To Become Known And Trusted?

J&D CUSTOMS said:
To all AZ members,

This is Jim of J&D CUSTOMS and I have a question.
I have been on the forum for quite sometime , even before J&D came up , I was JL CUES until I partnered up.
I have tried to sell many of our cues in the for sale area but to no avail.
We run a tight ship here at our shop and try to produce only the best for our customers. We stand behind any defects in playability and our cues hit very well. I think.
If you all could help me to know why even at a quarter of the price of other cues here , we seem to not be able to get our cues sold out to you in the AZ land we have here.
Can you all help me out and with the diversity we have on this forum , try to help us understand how to get them out to all of you at reasonable prices.
I have played pool for 26 years and I feel that helps me in the making of our cues. I have owned and shot with thousands of different cues from the same amount of makers and feel I know what players need to shoot at the top of their game from that knowledge.
We will have our cues in the Derby City Classic in the hands of a great player we are sponcering and feel he will do very well at the nine ball event. We will be their through the event to show off what we have but will not have a booth this year set up.
So if any one can help me out and come see us at the Derby would be great , Just look for our shirts , and our player who will also be in our Logo shirt as well.
Thanx to all for your time,
Happy Holidays from us,
Jim
J&D CUSTOMS
Batesville , Indiana
Click to expand...

Good Morning Jim, with the attitude you have expressed above I think you are on the right track, and it will just be a matter of time before you and your business thrive.

Jim like other posters have said here, this is a funny business, and to be successful takes time. I totally agree also that the best form of advertising is word of mouth, because first of all, many people do not bother to pay attention to what they read. But they will never forget what some else says about a particular subject that they are interested in, especially if the person is a good player himself and has the reputation of being honest.

I am in the billiards supply business, I own a pool hall, I do complete cue repair, and I am trying to become a recognized cue maker myself. Locally I am recognized due to word of mouth advertising, for taking care of my customers in a professional manner, even at my own expense. Customer service is the most important factor outside of the quality of you cues.

I also picked a couple recognized players and made custom cues for them so that others would see my cues in their hands. The advertising more than made up for the personal cost to me in materials.

Currently, I am only making conversion cues from old Brunswick's, nothing newer than the 1940's, and as fast as I can build them they are sold, in fact I am working on three pre-paid orders as we speak.

I suppose what I am trying to say is focus on your local area first if you can, I know that some areas have depressed economies so this will not work, but if that is the case you may have to move to a different location to pursue your dreams.

I wish you all the luck in the world!!!

Merry Christmas to you and your's, and may you have health, wealth, and prosperity throughout the coming year!!!!

Manwon
 
BHQ said:
this is a tuff one. i have people say to me all the time that i'm selling cues way too cheap.
they aslo DID NOT reach into thier pocket and give me an extra $100.
face it, our economy sucks. people aren't throwing money around like they used to. i know i don't. not when it costs $70 to fill the truck with gas. couple that with the fact there are 10,000 cues on ebay to pick from.
i'll just keep plugging away like i have been.
i sure as hell am not going back to construction work at my age!!!!!!!! :eek:​
Click to expand...

Remember the Cuemaker Poem!!http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=40017
 
I would spend a moderate amount of money to buy one of your cues and have it shipped to either Jay Helfert or Linda Carter. I actually don't know either of them personally and they have no idea of who I am honestly.

Both of those members of this community express their opinions constantly and I would be honored to pay the amount it takes to let them hit with one of your cues. I am sorry you were ripped off before but I am certainly willing to buy a cue for somebody thats knowledegable and maybe you can get a variety of opinions on your cues. I am not sure if they will even accept my offer but it is a free cue and i will pay ahead to see what your cues are worth.

I am a third party now and if your cues are good it could work out well for you and if they aren't maybe a disaster. Those are my two choices for who I would give a free cue to.

I am looking for a cue to send with playability not bells and whistles I will give about $300.

If you are interested or have any objections please PM me.

thanks,

Ryan
 
i would back Linda against Jay. (sorry Jay) It isn't a question of who plays better it is a question of th playability of the cue. I am sure both these people can play better than me (highly unlikely) :-)

They both have access to pro players and can get an opinion


What i was suggesting is that i buy a cue that can be put in many hands that give good feed back thats all.


if those two people give negative or positive response thats all

so who wants the cue?
 
Is there any pictures of cues that you have finished?

I am really not in a position to tell you what to do, because I am also very new.

I always believe in gathering opinions from really good players, that is one thing I always do. I am fortunate that I know a few players personally, and they have been very generous in offering me their feedback. I asked their opinion on cues that I want to buy, not only cues that I want to sell. I have learned so much about cues from talking to them. We also use some equipment to test our cues, but we do not solely believe in those tests since human and robot are just too different--but it helps to have a consistent and unbiased measuring device sometimes.

I agree with everything else that were suggested, and I would like to wish you the best of luck.

Good luck.

