I saw a Google ad from Hammonds this morning; is said ‘No false discounts, just fair pricing’.

Last night I visited a client who had had quotes from Sharps and Hammonds.

The Hammonds salesman went in first, designed the room, priced it up, deducted the current ’special offer’ discount and then delivered the coup de grace: “Here is a letter from our managing director (all neatly typed up on a Hammond’s letterhead) saying “As we have reached out annual sales target, all further business in the current trading year can be discounted by an extra 10%”. How nice thought the client “We have Sharps coming tomorrow and will get back to you after we have compared the prices”.

The next night, the Sharps salesman created an identical design; “That will cost you an arm and a leg” said Mr Sharps, “but as we have are having half price sale that ends tomorrow (yawn) its only an arm if you sign up tonight”. The client hesitated. “Better still”, said Mr Sharps producing a letter from the managing director, all neatly typed up on a Sharp’s letterhead and saying “As we have reached out annual sales target, all further business in the current trading year can be discounted by an extra 10%”.

You can’t beat the old ones but what does this say about our competitors respect for the client?

Has anybody had a similar experience?

It occurs to me that as the amount of business we do through interior designers keeps growing and as we are currently revamping our showroom, we have a great opportunity to establish a working relationship with an interior designer starting out in Surrey or SW London and in need of showroom space.

There should be no conflict of interest and we can offer showroom facilities and an established client list of thousands.  Our clients are in main affluent home owners and perfect prospective clients for an interior designer.

We could benefit from offering a more in depth service and the ‘interior designer’s touch’ would flatter the showroom.  Sounds win – win to me.

Any takers?

Forgive me for ‘own trumpet blowing’ but testimonials don’t come any better than this; I will leave it to speak for itself.

Bexley,
Kent
DA5
12th May 2008
Mr.P.Kirby,
Options Furniture,
37, Grace Business Centre,
Willow Lane,
Mitcham,
Surrey
CR4 4T

Dear Pat and your Team,

Well! What can say, the experience of using Options has been one of a pleasure from beginning to end and therefore it must not go unrecognised the level of service you give. Points to commend:

1. An inviting website site that was easy to read.

2. Quick response to my enquiry.

3. Appointment booked within the week of my enquiry.

4. Pat, you turned up totally annihilated my ideas and vision for this bedroom (to our advantage).

5. The rough plan you said would be with us within the week, it was.

6. You invited us to the showroom to see the set up, we had a tour around the
factory.

7. The Option team were extremely pleasant and helpful; we were made a cup of coffee with a cup and saucer!

8. We paid our deposit and you then organised a surveyor to come and measure more accurately and also to make sure you did your job properly, guess what,
you were spot on.

9. We then paid a further deposit in order to commence production; all this was explained to us by letter before David the surveyors’ arrival.

10. The room plan was sent to us within days with the additions we had asked
along with an estimated date of delivery and fitting.

11. Then it all went quiet, mainly because you had thoroughly explained every aspect to us, we understood every little detail, the plans you had issued gave extensive vision to the end product, we didn’t need to contact you with questions about our forthcoming order, an amazing service. You even called halfway through production to let us know how it was going and to also tell us you were on schedule to deliver on the day you had given us. How fantastic was that!

12. You then sent us through all the details of the Consumer Protection Association, a FSA authorised organisation, which gives us extra security with our order.

13. You called us the week before to let us know the estimated time the fitter would arrive, you wrote to us again to let us know the closing balance and how it was to be paid.

14. The fitter arrived 8am of the said morning followed by the delivery shortly afterwards. The delivery guys were extremely polite and careful when delivering the items to the room. They introduced themselves, what extremely courteous guys.

15. Paul the fitter, checked his plans with ours before he started the job to make
sure there were no variations.

16. Paul explained his plan of work and estimated a three day installation of which he was correct.

17. His work was clean and tidy, very little disruption, ie dust etc. Left the bedroom clean and tidy when he left for the day. Was polite and never stopped work the whole time he was here.

18. The fitted wardrobes have been fitted to the highest degree of craftsmanship, we cannot fault them in any way.

So there you have it, our testimonial is complete. I am sorry if it is long winded but I felt it deserved time spent on it, the same way I feel you Options Furniture as a whole have spent time on our order.

Thank you so much Pat and to everyone working at or with Options Bespoke Furniture.

Regards,

Pam & Peter S**********

Please give our details to prospective customers.

Cq.encl.

We always send our clients a “satisfaction” questionnaire to complete after the installation.

This provides us with  a lot of useful input to up-our-game.

I particular liked a comment on one this week; when asked “how could we improve our service” the client replied “only by giving it away for free”.

Thanks John, that raised a smile.

Tuesday.

Took a delightful drive in the spring sunshine, hood down on the MG, to see a prospective client in rural Rutland, a 51/2 hour round drive and an 11 hour day.

This is a bit outside our normal geographical area but well worth the trip providing I pre-qualify the enquiry to ensure that we can meet the clients’ requirements (if we can’t, who can?) and that they have a reasonable understanding of the potential cost.

In he event, I returned with an order and the realistic prospect of a larger order if they are pleased with the first installation (and they will be).

It was a very complicated design in a 16th century cottage with a plethora of slopes and angles. All went well but we had a slight stumble when it came to the exterior finish; no problem with the door design, colour or quality but, as happens occasionally the clients felt that our high-tech, satin lacquer finish might look to “new” in their beautiful thatched cottage. As ever, we have the solution: In spite of us spending years and serious money perfecting our spray plant to eliminate all imperfections, we can take a step backwards by applying the first, primer coat with a brush. The end result is that, although the final finish is still as tough as ever and guaranteed for 10 years, it looks as if it has been applied by a master decorator with a paint brush. I am very confident that the finished effect will be just right and in empathy with the house.

Hopefully, I will get the opportunity to “drop-in” when passing through Rutland to admire the finished effect. It may not be cheap, but goodness, we go to every possible length to get it right.

It’s a glorious Spring Saturday morning and I am in the office, on an hour’s notice, to meet a prospective client who has responded to a quotation I gave out two years ago.

This set me to thinking: there is a tradition in the direct selling of home-improvements industry that the best salesmen and women (or ‘designers’ as we prefer to be called) are those that “close ‘em on the night”.  The real ‘pros’ always ask for the order and don’t accept less than six nos before moving on.

2 hours later… We have completely redesigned the bedroom,  looked at a lot of variations on door type and finish and pushed the budget up by 25%.  We had the usual factory toour and the clients have now gone home to enjoy the rest of their weekend and ‘think about it’.

 ’Think about it’s are usually anathaema to sales professionals but for me the knowledge that the client has made a considered and, hopefully, the right decision is vital.  Happy clients come back and there is a home study on offer at a later date.

Some sales people would argue that I failed to ‘close’ the deal today.  However, I and all Options designers have a ‘conversion rate’ (more trade speak) of over 50% and when you consider that most people get three quotes (I think this client had four and mine was certainly not the cheapest) and factor in those who do nothing, the average conversion can only be between 25 and 33%.

We must be doing something right.