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Racquet Stringing: String Checklist

To make sure your string selection covers all of your customers’ needs, use our checklist, and tools at racquettech.com.

By Bob Patterson

With more than a thousand strings available, it can be a daunting task to choose a good selection to stock for your business. You want to have the right product to be able to help your customers choose the string that will maximize their performance on the court. To make sure you provide your customers with a great selection, our checklist can help.

• As a minimum, offer at least two choices from each of these categories: Natural Gut, Multifilament Synthetics, Basic Synthetics and Co-Poly.
• Tailor your inventory to meet the needs of you clients. If the majority of your clients are hard-hitting juniors, skew your inventory to offer more strings to meet their needs.
• Assess the diversity of your inventory. If you have three strings that are basically the same, consider getting rid of two and adding two new ones that will increase your variety.
• Stock enough of each string to ensure that you are never out of stock.
• For USRSA members, use the String Selector Map Tool on racquettech.com to ensure you have a wide variety of strings. The map will help you choose a good variety of power and control, as well as stiffness and tension loss.
• Offer a wide variety of string gauges. While a 16-gauge may cover the majority, there are those who prefer a thinner string. With the prevalence of open string patterns in spin racquets, you’ll also want to include some thicker strings as well.
• Offer a wide variety of price points. You never want price to be the determining factor in making a sale, but you also don’t want to miss sales by not having a range of prices to choose from.
• Offer your entire inventory for hybrid set-ups instead of just packaged hybrids. Offering to sell any string in your inventory in half-sets increases your string selection exponentially. Just save the remaining half set for the next customer. Keep small zip ties handy to recoil the remaining half and store it away.
• Listen to your customers and try to stock what they want. If colors are a frequent request, then choose some basic synthetics to stock in multiple colors.

If a customer requests a string you don’t have in stock, use the String Selector Tool on racquettech.com to see if you have a string in your inventory with very similar specs. If not, then special order. Take note of such requests and consider adding to your inventory if there is sufficient demand.

How to Increase Your Stringing Biz

Want to increase a customer’s stringing frequency? Institute a string-bed monitoring system.

Checking string bed deflection or dynamic tension and recording it after each string job will allow you to show the customer the tension loss and resulting energy loss from the strings over time and use. When you show them the “numbers,” it is easy to convince them to restring when it is needed, rather than waiting for a predetermined restring date — or for the string to break.

Not a USRSA member? Then you’re missing out on important tools and resources that can help your business. Join now at racquettech.com.

See all articles by Bob Patterson

About the Author

Bob Patterson , the founder of the RacquetMAXX customization service, is a Master Racquet Technician with more than 20 years of experience. He was RSI's Stringer of the Year in 2005. He is Executive Director for the U.S. Racquet Stringers Association.

From the July 2014 issue
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