Funny customer story

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S

sumik

CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Joined
Oct 12, 2000
Posts
199
Loc
Akron,Ohio United States
Got a good one today. Customer brought in a huge stretched canvas 42 1/2 x 57 1/2. Said she wanted it for Christmas. When told we couldn,t do it before Wed. next week, asked if I thought she could get a readymade to fit it in. HA!!!! She also wanted a deep cherry moulding for less than $8.00 a foot.(double Ha!)
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She settled for a deep rustic grey for $5.46 a foot, and can wait till Wednesday. Were we all so nieve before we became framers?
 
Oh yeh! A Merry Christmas to all the Grumblers. Marc L. I'll see if I get time to call when in LA.
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11:00 AM Saturday

Customer drives up in new Jaguar. Walks into store wearing fur coat and holding Gucci bag and a moderately cool piece of art (any idea where Im going here?) As she sets stuff on counter I notice diamond ring... AT LEAST 6 carat.
Over the 2 hours we spent designing her piece we talked about her shopping spree yesterday and how she had purchased a dining room table and chairs for $12,000 (!!!!) She spent another $8,000 on a couch and chair that will be delivered next week.
We achieve PERFECTION on the frame design and I proceed to give her the price
(by now she has eaten my WHOLE bowl of candy on the counter)...
$330.58 to frame her piece.
"DID YOU SAY THREE HUNDRED THIRTY DOLLARS... OH MY GAWD! TO FRAME A PICTURE! I CANT SPEND THAT MUCH TO FRAME A PICTURE!" she exclaims and then follows with the ever popular "I need to speak with my husband..." and then (of course!) "Could you write these numbers down for me." This I did for her, except that mat 7182 became 6071 and frame 4457 became 3346, etc etc.

12 GRAND for a freekin' table yet today $330 is just tooooooo much. Been getting this alot lately. Yet another funny customer story. HA HA


P.S. (1:52PM)I think that's her across the way walking out of the wine shop. A clerk is following her to her car and hes carrying a case of Australian red wine. Approx cost for 1 case good Aussie wine... YEP, about 300 bucks. YEAH!!
 
TP - I get few of these too. Just don't understand. New cars, furs, jewels, but framing is toooooooo expensive. I've got a good one too. Police dept. calls my home yesterday, says customer didn't get to pick up their picture, would I call them and make arrangements for them to pick up.
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Police dept. wouldn't give out my phone #. We closed all week, I needed rest, husband died a few months ago and my mom passed this week. BUT IT'S A FRAMING EMERGENCY! I went to gallery and left their pic. at store next door then told them where they could pick it up. Can you believe calling the police for a number? DUH
 
Cody, I am very sorry to hear about the losses of your husband and mother, both so recently. My # is unlisted also, and I've never been called by the police, but the DeSimone name is not too plentiful in the phone book. A few customers have called my in-laws (my husband and father-in-law have the same name). The message is passed to me, and I deal with it when I'm back at work. I think you were very nice to deal with that customer during your off-time. I probably would have also, but when it was convenient for me, and if I was in the area.
 
Tadporter, you were joking when you said you spent 2 hours designing a job, weren't you?
 
Actually no kidding on the 2 hours. It is common for me to spend at least an hour with a customer. This extra "creative exploration" time gains me ALOT of new customer who are used to the chains' indifferent attitudes. 2 hours IS a bit much though.
 
We spend whatever it takes for a new customer to design. Once the customer knows and trusts you upselling is easy. The next time they come in you will reap the benefits of the extra time spent on the first visit.

Not too much leaves our frame shop without a fillet and wrapped fabric mat. I can not remember the last time I did just a double mat. On the other hand yes I can. We sell our framing services to several decorators. On some of their larger projects they need to save money.
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Timberwoman
AL
I cut the mat, I pet the =^..^= cat.

[This message has been edited by ArtLady (edited December 31, 2000).]
 
I think time spent must be just different styles in selling. I honestly don't need more than 1/2 hour to wait on someone and get a good order. The employee I work with the most takes 2-3 times longer. She seems to need to take 20 frames off the wall and explore every possible mat combination. It used to really tick me off, but the customers don't seem to mind. In fact, she gets many complements, so I've learned to accept her particular style. My sales still average $25.00 more though, and in a fraction of the time. But, I can't get the work done in the back and wait on all the customers, so I've learned to deal with it.
 
Sold a $550 etching with $924 in framing. This client can take as much time as she needs. In fact, I would even take it to her home if she wanted me to.

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Timberwoman
AL
I cut the mat, I pet the =^..^= cat.
 
I've found that the people who need an hour or more to pick out a framing design are 9 times out of 10 the people who can't make up their mind to save their life. Then once they do they get cheap on me.
I had a lady come in Friday with a poster, just wanted a black frame. No mats, no fillets, nothing. I showed her a number of plain old simple black frames (because everything else in the house has black frames) and she just could not decide, even with my gentle prodding in the right direction. Then it became a game of "how much with this frame? And that one? Now how much was this one again?" After almost 40 minutes she finally decided she needed to bring here husband in. I'm looking forward to that.
The day before a lady brought in her husband's diploma and hers. Nice frame, silk mat, fillet, conservation glass, backing and hinging, about $275 each, no questions asked. I spent ten minutes with her.
 
