You don't have to spend however many hours that jls stated on a customer to make them feel like they're getting a good deal. I used to spend an hour with the customer the first time, take them on the lane, let them warm up while i did something else in the shop, watch what their equipment was doing, discuss what they wanted, go back in the shop, pick a ball, choose a layout, and away we went. In that hours, I got his pap, showed that he was important to me as a customer, got a good read on what the guy wanted, and lined him up with the best ball I could recommend.
After that, I didn't have to spend all that much time with them when they wanted something else. It went something like this. "Ball A you drilled me is great, but I want something else, to fill a hole in my bag." How about Ball B? "If you think that's the best choice, put holes in it."
Customers deserve your time. Now, if you work in a standalone shop, you're limited. Nice part is you don't have to worry about the center, but the bad part is that you don't have to worry about the center. It's a double edged sword.
Customer's deserve enough time to get the job done right...
Just because some shops may prefer to use Storm's layouts or Ebonite's layouts does
not mean they are not taking enough time with the customer's...
So MANY times on this site we see some basement ball driller saying things like...
"if your guy doesn't take you out on the lanes" "If your guy doesn't find your PAP"
If your guy doesn't fit and drill your ball with inserts, slugs and a free lunch"
etc etc etc...
What these basement ball drillers are doing is telling the keyboard Pounders that
they are getting screwed by pro shop..."my guy drills me a new ball for $25 with slugs and inserts and he watches me bowl 6 games"etc etc etc...
And then when they go to a pro shop and the charge may be $40-$50 to drill a ball...
They feel cheated...
Now what Doom said is pretty accurate...The new customer will indeed take more
time to pick out a ball, lay it out and adjust...45 minutes to an hour may be what
it requires...What may take the longest time is making sure you give the customer
the right ball for the condition...Once a customer realizes that you want to be
sure you sold him the right ball, you will gain his trust...
And that is how some pro shops manage to stay in business...
It's called "word of mouth"...