Richard
 
ryanwarsaw said:
i would back Linda against Jay. (sorry Jay) It isn't a question of who plays better it is a question of th playability of the cue. I am sure both these people can play better than me (highly unlikely) :-)

They both have access to pro players and can get an opinion


What i was suggesting is that i buy a cue that can be put in many hands that give good feed back thats all.


if those two people give negative or positive response thats all

so who wants the cue?
Click to expand...
I know many people from my pool hall that would try it out and give an honest opinion including myself. Players ranging from 6 speed to 10-1 speed. Glenn Bond, Dave Hemmah are a couple of the 10-1 players that could evaluate it. I could easily get 20 players ranging from all skill levels to try it out and I could write up a review on it with all of thier feedback. Let me know.
 
a lack of salesmanship i wont get invovled in that however any new cue makerr i will spend $400 for a decent cue. I really hope people can respond I wont keep it for myself.
 
dude your cues are ugly, get some better designs so then you can raise the price and then you can make yourself look more competitive. A new mercedes doesn't cost 5K. And a new custom cue doesnt cost 300 bucks.
 
Ryan, I do not think that Jim has had a chance to see your offer yet..perhaps I'll give him a ping.

Luv2RunOut1...I have yet to see a positive post come from your keyboard! Keep it up, and hopefully we will not have to suffer you long!

Lisa
 
HEY JIM:D I would just like to say I don't know where your coming from. You keep making cues like you do and all will fall into place. You really just started making cues full time so hang in there and word will get out.

I just recently bought a JL cue that he's had for a while. I bought the cheapest one on the rack to just get me buy. After about 2 days I really started enjoying the hit and ordered a new one. $350 bucks is all he's selling it to me for and it's not ugly. In fact I never seen an ugly cue Jim has made. They are all top notch quality made from top notch material. I have owned cues ranging from Viking to Phillipi and have to say Jims cue hits as good as the best cue I have had. AND YES HE SELLS THEM TO CHEAP. He told me he will never jack his prices and only charge what he thinks is right. I hope he changes his mind about that because his cues deserve a heftier price tag. He's VERY particular and does great work and the hit is very solid and very nice.
 
id be willing to spend 300 - 350 for a cue from JD to give it some feed back I curently shoot witha Luccasi with a 314 shaft and payed way the hell to much for it 290 for the cue 140 for the 314

I dont want this to be an insult to J&D so if it is please for give..but see just asking the question you did just got at least three potential buyers :D
 
Sent you a PM

Sent you a PM with some thoughts.

Hu

J&D CUSTOMS said:
To all AZ members,

This is Jim of J&D CUSTOMS and I have a question.
I have been on the forum for quite sometime , even before J&D came up , I was JL CUES until I partnered up.
I have tried to sell many of our cues in the for sale area but to no avail.
We run a tight ship here at our shop and try to produce only the best for our customers. We stand behind any defects in playability and our cues hit very well. I think.
If you all could help me to know why even at a quarter of the price of other cues here , we seem to not be able to get our cues sold out to you in the AZ land we have here.
Can you all help me out and with the diversity we have on this forum , try to help us understand how to get them out to all of you at reasonable prices.
I have played pool for 26 years and I feel that helps me in the making of our cues. I have owned and shot with thousands of different cues from the same amount of makers and feel I know what players need to shoot at the top of their game from that knowledge.
We will have our cues in the Derby City Classic in the hands of a great player we are sponcering and feel he will do very well at the nine ball event. We will be their through the event to show off what we have but will not have a booth this year set up.
So if any one can help me out and come see us at the Derby would be great , Just look for our shirts , and our player who will also be in our Logo shirt as well.
Thanx to all for your time,
Happy Holidays from us,
Jim
J&D CUSTOMS
Batesville , Indiana
Click to expand...
 
i was at jim's shop last week
when i happened to be working in indiana close to batesville
we had along talk about this and how frustrating it is to break into the realm of cuemaking
i know from personal experience

i was about to hang it up a year ago myself , call it a huge loss and move on
when dennis dieckman called me out of the blue and talked to me for two hours it gave me a big much needed boost
then, when i went to spend a week with him, i really got pumped up
dennis encouraged me by showing me the little things & complimenting me on the things i was doing correctly & didn't hesitate to jump my ass about something i did wrong!!! :eek:
jesus, i even almost burnt his damn house to the ground
i figured i should just pack & leave

sherm adamson also sent me some encouraging words too
those guys went thru this stuff at some point & time too, i'm sure
i consider myself extremly fortunate to have the luck & what little success i have had
i'm still way in the hole!!!!!!!!!!!


jimmy lee is building some very nice cues at an affordable price
sure he would love to advertise a cue for $1000, hell, so would i, but he is smart enough to know that would be futile
to say his cues, my cues, anybodies cues for that matter, must not be a quality product because they aren't $1000 is silly
i have only been around pool for about 7 years now
maybe i'm wrong, but did scruggs, pdk, mottey, etc. sell thier cues for $1000 when they first started?? i'm guessing NO

i still believe that the waning interest in pool in general and our crappy economy are to blame for "the starving cuemaker syndrome"
jim, don't take it personal & don't give up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you love what you do, just as i do, so keep it up
what's the worst that can happen???
they bury us with all of our unsold cues!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:
be talkin to ya soon about........ something,....... forgot what the hell it was now :rolleyes:










​
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top