would you return the call??

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framerbob

framerbob

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Aug 18, 2009
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404
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The wild west
I walked out back of my store for 3 min to take trash to the dumpster and must have missed a call. when I got back in there was a message on my machine. A lady in a rather rude voice:

"I'm pissed off at my old framer and so I was going to bring you a bunch of framing but since you decided to not answer my call I'm going somewhere else"

Thats it, no name or number or call me back. Now here's the question, the name and number did show up on caller ID. Do I call her back and apoligize/explaing that I was out back and try to win her business, or does this sound like someone I'd rather not have as a customer???
 
Odds are, she's probably peeved because her old framer either

1. Gave her what she asked for
2. Gave her what she was willing to pay for
3. Refused to bow down to her whims

Going by the phone message, of course...it sounds like she's a totally irrational person. Who leaves a phone message like that at a place you've never even dealt with?

If it were me, I wouldn't bother. While you could gain a few bucks this time...if ever you fell out of favor she'd be the first one to drag your name through the mud. Do you want to risk your reputation over someone that fickle?
 
Ditto. And hope you recognize her when she calls back...
 
I'd call her back and explain that you were just out for a minute and missed her call, but I would also tell her that you weren't interested in doing any framing for her.

If she wasn't rude would you have called her back?

Her lack of respect for you shouldn't change the way you treat your clients, just the ones you choose to work with.
 
Let her go. OR call her back, explain that you were "busy with a customer" when the phone rang, then add the PITA charge the minute she walks in the door!

Wendy
The Art Corner
Salem, MA
 
No way I would call her. Who needs more headaches?
 
I don't get it.

Why would you not call her back? You all have so many customers these days that you don't need more?

Well call her and suggest she call me. I will be more than happy to try and help her.

I actually had something like this happen not too lang ago. They did not leave a message, but I called back anyway. Turned into $500 that day and a repeat customer ever since.

Why not call back? Come on. There is a piece of business and the possibility of customer. What's the worst that can happen? You get a nice order this week.

We are in the service business. We get difficult customers all the time. Our job is to take care of thier needs not the other way around.

PLEASE send all of your unwanted customers my way. I will be more than happy to provide the service they need.
 
Harry FKA Harry said:
PLEASE send all of your unwanted customers my way. I will be more than happy to provide the service they need.
Click to expand...

I currently have two that I will be giving them your info.

I am pretty sure that they would be unwilling to drive that far but who knows...
 
I would call her back. Shower her with kindness. She comes in offer her a cup of of tea. Talk about her framing projects, pay extra attention to her. She will sweeten up.
 
Something is odd here. I've dealt with plenty of impossible people but I've never had someone go off because they received a phone message.


Could this be her second or third attempt to reach you? Some retail frame shops have such short hours that it's impossible to do business with consumers who work 9-5, M-F

You won't know unless you call.

Good Luck

Doug
 
I'd probably call her back. I need the business and I have been diagnosed as having a co-dependent personality flaw. I have, so they say, a sick need to be belittled and victimized by other unstable people.

That said I must now return to the Gov Walker thread, I hear my abusers calling :) Maybe I should call her first......


First sign of recovering is admitting your problem. :) Second step, put down the phone. Sanity is more important than business.
 
FUNNY........ this should come up......

I had a customer a couple of weeks ago call and leave a message
(this time it WASNT a prank call) that I should just call him back because he can never tell when I'm here.....

WELL apparently Mr. IDIOT did not listen to my message... kinda like signs... they never read them.... I ALWAYS CHANGE MY ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGE if I have a Dr's appointment... or anything where I'm not here during normal biz hours.

I DID CALL MR. IDIOT BACK... and stated that we were SOOOOOOO SORRY that we were not here at the beginning of March when he stopped by... but HOPED that he saw the HUGE SIGN IN OUR FRONT WINDOW STATING "ITS A GIRL" ...

BTW I had to leave a message becuz he didnt answer his phone .... and he hasnt been in....... I could care less to deal with someone so rude!

Sorry..... my opinion... everyone has lives.... my kids and family come first.....
If my customers dont understand that.... then they can go somewhere else.

I'm not going to be in labor and taking a framing order or trying to plan my brothers funeral and worrying about so and so wanted to pick up thier piece..
its framing..... not life or death.....

Can you tell this has touched a nerve? :D Or that I've had too much coffee......
 
Like many others, I could really use the business right now (and I consider myself a pretty good people pleaser) so I did call her back, she sounded very nice on the phone, and came right in. She spent $500 on what will be a very easy project.

She was very polite the whole time she was in my store. She mentioned that so far (a whole 15 min) the level of service she received from me was far better than “her previous framer who was always changing her orders after she placed to what ever he thought looked best”

I wanted to ask who she had been using, but decided it would not be professional of me. For all I know she’s been framing at hobby lobby or Michaels, if that’s the case it shouldn’t be hard to impress her.

Of course the final test will be when she comes in to pick up her order, so I’m a little nervous. But if she is pleased, she did say that she has a bunch more stuff to frame.
 
You can catch more flies with Baclava than with Guacamole.:icon9::shutup:

Glad you did call her and got the work!!
 
