Showing Customer Catalog?

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Rozmataz

Rozmataz

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Jun 13, 2002
Posts
2,773
Loc
Fingerlakes Region of NYS
Just curious how you handle a customer that asks if you can get more/other frames... and should I show the catalog (without pricing of course!)

I did show to recent customer - who also asked if she could take it home :D "I don't think so" (inner thought) as I proceeded to graciously say she could not as I use hundreds of times during my day!

Learning... learning... learning!
 
I will sometimes do this - very, very rarely - if someone is looking for something quite specific and I think it might be available from a company I order chop from regularly anyway. If they're just browsing, and they can't find anything they like from the 2,000 + wood samples on my wall, looking through the catalogue is just going to be a waste of their time and mine.

If you do this, you need a plan. Are you going to order a chop based on the catalogue picture? Sometimes they don't even look like the sample, much less the catalogue picture. Or are you going to ask the vendor to send you a sample or a chip, which will cause some delays in the process?
 
Had to think about this one?

I would considerate it only for my best customers. Even then, I would do my best not to let that happen. I would offer to order any sample they wished, but not let them take the catalog; explaining that I needed to use the catalog, and often the samples are never quite what they look like.

I think you did the right thing. It’s too easy for someone to call a vendor for pricing without the vendor checking who’s calling. I call for pricing all the time, and rarely get asked for my account number.

They can borrow my art catalogs anytime they want.
 
I have, from time to time, let my customers get a glimpse of a moulding catalog.

If they don't see anything that sparks their interest on the sample wall, I ask them if they have some idea of what they are looking for.
Using their description, I go through the catalog and locate moulding styles that they have desribed. Those are the only pages they get to see.

If the customer were to thumb through the entire catalog not looking for anything specific, I'm certain they would become overwhelmed.

Art books...sign them out whenever you'd like.

jkol
 
Roz,
I really try hard not to even mention that I have moulding catalogues, this usually turns into a huge time waster for me. As Ron says, if they can't pick from the hundreds I show on my wall... The other issue is actually getting them back. Samples have a way of going out for "only an hour" and coming back a week later. I try to keep one old set of mat samples in the room to let go out, or I will cut a small piece from stock if I have it. I have taken advice from a similar thread on the Grumble, and I have started to take deposits on the moulding samples.

Leslie
 
About three months ago, my boss loaned a lady three mat samples. It took us two weeks and three phone calls to get her to bring them back. Then she place one order, not the three she had said she needed. And then, complained that the finished piece wasn't what she wanted, so we went out of our way to correct that too.

As for the moulding catalogs, I only pull those out, when we are trying to match a preivious order, and we no longer have the sample on the wall. I had a lady about two months ago, who wanted us to match an order from about ten years ago, and we no longer even ordered from that moulding company, but we still had the catalog. So, we were able to match the order.

Heather
 
If someone is trying to match a moulding, I look through the catalogue first and just point out the pertinant samples or pages. I order a sample if they are interested in one. I NEVER let a customer borrow a moulding catalogue. I do loan out poster catalogues, but our company sticker covers all the phone #s that are printed in the catalogues. It helps couples if they can't get into the store together to make a decision. I also loan out moulding and mat samples. I have sign out forms for the samples and for the poster catalogues. We take down name, address, phone #, and note which catalogues or samples are out. We also state on the form that samples are limited to 4 mats and/or 4 mouldings at a time, only 2 poster catalogues at a time, and a 48 hour time limit. The most important piece of information we take is their credit card info. Someone might occassionaly be a day late returning, but we always get everything back because they don't want to be charged. The customers really appreciate the fact that they can view their frame choices against their living room wall . We suggest that they look at it during the day and after dark. Anything to help make a sale!!
 
Diane... I like your process and may adopt that as well. How much do you tell customers they will be charged for none return? I would guess $25.00 or so - or more?

Thanks
 
As a distributor we would highly encourage a shop to let customers browse through the color catalog only because very few shops carry our 1000+ mouldings. However many good points have been brought up:

Don't loan them out.
Always order a sample first (try as we may the color never matches the catalog exactly).
Try to pin point exactly what they are looking for to limit the time browsing.
Chop is the way to go for something you don't want to stock or have no interest in sampling.

I always find it interesting that shops can have over 2000 samples on the wall, yet there are customers that can't find anything they like. We have a customer in Michigan that has almost 5000 samples on the wall and probably another 1000 in the back room. When I was there last summer he was helping a customer who wanted a very ornate silver frame for an "antique" photo. He probably had 300 choices and none of them were quite right.
 
Rozmataz- If they ask, and generally they don't, we tell clients that the moulding samples are $20.00 each, mat samples are $10.00 each, catalogues are $60.00 each. I figure that pretty much covers any replacement costs, including the hassle of ordering a sheet of matboard just to cut a new corner sample. I have been doing this for 7 years and (knock on wood)have NEVER had to charge anyone yet. John, it's funny, but I have 4,000 samples and I still find myself looking for something just right out of the vendor catalogues, or even changing the finish on a sample. One of the most common changes we make is adding an antiquing glaze to tone down a gold leaf frame. That's what makes it truly custom!
 
Dianne: I only wish everyone had the time, creativity, inspiration to tinker with the mouldings. We often get asked, "I like this moulding can you get it in a brighter silver, richer gold, darker stain, ect, well yes if you need 2500'." That usually puts an end to the questions ... unfortunately... :(
 
John- It's a lot easier to offer this service when you charge $42.00/hour, minimum 1/2 hour, to do the work! Like my husband says, "I can do anything you can throw a check at!"
 
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