Sensory overload

[Matoaka]

The "samples" thread begs this question...

When you're designing with a customer, how many samples constitutes "sensory overload" for the customer?

Our shop has zillions of samples on the wall, plus a ton of ready-mades, mat corners, etc. (It gave me vertigo when I first walked in.)

I was trained in another shop to keep only 3-5 samples in front of a customer at any one time. But I see experienced framers pulling out the entire black/white/cream/grey section of mat corners, plus 2 to 3 dozen moulding samples, etc. It seems to me that customers can get confused quite easily... Am I underrating their ability to make good decisions with all these choices? Don't know. Please advise.

I'm the new manager and would appreciate any tips.

Matoaka
"So many cliches, so little space."

[Jan]

I'm constantly tidying the desk when helping a customer. Too much stuff is just plain distracting. In most cases I know my stock well enough to choose two or three design choices fairly quickly and we start from there. If something is rejected it immediately disappears.
About the only time I'd fan out a full selection of a particular colour is to prove I can't match the exact colour in the cushion, wallpaper sample or whatever. Red especially. Isn't red a pain in the a**?

[ChrisW]

I have about 2000 samples and though it can look daunting I tell them "don't worry, it's nice to have the choice and I guarantee with this many to choose from we'll find something that looks GREAT!"

It's rare that I show more than 5 frame samples and maybe 10-15 mat colours. As the mats/frames are rejected they go right under the counter to a shelf I have there so they can stay focused. Out of sight IS out of mind. After they leave everything goes back , the frames are colourwaved and my mats are colour coded by colour wheel values.

You, as the designer, must keep control. I ask three or four questions before a single sample is pulled and hopefully guessed/intuited to a narrow set of samples......but. Occasionally someone will flit like a gadfly from one end to the other, "howaboutthis, no, howaboutthis, hmmm, jeethislooksdifferent,whataboutdownhere(literally 30' away)" :rolleyes: . I'm left with a big mess and usually no sale to show for it because they can't decide. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Sherry Gray]

I too limit the choices but sometimes you have a customer like Chris describes. One trick that helps those "wafflers" is to remove all but two of their six most favorite frame samples; and have them choose which of those two they like the best. Then keep narrowing the choices until a final decision is made. Doesn't work all the time, but does seem to keep me from being at the design counter for hours.

[ArtLady]

Our customers come to us because they want something different. I find I personally seem to go back to the same samples over and over. So I always try to experience something new and creative with my customers to give them a distinctive look. I always try to be excited about a new corner that has come in. In addition I always try to expose my clients to the look of fabric and suedes in artwork.