asking too much

[greenoak]

i always think a customer can ask anything , thats fine.. ..and then you can answer....but lately a few have been assuming waaay too much..and git irritated if we dont do what they thnk we do....
i had one this week.who wanted a picture of somethng...she didnt ask if we could do it...she assumed and demanded.....she had already seen the item...we dont lay away so she has to pay for us to hold it for her...but she wants a picture first....we dont really offer to send pictures .... you could call us and ask for dimensions and pictures of all 10 of our buffets....we just dont choose to do it..
..i guess i need to say no in a clearer way...they usually say something like i know you have a computer.... or do you have a camera ? then send me a picture.....
yes i have a car but im not giong to drive it somewhere for you...
if a sears guy did that much for you....15 minutes probably, it would be 30$$$ i have only one person who could do it...and shes doing something major already...with a deadline...also i hate to be bossed around and pushed into something i dont offer...even by a customer...
i just am not going to be able to sign up for everything they can want....
i want to be tactful and still say no ....

[Spider]

Company policy. No-one ever argues with company policy.

[dynocat]

ann, you mentioned she'd already seen it. Do you let people take pictures of items in your store? If so, you could tell her, "you are welcome to take photos of an item you're interested in, but we don't offer that service." "Service" is the keyword here, because yes, it is a service that takes you extra time with no guarantee of a sale.

Personally, taking and emailing a photo is something I would make time to do for a customer, even though it interrupts my day. But then we're small and still pretty accommodating. We go with the old JC Penney--among others--motto, "The Customer is Always Right."

[greenoak]

thanks spider...thats short and sweet...
dyno i do try to say yes...but overriding yes is;;; i dont want to sign up for things i cant do well....and thats a lot ..people are used to perfect llbean kind of services...and if i cant do one of them i dont want to look bad and do it half way..i have 4 or 5 workers all the tme...but no personal secretary......we are more of an as is where is ..low prices and no frills kind of place...with high end stuff....
i definitely did take pictures and everything my california lady asked me to do...she bought 4 cupboards about a month ago and 4 more this week...so i hear what you are saying.... that was worth a big effort....
as it was, this current lady, she had demanded the pictures on email and i was a bit wishy washy and said id try but i didnt have anyone who could do it easily, ...my big mistake......and then i didnt answer the phone when the woman called about it...and the worker said sure...and did it and didnt get my email done....and the lady didnt call back to pay......after demanding we hold it...and my worker who can email pictures and actually talked to the woman wont be back in till mon...and i have to decide whether to put the lamps back out for sale...so its a small thing and also a big hassle.... and a reminder of why we need to just say no sometimes...she had a lready seen the lamps...and we are ok withthem taking pictures...
actually dyno...we built our whole business on saying no/...no laywaways, no credit, no special favors.no guarantees of any kind....remember we were selling old maybe rare junk... we were wierd...first come first served...but it worked great...simple and nobody owed us and we didnt owe anybody...no ikky promisess hanging over head...hardly any grey areas with our customers...

[KristineS]

I think you have to know where the line is drawn when it comes to customer service. Otherwise you end up spending a lot of uncompensated time doing things for customers. I'm all about going the extra mile, but there are places where we'll draw the line. Either because the expenditure of time and effort isn't worth the return, or because we know the customer and know they aren't going to come through with a sale.

If you've built your business on no frills, first come first serve, Ann, then stick to that. Obviously it has worked for you.

[billbenson]

One thing you may want to consider is taking pictures and placing them on your web site. A little bit of a pain to manage, but over time you could show the portfolio of current and sold items. Even for the items that are sold, people may look at that and think, boy I gotta check this place out. Call it furniture gallery past and present or the likes.

Just an idea.

