In an interesting article in the April edition of KBB Review, a trade magazine for the fitted furniture industry, Tim Foley reports on a visit that he and his wife made to a ‘nice looking’ retail showroom in Gloucestershire, where they were greeted after some delay, by a ‘well groomed woman (who) emerged from the room below’ and advised them that ‘yes it was’ okay to look around, then, after saying ‘let me know if you need anything’ disappeared back downstairs from whence she came.

After being left to their own devices for around ten minutes, the couple called down the stairs to thank the showroom assistant and left.

If you have any idea of the cost of  bespoke fitted furniture,  you will know that to fit out a showroom with displays of kitchens and bedroom wardrobes and drawer units requires considerable investment let alone the on-cost of heating, lighting maintaining and staffing of said emporium.

Why on earth would the owner(s) have made such an investment, presumably with the main intention of encouraging members of the general public to make appointments with a designer in order to obtain designs and quotations that would, in some instances, have led on to orders – the life blood of any business – being placed for the supply and installation of new fitted kitchens, bathrooms, fitted bedrooms and home study/offices; and then have the business of making said appointments in the hands of somebody so under trained and/or motivated as to let an opportunity slip away?

Perhaps the business generates sufficient sales from personal recommendations – which should be the primary source of any home improvement business – without needing new enquiries from the showroom; but, if so, why waste precious resources on a showroom at all? If the showroom just serves as a resource for customers to choose their designs, finishes, door types, worktops handles and appliances, why bother to undertake the expense of a high street premises when all you need is somewhere adjacent to your workshop, warehouse or factory on a trading estate?

Most likely, the owner is unaware of what is happening at his shiny new showroom and bewails the apparent low level of interest.

I will return to this topic next week.

Now here’s an interesting development in the rapid growth of new media and the implications for home-improvement companies like Options Furniture.

Some time ago, we decided to stop expensive advertising in colour supplements and home-interest magazines and to devote all our advertising budget and marketing effort to making our website the only portal, apart from the very important issue of personal recommendations, for attracting new customers.

Naturally, we are keen to enter into dialogue with prospective new clients as quickly and effectively as possible in order to put our case for Options being the first choice of bespoke furniture supplier. With this objective in mind, but mindful of our our stated principles of avoiding hard selling tactics or dubious marketing practices like pretending that our prices are discounted by 50% (‘does anybody do this’ you may ask. You betcha! It is universal practice amongst major home improvement companies!) we have what are called ‘responders’ or ‘calls to action’ liberally spread across our website. In common with all our competitors, we ask our respondents to provide us with a telephone number so that we can open the sought after dialogue.

Understandably, some people are reluctant to give us their phone number for fear of being subjected to ‘nuisance’ phone calls. This creates a dichotomy between our  legitimate wish to enter into dialogue and provide useful and relevant information and the prospective client’s legitimate objective of preserving their privacy.

Full marks therefore to Irene in Berkshire who, enterprisingly, asked for a brochure by replying to a blog post rather than using one of our usual responders, thereby avoiding the need to disclose a telephone number. We will review our policy on this, but, in the meantime, here is the text of my response:

Dear Irene

Thank you for your enquiry via the Options blog.

Unfortunately, I am unable to send a brochure because; as a policy decision recently taken in this fast changing world of communications media we, as a small private enterprise, have decided that the cost of printed brochures, which can only show a minute proportion of the 700 odd photos available on the website and cannot be as easily updated, is now prohibitive.

However, I am more than happy to answer any of your questions and even give a design and quotation by email if you would find this helpful. For this I would need a sketched plan of the room with all dimensions. Naturally we would need to do a proper survey if you wished to proceed but many of our clients prefer to have a clear idea of cost before inviting us into their homes.

In terms of what is available in finish and design, we make all of our furniture individually to the clients’ requirements and the choice is almost infinite. If you have any ideas of your own, we can almost certainly interpret them as closely as the availability of raw materials and the laws of physics allow. If however you are bereft of ideas, I would invite you to look through all the images in our Photo Galleries under Fitted Bedrooms, Fitted wardrobes and Client Galleries and also look at Everything you Need To Know – Ranges for the basics of doors and finishes. However, the choices do change as we discover new inspirations or clients ask us to interpret their original ideas.

Please reply directly to me with any questions you have and feel free to call me on 07946 317753 if you would find a conversation helpful.

As a small private company, we eschew all the hard-sell tactics and the false discounting widely used in the home-improvement industries  and welcome the opportunity to communicate with potential clients in a way that they find most agreeable.

John Gooden

Marketing Manager and Senior Designer
Options Furniture

Naturally, we are delighted to hear anybody contemplating the purchase of bespoke fitted furniture for the bedroom, or any other room, by email, carrier pidgeon or man-with-forked-stick, and we will be as sympathetic to their prefered method of communication as possible.