curious - in your shop...............???

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Handy

Handy

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Jun 17, 2005
Posts
787
Location
Manitoba, Canada
I'm just curious - in your shop - how does it work??

When a certain person takes a customer's order - does it stick with that person only through out the whole job from start to finish, or does it get passed through more than one person - sometimes not even being touched by the original person??

It seems as though many customers seem to think that only the person who took their order works on it and I'm wondering why they think that.

We have 3 people and we for the most part all have different jobs - so an order will pass through anywhere from one to three people by the time it's done. THe only exceptions are when there is something very specific then we put a note on it to say "leave for ****"
 
It depends on if you say I or we when discussing the ideas for framing. In other words if you say "I Would do it like this or "I have framed other items like this and I did it this way"

For me I always try to speak using "We" that could be one of the ways that they might get that feeling or it could be that they figure thats how their job is where they worked. Many reasons I feel could be the cause.
 
In my shop, there are 3 of us. The person who does the design may or may not be the person who does the framing. We are all "cross-trained" to do it all, therefore good written instructions are important, as is being able to ask questions if things aren't perfectly clear.

I don't understand how big stores that have the framing done in another location can avoid mis-interpretion, thus mistakes. Maybe they don't avoid it? It's tricky enough sometimes in our situation.

I guess the optimum situation for this would be the one man shop....he can ask questions of himself all day, usually get the right answers, and rarely argues with himself (or herself).
 
"....he can ask questions of himself all day, usually get the right answers, and rarely argues with himself (or herself)."

You have been around my shop much! Fired myself twice today!
 
There's only two of us and we both do specific jobs (usually). I do most of the matting and mounting and my husband does most of the cutting, joining and fitting. We both do designing, just depends on who is available when the customer comes in (or who the customer wants).

I am curious why is it when the customer can plainly see our shop area with big tables, mat cutters, presses, etc, why do they think we have their art sent out and then it comes back framed and ready for them???

We've thought about doing a photo essay of "The life of a Custom Framing Job" (or something like that). Picture showing everything from designing with the customer, orderering, receiving, etc etc...

Oh well
 
I have three people in my shop to blame for a mistake these days- me, myself and I.

Other shops I've worked in have the same policy you do. The more complicated the order, the less likely anyone else will touch it. We would leave it for the framer that took the order, so there's no misunderstanding.

The more people that come into the mix, the more chance of misunderstanding, I think. Unless, it's a standard, mat 'em, mount 'em, knock it out type framing.

Even with a simple double mat order, if we came across a weird mat color combo, we would question the person that took the order b4 completing it. Sometimes it's right, but it just doesn't look right.

To answer your question, it makes more sense to cross train and leave good notes. It is more limiting to have framers dedicated to only one task. Seems awfully wasteful.
 
5 different people sell in the 2 stores we currently have. Someone else is responsible for materials ordering and cutting and joining frames. He will also mat and mount unless there are too many frames, then I'll step in to mat and mount or failing that there is one other who is authorized. Everybody else does glass cutting and fitting. Except for the crossover in the matting and mounting area each person has their own area to work in. A new hire will observe other selling and do fitting. They won't be able to touch a customers artwork for mounting for about 3 months, and won't make a sale alone for about 6. All the framing is done in 1 location. There aren't any problems with that, as speculated in the thread.
 
One thing I have noticed in our business is that the person who takes the order seems to have more invested in it - they are most likely to make sure that it gets done the way it should. Some things are difficult to convey on paper, so when you've talked to the customer you know what they want. Reading instructions on a page is not nearly so enlightening unless done by a very good writer. Even then, the person who took the order has their reputation to protect - what is the customer going to think of him/her when they pick up the order?
 
When I was just a young pup, about twelve years old, we had 5 people in the frame shop. My grandfather did nothing but make frames all day and didn't wait on customers. We had three people plus several store employees that waited on framing. Of these three shop employees, one cut mats and did restoration work, one made frames, sometimes cut mats and sometimes did fit-up. One did nothing but fit-up and I worked part-time doing nothing but fit-up (and sweeping floors and emptying the trash). Rarely, if ever, did one person work on a job from start to finish.

It always amazed me that customers thought whoever took the order did the entire job.

Customers became comfortable with certain employees at the design table and often wouldn't let anyone else ever wait on them.

We made it a point to try to have whoever took the work in to present the work to the customer when they came in to pick it up. If that person was not available at the time you could often see the disappointment in a customers face if someone else brought the work out.

I believe that many, if not most, customers see custom framing as a craft and revel in the personal artistry of the framer. Having a good custom framer that you trust is akin to having a good car repair man and I can envision someone whispering to a good friend at a cocktail party who their framer of choice is...but not too loudly lest they become to busy to do their own work.

icon21.gif


How's that for a visual?

Dave Makielski
 
Originally posted by David N Waldmann:
One thing I have noticed in our business is that the person who takes the order seems to have more invested in it - they are most likely to make sure that it gets done the way it should.
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When I worked in a sales only position it was very frustrating for me. A job I wrote up with a 3/16" second mat would come back with a 1/4" second mat, or some such.

Now I have my own shop. I am the only one who works here. Still when I am designing with a client I get asked "Will they know not to cover the elbow?" Who do they think I'm hiding back there?
 
Originally posted by Meghan MacMillan:
Now I have my own shop. I am the only one who works here. Still when I am designing with a client I get asked "Will they know not to cover the elbow?" Who do they think I'm hiding back there?
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I get that alot, too. Guess they think we have a frame elf or something.
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I get that alot, too. Guess they think we have a frame elf or something.
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Kinda wish I did! Maybe I could go home at a normal hour...


:D

Dave Makielski
 
ok - so for all the women out there - do many of your customers (women included) look past you at the man in the back and say "I'd like to speak to your framer......."

ticks me off every single time - what the heck am I??? I had one woman who was so rude about it that I finally said "I AM THE FRAMER!!!"

We are 2 women and one man. One of us gals (not me) does 95% of the actual frame cutting - I do most of the mat work - especially the more intricate stuff - and I feel quite insulted by this attitude some times!!

I realize that men probably get this stuff too - sometimes he gets that attitude about the cross stitch stuff - but I think that women get it far more often.

any thoughts?? LOL!!
 
Ask them "what makes you think he's a man?".

That ought to shut them up!

Dave Makielski
 
Dave - that's hilarious!!! LOL!!!

don't think it would work though.... it's quite obvious what his gender is! LOL!

I guess i could say "you mean that REALLY ugly girl in the back??!!"

LOL!!!

side note - please don't get me wrong - I wasn't saying he doesn't do anything - he does plenty and even some jobs we don't do... I just realized that I may have sounded a little "off" with my earlier remarks!
 
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