[greenoak]

right kristine....its hard to be clear about hte line sometimes...
we have thought about more pictures.... we do try to do new pictures on son jons blog www.jonsdecoratorapprovedpicks.blogspot.com ..its right on our website...and we try for .. now in.. on there....and they do like it.... but really things come and go so fast we dont really try to keep the website current....it mostly serves to say...they have a lot better go see....also the person answering the phone wouldnt know what piece they were asking about....
my daughter uses facebook so well she actually takes pictures at the auction and often gets replies before she even gets them bought or home...now thats using the internet!!!! her facebook is great...i have more fans tho!! heres her website... Bella Chic Interiors of Carmel Indiana (http://www.bellachicinteriors.com) she worked forus for 10 yrs...shes the one who got me interested in facebook...

[Steve B]

I've got to say if I was seriously thinking about buying a fairly expensive item from a store and requested a photo to be sent, I'd be put off if I was told they couldn't do it. Of course they can do it. I don't see it as a service - I see it as part of reasonable communication during the sale. Dimensions are nice, but when you're talking about aesthetics, only a picture can satisfy in this case.

It's certainly something you can say NO to if you want, but I think it's a bit short sighted if your goal is to sell furniture to people that don't just live right around the block.

I'm assuming above that the piece is something that is more valuable than one or two hundred dollars. Clearly, there is a point where it wouldn't be worth your time.

[greenoak]

i hear you and it sounds right.....thats what she thought!! its very logical and i dont blame her for expecting that..somebody could want us to do that for 3$ knobs too...or to check thru our 1$ postcards to see if their town is in it.... it sounds right to them to ask...but we have our reasons to say no........
but over 200 i would have to do it..or for a big buyer who might want several pieces.....this is 2 lamps for 170$$
right now the lamps are in limbo....shes got us holding them till she pays...and she didnt pay right after we sent the picture... is she gong to pay? is the person answering the phone gong to know whats going on? i have to get the message thru to the right person this morning.... she saw the lamps last week in person... its just not worth it...what if someone else comes in with cash in hand for the lamps today and they are in this limbo? also she will probably call this morning with the wrong person answering the phone, son jon out there working in the workshop before we open, and it will get even murkier....
we really arent set up to send that picture....if i offered it we would be set up to do it efficiently...or as well as we could.... then it leads to another really bad request....also logical to them....they then ask us to hold it till some future time till they get there...we also dont do that...


i have tried to figure out an in store thing where you could call X and get a store tour with talk and prices.... i think it would be great , especially for far away wholesale buyers.... but it would take a skilled and dedicated worker to do it....

[Steve B]

I see the picture taking and putting things on hold as two completely different things. I would gladly take pictures for anything over $200, but I would never put anything on hold for anyone (without payment in full). If someone pays for something and you have to hold it for them to pick up - put a big red Sold tag on it and you won't have any confusion.

[greenoak]

big red sold tag....we do that all the time.After they pay we will store it as long as they want...no problem....
....hold means hold till they get there to see it....put it in limbo not really sold but not for sale till they get there to see it... like you call and say you will be there tomorrow and will i save/hold it till you get there? usually i say no...sometimes yes...

lay away is done all the time...thats when they havent paid but they promise to...and the store puts it back for them ..... its common but we dont do that either...

[huggytree]

i wouldnt hold anything without a down payment....and id let them know their down payment is non-refundable....and id let them know that after 6 months the item would be resold and the down payment kept....i see this as a extra profit maker

or just dont hold anything...if payment is made 100percent and the item is never picked up what do you do with it? the day after you resell it they will call to pick it up.

i would take photo's of every item in the store and put it on my website...update it weekly or bi-weekly

having photo's on your website will bring you internet buyers.....i think its important enough that if you dont have time then up your prices to cover the extra time involved...if i was buying a high priced item id also expect a photo asap...if it was on your website they wouldnt have to bother or ask you...it would be there.

there some high end customers who want something and will pay anything to get it...even double price..this is what i found from selling large antique items on Ebay....they dont have time to shop antique stores...if they see your item on line it may get sold....

