Special Orders? Bring Them On!

Special orders are the Achilles heel of some businesses. When you take a special order you run the risk of being stuck with a product you do not carry. When you refuse a special order you run the risk of losing a customer.

Local businesses are more willing to accommodate the needs of their customer base than that of a national store. is a prime example. Owner Deb is always willing to bend over backward to ensure all of her customers are satisfied. I personally witnessed her customer service skills when I visited her store several weeks ago. She was dealing with a customer having an issue with an item. She went above and beyond what is expected and the customer walked away satisfied. A prime example of the personal service local businesses offers their customers.

Today, alone, I took two calls requesting items we do not carry at . A gentleman looking for a certain type of corn meal called me this afternoon. The product should be on the truck on Thursday. A woman called me about an hour ago looking for a flavor of coffee that we do not have on the shelf.  An order for the Berres representative is ready to be placed.

At Sentry we always try to get immediate results for a customer seeking a product we do not carry.

We have many customers that have recurring orders for items such as cases of wine, cinnamon sticks, and cleaning supplies.  These customers are integral to our store.  We’re always happy to look for something that a customer cannot find.  It’s a challenge to track down some items and sometimes we aren’t able to get them at all, but we always try.

I personally had an experience when trying to purchase a pet recently. I talked to a local pet store who were prompt in their response to me, but unable to locate what I was looking for. I talked to another pet store in Milwaukee who was able to locate the animal I wanted, but would not order it for me because they had not had success in selling that animal in the past. I was not happy with that answer — seeing as the animal was a guaranteed sale — but, I continued my search.  I did end up finding a store that could order what I sought and I’m now the proud owner of a baby tortoise.

The point of the matter is that the local store tried to help, but were unable, and the large store wouldn’t even bother to try to help me.  Your local businesses are willing to help you so please give it a shot.  If you don’t see something at our stores that you’d like please ask.  The worst that can happen is we are unable to find it.