Hall of Frame

Framar

WOW Framer
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
26,420
Loc
Buffalo, New York, USA/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
I have gotten a great new idea which I wanted to share with y'all. We are always talking about ways to reward our best customers, those Frequent Framers, and I have found an unusual approach.

To preface, this idea also springs from another embarassing lack in my brain - the inability to recognize even long-time customers when they walk in my door and say, "Hi, Mar!"

I am creating a bulletin board which will have photos of the customers holding their last framing job. With the digital camera, its easy to let them "OK" the shot, and I have found if they tilt the frame away at a slight angle there will be no hot spot.

I've only done a few so far, but people seem FLATTERED and pleased that I would take their picture and hang it in my shop. And I will be more easily able to remember them when I SEE a picture of their framing jobs!

It is always the framing jobs that I remember, never the customers faces!

Another plus in my area is that the customers all seem inter-related somehow - this one's kid goes to school with that one's kid, these two are neighbors, etc. So when a NEW person walks in the door, he or she might be set at ease to recognize a photo of a friend or co-worker.

Any of you do anything like this?
 
LOL! I was gonna say "inbred" but decided against it! It seems that all my customers "know" each other, but not in the Biblical sense!

I'm gonna make a nice "Hall of Frame" title for the bulletin board as soon as I have my first batch of prints.
 
Framar, that's a clever idea. Another one would be to have the customers bringing in work they need to reframe (due to outdated colors, old ugly frames, etc.) and have them pose for picture. Then u could have an "Ashamed of Frame" for another bulletin board.
 
I think it's a great idea! The only problem I see is getting some customers to let their picture be taken. Does that ever seem to be the case?

Along the same line, in my other business (home furnishings), I have framed a grouping of notes and letters that we have received over the years from satisfied customers. This is displayed in a very prominent location. A lot of customers read this as they are browsing......I think it works well.
 
Frameboy - what a grand idea! I have a terrific collection of such cards and letters - in fact I just received one from a dog!

With the digital camera folks can SEE their picture right after you take it so you can keep shooting until you get one they would approve of! I've met with no resistance so far (but I am VERY persuasive!).

One guy thought he blinked so I took a second shot, and when we zoomed in on the viewscreen, his eyes were wide open in both pix!

Janet - I LOVE your idea!!! Only I'm gonna start taking before and afters!!! (maybe the old frame by itself and then the new frame with the happy customer)
 
Mar, I love your idea. We have photo albums of past neat work, but none with the person picking up. I think I'll start taking pictures of those when they pick up. :D
Capturing those beaming faces, just gets my juices going. Thanks for the great idea. Just wish we had some extra wall space. Every time I make some room, a frame rep hangs his samples in it.......
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Right now I have a big framed bulletin board with cartoons, invites, pix of cats and dogs and babies. This is gonna be transformed into the Hall of Frame, and where it is hanging, just inside the front door, I actually have room for a bigger frame! No rep would dare touch this! (I hope)
 
Haven't figured that one out yet! The customer recognition part. I leave finished orders unwrapped and sitting in plain sight for more than bragging reasons. My unrecognizable customers come in - go straight to their piece - pick it up - start exclaiming - works great (unless someone exclaims over someone else's frame!)!

Gotta think about the black marker.....
 
One of the strange truths in our business is that people you've seen once in five years will expect you to remember their names. Those who are in once-a-week will not.

One of the cool things about even a home-brewed POS is that you can ask for a phone number (NOBODY expects you to remember those) and have the database do a quick search for the name.

I like your idea, Mar. It wouldn't work in every shop, but it sounds like it would be great in yours (and maybe mine.)
 
FRAmar,

How would you remember their names (faces) if clients came back without those frames you pictured them by, or differently dressed, with less or grayer hair, etc? Not to mention that after a few month you'll be handling a large and getting ever larger photo album in order to refresh your memory, right?

Better get real. It's much easier to just let your clients know that your memory is no longer what it used to be, but you are so glad they DO remember where best frames are being made in town. Simple like that. No pain, no embarrassment. Besides, if you all are so closely inter-related in that community, your clients already know that framing, not memory is your best quality.
 
LOL! I've NEVER had a memory for faces - and if I'm getting worse with age (which I know is true) I'm in BIG trouble!

I have been asking people I KNOW I know just for their phone numbers and then trying to see if I can come up with a first name or a last name or even an alphabet letter - so far I'm doing really good with that method - but I really HATE to admit I just can't put faces and names together!

I sheepishly admit this flaw to folks and then tell them that I'll remember their framing for decades! Honestly, I have been brought "retrofits" that I recognize from framing over 30 years ago!

I usually tell folks that I remember the pictures more than their faces because we spend all our time at the design table looking at the picture, and then that's all I have to look at while I am completing the framing!

Folks think it is amazing that I remember framing jobs, so they seem to be OK with me forgetting THEM - but it still bothers me!

I don't know what my memory will be like in 10 or 20 years (and I'm the kind of framer who will "die in harness"). Sigh. I used to wear a button on my shop apron that read "I forgot your name already" but I figgered that was too rude!
 
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