[greenoak]

huggy why would i do all that? we are selling about 1 to 2000$ a day in the store..plus a whole lot more on some days..like when 800 come to our events...!!!!...isnt that enough to keep me busy? i think it is..i have a market right here thats working ...is it so wierd that i dont want to mess with internet buyers and dong all that would take... i do like to make money!!! ive thought it thru...
.we did ebay for years....i know quite a bit about it.... we used to have 50 things on all the time...we have a feedback rating of over 4000....terristrinkets.... it used to work now it doesnt for us...we got 4500 for an icecream scoop once!!
thanks huggy. for the thuoghts..
ann
i dont hold anythng without full payment...whenever i forget this rule its bad...
we are a destination store..not a small mom and pop thing...
believe me ive thought thru our internet policies...and tried about everything.....

[Spider]

I can see your reluctance to taking pictures, Ann, but to what extent do you feel business would be improved if you could provide pictures-on-demand? If none, then obviously it's not worth considering. But if there is the possibility that additional sales would be had, then I'm thinking the technology is available to do it easily. I'll bet you walk around the store with your cellphone on your hip, right? Even fairly rudimentary cellphones have built in cameras. Once you figure it out, you could take a picture with your cellphone and e-mail it to the person on the phone even while you are still talking to them. You could probably have it done in less time than it takes to explain that you don't do it!

IOW, taking the picture and sending it might even SAVE you time!

Just a thought.

[greenoak]

i dont know how to do that..it sounds good.. ...
i know how to take pictures.....only dh and terri know how to send them.....then the hassles begin....and the communication and giving that communication about the object to the staff....
im glad it isnt asked very often.....if its over 200 we do it or if someone we cant say no to...like yesterday i think i sold 5 old trikes because we sent pictures....they are in limbo today, waiting for him to get here...and hes an artist so who knows when that will be....lol... and we are expecting big crowds...so i might lose a sale...
..
the issues arent about the camera or the computer....its the people part...and the time...and the holding till the buyer gets there....

[Spider]

"Ma'am, this is a Cash and Carry business, I'm afraid. All I can tell you is that the item is here now. If someone walks in with the money to buy it, they get to carry it away with them immediately. So, if you want it, it would be in your interest to get here as soon as you can. We close at 7pm tonight and open again at 8am tomorrow morning."

[Harold Mansfield]

Nothing gets held in limbo without a deposit or payment in full. I don't have any direct retail experience, but the same is done to me at times..Client "A" will speak about getting a job done in a certain amount of time, but then doesn't keep me posted, or the deposit is not paid...and Client "B" comes along and wants to get started right now and drops the deposit immediately.

Now of course Client "A" comes back a few days later and is ready to get started and wants my undivided attention..Of course I'll still take the job, but they have to now adjust their time table a few days to fit with my time.
Until I see money, (or they are an existing client with a good track record) it's all just talk and promises.
The phrase "You snooze you loose" applies.

[billbenson]

I assume you use quickbooks or similar for your inventory management and accounting. This is an example of where using your website for accounting and inventory control would allow you to take a picture of everything saving it under a unique product name. In the evening you could save it to your computer from the camera. You could have an application written that would upload the pictures to your web site in a few clicks. Would take maybe 10 minutes. As the items are sold the site could automatically take the image off the web site or mark it as sold etc.

You will find that this is rarely done. Even very large companies have databases that don't talk to each other. I am saying though, that a well thought through web design can do a lot of things with very little time investment. In this case, when you make a sale, the image disappears from the web site or is marked as sold.

I happen to be an automation freak. Doing the above, but using it for a quote generator. Doing so allows me to get a quote in my customers hands in seconds, frequently while I have them on the phone. That saves time and dramatically improves my closure rate.

Just something to think about.