Glad that has worked out so far. I would have called her back too, just to see how things developed. The one thing that would make me wary is that
"I'm pissed off at my old framer and so I was going to bring you a bunch of framing but since you decided to not answer my call I'm going somewhere else" sounds prematurely hostile, and assuming that you chose not to speak to her. Sounds like "so far, so good", so hope that keeps up. Any signs of attitude trouble, though, stick to your guns.
:cool: Rick
 
framerbob said:
She was very polite the whole time she was in my store. She mentioned that so far (a whole 15 min) the level of service she received from me was far better than “her previous framer who was always changing her orders after she placed to what ever he thought looked best”
Click to expand...

Mild warning bell here. Make sure she signs an order that clearly states the materials. Maybe he did that, maybe he didn't.

It's good to get a new customer. She does sound short tempered. Forewarned is forearmed.
 
MabSadie2 said:
Mild warning bell here. Make sure she signs an order that clearly states the materials. Maybe he did that, maybe he didn't.

It's good to get a new customer. She does sound short tempered. Forewarned is forearmed.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking.
 
I would have advised that you call her as well. As I've said before I don't turn away a potential customer because I don't like their personality. If you have to fire her later, deal with it then. Right now you have $500 that you otherwise wouldn't have. You made the right choice.
 
You had only to gain by calling her.
She might have just been having a bad day.
I have had so many customers that started out as jerks and ended up as facebook friends and customers for life.

Edie the nuthintolose goddess
 
Just finished reading the whole thread; and yes, right away, my first reaction was too; call her back.

You don't know the full story; she might have tried to call several framers, getting no answers anywhere and got so frustrated with another answering machine, so she just vented.

I always try to put myself in my customer's shoes. You didn't know enough to do that, so the only option is to find out more. I'm glad you called back. She already gave you a compliment, about the level of service; I wouldn't be too worried about after the order is done. I would make sure that her order is done in record time though. First of all for the additional 'wow' and second of all because it will make you less anxious.

I do agree with what Nicole said; for me my family comes first too. I can only be at one place at a time. If my kids need me; I go to help them.

I have never had a customer expressing a problem with that. I always make sure it's posted on my website; I don't list my hours on the answering machine, just my web address for further information. Then I always put up a note on the door, with an explanation why I couldn't be there.
Do I loose customers because of it? Possibly. But I don't know how else to handle it at this point.
 
Glad it worked out for you FramerBob

Sometimes, you just have to stand back and chill out. Even we have our bad days, dont we?
 
Glad to hear things are going in a positive direction. Do let us know how she responds when she picks up her order.
 
Ditto what Harry said. I got a client by calling someone back from their caller ID, they hadn't even left a message. But it was a $1300 sale, so it was worth the callback.

Here's another suggestion -- change your voicemail greeting so that it mentions that if a caller is getting voicemail during your normal working hours, it is because you "are with another customer, or working on a project and unable to get to the phone." That gives a reasonable explanation, points out that the customer you are with is the most important person in the world (and it could be the caller next time), and that you take great care with their projects.

Harry FKA Harry said:
Why would you not call her back? You all have so many customers these days that you don't need more?

Well call her and suggest she call me. I will be more than happy to try and help her.

I actually had something like this happen not too lang ago. They did not leave a message, but I called back anyway. Turned into $500 that day and a repeat customer ever since.

Why not call back? Come on. There is a piece of business and the possibility of customer. What's the worst that can happen? You get a nice order this week.

We are in the service business. We get difficult customers all the time. Our job is to take care of thier needs not the other way around.

PLEASE send all of your unwanted customers my way. I will be more than happy to provide the service they need.
Click to expand...
 
Follow up

Well, the client came back in to pick up her order today, once again she was as nice as could be and thrilled with my work, she even proclaimed "Finally I've found a good framer." She started talking again about the poor experiences shes had in the past.

Since she brought it up again I decided to ask who she had been going to. Sure enough, it was just a local big box chain framing company (I wont say which one, because my point is not to trash them) which was just as I had suspected. Toping that level of service and quality was not hard to do.

So in the end…good thing I called back even though my gut told me not to.
.
 
Glad this one worked out. Id have deleted the message as quickly as possible when I first heard it. Dodge bullets whenever you're lucky enough to see them coming. "But since you decided to not answer my call I'm going somewhere else""? Seriously?
 
My gut feeling is that it is a matter of time before your shop name is being trashed somewhere else.

In my 22 years of business, every time I 'gained' a new customer that had lots of bad things to say about their 'previous framer' I eventually figured out that they were more than likely ran off from the other store.

If you have them now, do your best and also make what you can while it last.
 
This thread has been helpful to me!

A few days ago I had a number on my call log list, but no message. I decided; well, what do I have to loose and called.

This customer was extremely impressed that I took the time to return a call, while she didn't even leave a message.

She was looking to have some frames cut down, which apparently was hard to find around here. I told her I had to take a look first before I would commit; she came in and had quite a few frames, workable frames. Very nice order and hopefully the start of a loyal customer.

I don't think I would have called if it wasn't for this thread......bit different situation, but still, it got me thinking.
 
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