FramerDave, I'd love to know if you see "poster lady" again. Usually when they tell me they have to ask their spouse, I never see them again.
 
We had a customer come in a couple of years ago that had four postcards that her husband had bought on a golf trip to Ireland. Simple, right? Well in our showroom, one of our three design tables is a mirror table. (the mirror is at a 45 degree angle and when you put the art and design on the table and stand or sit and look into the mirror it appears like the piece is on the wall). Well any way she brought the piece in on Monday and after 5 minutes of design she sat down and started viewing our design. She was there for four hours! We left her alone and went about business checking on her every so often (I wanted to hold a mirror by her mouth and nose to be sure she was still breathing but my staff said I shouldn't). Every day that week she came in and every day she sat and stared as if she could will them to be framed. Finally, on Friday afternoon after about 20 hours with us,she asked if we could do better on the price (they were $24.00 each). We said NO. Then she asked if we could do the mats, glass and fitting because she had found another shop that would make the empty frames for her. Again, we said NO. She picked up her postcards and thank God I've never seen her again. By the way, she lives in a town where the homes start at about $700,000. You gotta laugh.

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curlyframer, CPF
 
I think you are generally better off if you never see them again. Designing for a customer that can't make up their mind is better than designing for two customers who can't agree. They can waste twice as much time.
 
Don't people like that just burn your butt??!! We've had dozens like that too - or this is a good one...

"$100.00??!! Well!! I can get the exact same thing at Walmart for $10.00!!" Makes me want to say "REALLY??!! Well, wait for me - I want to stock up on them because you're really getting a GREAT deal!!" - NOT!

We've found that when a customer is hingeing on a price it's sometimes helpful to say something like " it's going to take 2 - 3 weeks to be done; if you like you can put a little down today, and then when you pick it up you can pay the rest. Or if you like we'll even keep it on display a little longer so you can do it in a couple of payments." This sometimes appeals to them to go ahead and do it.

Time eaters are the worst though - those are what we call "Life Suckers" - they just suck the life right out of you.

Handy
 
Sometimes what the customer really needs is a good shrink!
Thank God I was married to a psychiatrist because I get to recognize the compulsive, worried, neurotic, and frequently lonely customers that have found that a good framer is cheaper that your average shrink. Nurture these people...they can become compulsive art and frame buyers and it doesn't take many of them to create your own profitable out patient clinic...right in your own frame shop.
 
I had one in the other day. A very well-known artist came in to have one of his prints framed. It was a good sized reproduction, double rag mat, museum mounted in a lower-end (for me) frame. It came to about $235.00. He said he had a real problem paying that to frame a print. I've been in town 16 years, this is the first time he has bothered to come in, except for the times when he's needed a favor. I had a woman in the day before who spent almost $300.00 framing one of his prints, and another in the day before that who spent almost $400.00 framing another of his prints. I wanted to tell him "That's okay, Mr. B., I understand. I have a the same problem spending $30,000 on a picture to hang on my wall". He promised to bring in an original. I'll hold my breath.
 
I'm particularly fond of people who come in wanting ideas on how to frame things more cheaply themselves. "What ready-made size can I fit this into? And would you cut me a mat for it? I don't mind if there's only 3/4 inch on the sides, and then three inches on the top and bottom...I didn't spent much on this, so it's O.K...."

My favorite method to get rid of these people is to begin Artspeak For Framers. Lose them completely in a sea of remarks and suggestions about four-ply and UV inhibiting glass and the need for spacers and perhaps they should try sectional frames elsewhere, etc., etc.

Any question is replied to with an even more confusing answer...they start to nod in fear and then they run away...to Wal-Mart, where they belong...

This is just my personal, Highly Satisfying Method.

BTW, this is my first post here...relatively new framer...HELLO.
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This is only an observation I have after being in business many years. Sometimes even my best customers don't want to spend alot of money. We take care of them just as if they did (want to spend alot). The same holds true to a first-time customer. Maybe they don't want to spend alot on THIS particular project, but they may have something else in the future they will spend more on. One just never knows. (I may be grumbling to myself the whole time, but they will never know that).
 
A few of my customers are retirees on a fixed income. Sure they want to frame the photo of Uncle Henry and his Model T as inexpensively as possible but mostly what they want is to talk about Uncle Henry. Well, why not? What have I got to do that's more important than spending ten or fifteen minutes being nice to somebody. I plan to be an old lady myself one day; actually I plan to turn into Margaret Rutherford so WATCH OUT! Also, some of those old ladies have more affluent children who show up with lovely original watercolors because mom recommended me. Kit

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Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana
 
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