[Steve B]

Ann - lots of good suggestions here. Honestly, it sounds like your reluctance to do it is a personal thing. There's nothing wrong with that. You can't be good at everything and sometimes you just decide you don't want to learn something new. A long time ago I decided I wasn't going to learn how to fix cars. I know I could if I wanted, but it doesn't interest me. I also don't won't to create my own websites etc. But, Spider is right. You could take and send a photo to someone in the same amount of time it takes to explain to someone that you refuse to do it. The only difference is that if you send the photo you might make a sale. If you don't - your potential customer is rolling their eyes and going to move on to another store.

My suggestion is to make this a requirement of the next person you hire or of someone already on your staff. When someone asks for a photo - just write a note for your digital photographer and have them do it at the next opportunity. Problem solved.

[greenoak]

steve.... we just dont want to mess with it....today we sold to 100 people..thats probably 5 or 6 or 700 items maybe 1000.... ..we are really swamped lots of times... its a choice of how to use our resources and what services we want to add....and trust me it would be an addition...again, mostly because of what they would ask next....and what they would want next if the word spread that they could get us to do that on the phone...
bill, wow whAT A WILD IDEA....
OMG////WE HAVE A HUGE INVENTORY AND WHEN I GO TO AUCTION I MIGHT BUY 500 ITEMS IF YOU COUNTED EVERYTHING IN THE MISC BOXES..... WE WOULd NEVER EVEN GO THERE AS FAR AS TAKING PICTURES AND RECORDING OF EVERYTHING....I GUESS IM AN ANTI AUTOMATION FREAK....I CAN PRICE A WHOLE WALL OR SHELF FOR SOMEONE~~I CAN PRICE SOMETHING ON THE POHONE ON THE WAY HOME FROM AN AUCTION...BEFORE IT EVEN HITS THE FLOOR....` without a computer...or even a pencil if i have to... IN MY HEAD....and ive done that many times.... .
we are so old fashioned i guess....and we do everything under the eye of a cpa .
OUR OLD CUSTOMERS KNOW our policies and they are fine with it...the new ones are the ones expecting all the little exceptions to the rules....many times i have been in eborgs described situation and say ..sorry we dont hold ,.whoever pays me first gets it...now i might add,[ thanks spider], thats our company policy....
im going with if its not broke dont fix it..... unless it really makes sense...

[Steve B]

That's the beauty of having your own business. You can do or not do whatever you want.

[Spider]

Just a small change, Ann -- not our company's policy - the company policy. "Our" company's policy means you are the company, you made the policy and thus you can change it. "The" company policy is, like, cast in stone, immutable!

[greenoak]

yes!! like its words in stone...
totally steve!! and we all do the best we can...
.your website is great..the video is just right and just what someone would want to know..is it your tv ad? ...i wish you could sell me one of those pet fences....my dh is putting up all kinds of barriers to me getting another dog....i hate to see them chained up...
i can see one big difference between your business and ours......we had 100 sales yesterday and dealt with probably 400 people, including lots of kids and bored husbands....... and a full parking lot all day long..... im not sure what happened....facebook? email reminding them we were open all weekend....but we exceeded our expectations....
i dont know how many sales it would take your business to get to our number yesterday,..5k ....1 or 2?.... .thats a big difference...
ours is good but a big handful...

[huggytree]

you know the business better than me...i just assumed you'd be struggling alot these days since the Antique market is almost completely gone....things are selling for 1/4 price on EBay these days...i have some furniture to sell, but i can only get 1/2 what i paid for it (and i got good deals)...i storing the extra's above my garage waiting for better days.

if your so busy i wouldnt change anything....people always make assumptions about my business too....you know what works best and no one can criticize you if your busy through this economy........im big on expanding what you do through this downturn....ive expanded what i do to survive and thrive...maybe you dont have to...cool

[greenoak]

thats what we have done too huggy...and sADLY thats WHY WE HAVE TURNED TO SO many things besides antiques....but its saved us...
we are in a downturn but have actually gone up a little this year.
...i can hardly believe how much antiques have gone down...i cant pay near what i used to...its wierd.