it a business. If you want inexpensive, I'd go with Gosen strings. Prince Nylon--$6?? Like Jim said, why don't you just get Prince Syn w/Duraflex? It's the best-selling string made over the past several years. What are you offering that your competition doesn't? Cheap prices? I guess if you live in an area of a quarter million people, and there's really not much competition, you can offer whatever you want. Normally, when a person breaks into the business, they find out what other stringers are selling, then offering the same for less. Most consumers aren't dumb. They want to compare apples to apples. If you come along with strings they don't know, they'll assume they are cheap. I understand you have a limited budget. String for friends. You can educate your customers as you get them, but you have to beat your competition in some way that makes people come to you as opposed to dropping it off at the club (or sporting goods store) while they are there.

[airman88]

The key is to provide a string bed that will feel better for the client than what they had before. Yea most people will want a basic $3 synthetic like Gosen or Prince, not a tournament nylon. Get a reel of synthetic, a reel of value multifilament (Alpha gut 2000), and maybe a few packs of a value poly. I would go with cyberflash. You want the best value strings, an the playability will speak for itself. You don't need to stock all of the good polys, since really good poly players can buy their own reel and cut off string for you to use.

Also, I would advertise prices as for labor and strings. That way your markup on one or the other is not so obvious. If someone provides the string, you can charge them like $12 since you can't markup the string.

[mr33]

Hmm, have a larger variety of strings, non-poly's, poly's, syn guts, nat gut, hexi ect. Can I build you a re-stringing site, I am new to website making (3 months) but I am quite good at it, you interested?

[Donny0627]

how about something like this

Quality Tennis Racket Stringing

The pricing on the strings that I provide are as follows:
Forten Nylon 16………………………….……………..…..$13
Gamma Synthetic Gut w/Wearguard 16………….$16
Wilson Enduro Tour 17…………………………………..$18
Enduro Tour / Gamma Syn. Gut Hybrid..……...…$17
Enduro Tour / Forten Nylon Hybrid………...…...…$16
Bring Your Own String……………………………….…….$10

If you are new to strings, I will be glad to recommend a setup for you.

Contact me at ***.***.**** for more information.

[Ash_Smith]

I wouldn't recommend starting out with a massive inventory of strings - start with a good syn.gut, a good poly and a good multi and offer the rest as a special order - that way you'll save yourself massive expense for a venture that may not work and still offer a good service. If you find after a while that you keep having to order a certain string in then you can stock it full time.

Cheers

Ash

[airman88]

Gamma synthetic is not the way to go. Forten sweet, Sheep Micro are the best value to performance.

[jim e]

He said he is beginning his stringing buisness, and that said, he is best to stick with well known brand names until he has a buisness and his clients knows the job he is doing. His clients will follow brand name recognition , like Prince Synthetic gut with duraflex(PSDG), Babolat Syn. gut etc as a decent basic syn. gut a product most stringers would carry for a stock inventory.Like Steve said above "If you come along with strings they don't know, they'll assume they are cheap".Thats very true.
Once he is established then offer some strings that are less known to the general players out there.

[Donny0627]

Originally Posted by jim e

He said he is beginning his stringing buisness, and that said, he is best to stick with well known brand names until he has a buisness and his clients knows the job he is doing. His clients will follow brand name recognition , like Prince Synthetic gut with duraflex(PSDG), Babolat Syn. gut etc as a decent basic syn. gut a product most stringers would carry for a stock inventory.Like Steve said above "If you come along with strings they don't know, they'll assume they are cheap".Thats very true.
Once he is established then offer some strings that are less known to the general players out there.

this has been my philosophy the whole time...

[Donny0627]

can anyone give reviews on babolat syn gut? it seems the only customer reviews on tw it got were bad. I would rather use it instead of gamma syn gut, but i want it to be up to par...

Originally Posted by Ash_Smith

I wouldn't recommend starting out with a massive inventory of strings - start with a good syn.gut, a good poly and a good multi and offer the rest as a special order - that way you'll save yourself massive expense for a venture that may not work and still offer a good service. If you find after a while that you keep having to order a certain string in then you can stock it full time.

Cheers

Ash

Always do what Ash says. He's always right.

[coachrick]

I'd offer a total strung price for each...and list a separate labor charge for customers with their own string. I'd also limit the number of price points; say, in $5 increments after tournament nylon. Ex. Labor only, tournament nylon, synthetic, premium syn or poly and then 'super' synthetics...$10, $13, $15, $20, $25. Make it easy for the client rather than have them wondering why one string is two dollars more, the next one dollar more, the next two dollars more, etc. Deal in categories of string, rather than specific 'names'. That way a customer can say "Give me a good synthetic that you recommend" @ $15, and you have 2-3 to offer. You want a better poly string? Fine, that's $20. Let them know there is a real difference, not just $1 here and there. Wouldn't hurt to have a higher end price point that is slightly better than competitive rates; say, Lux or similar @ $30 compared to thirty-plus. That way, the customer doesn't feel they are buying the 'most expensive' string available when they get a premium synthetic.

[Ash_Smith]

Originally Posted by Parker512

Always do what Ash says. He's always right.

Whether this is meant as sarcasm or otherwise -I shall be taking it as a compliment!