Strategy Session: Precision Camera & Video--Nice Guys Finish First
December 1, 2011At the heart of Precision’s success is the attention to customer service that differentiates their store from both the big-box dealers and the Internet retailers that are a continual threat their business. From their salespeople and their repair folks to their back-office staff, the success of Precision Camera & Video is primarily based on its people.
“In the old days, we used to hire a lot of people that just had photo knowledge,” said Sullivan. “But we realized over the years that we may have been approaching it the wrong way. We changed our philosophy around 10 years ago, when our first priority became actually liking the people we hired. We looked for people with outgoing personalities, and figured we could train them to do the rest.”
Precision Camera was born from a service angle, which is very different from many of our past Dealers of the Year, which were family businesses passed down for generations.
“I started as a repair technician, so customer service was in my blood,” said Sullivan. “After my attempts at becoming a professional photographer, I realized many of those with whom I was competing were graduates of Brooks, RIT and other photo schools (he’s a proud University of Texas grad). So I began looking for a job in a camera store, and a guy hired me as a camera repair technician; he taught me how to repair Leicas, Hasselblads and just about any other camera.”
An entrepreneur at heart, Jerry Sullivan went out on his own in 1976, opening Precision Camera Repair. He started a photo gallery in his repair shop, where some of his clients would exhibit their photographs. He had quite a run as a photo gallery operator, and then he started selling books and accessories.
“When I did a camera repair, my customer would be looking to buy a roll of film, so I became a Kodak dealer. Then he’d want to print, so I started carrying paper and darkroom equipment and supplies. Eventually, when I couldn’t repair their cameras, they were looking for new equipment, so I became a Canon dealer and ultimately started selling new cameras. After a while, I was doing everything at Precision Camera Repair except repairing cameras, which I would do until 2:00 in the morning when I could find the time.”
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