Frustrated by potential customer

I'm not one who needs to sell pieces but as the opportunity arises I will.

Picture it, a 2 hour phone conversation, loves the last table blogged etc etc, spend another 2 hours on phone to supplier including costing the whole job out. Cost isn't usually an issue as its a hobby rather than a business. Explained several times I am not a factory but a backyard bloke who loves wood.

Quoted her out allowing around $15 an hour for labour. Never again.$1000 less than retail on similar pieces.

She gets here looks at what I have on hand that I have built and tells me I have wasted her time because the piece she is looking for is not here. Turns out even though I said many times over the phone conversation the date of the blog she has somehow not got the right one.She had also contacted my supplier and asked the same sort of questions. His time wasted as well.

I just don't understand how someone can get marquetry and slab work confused??? Is it just me or what...

So I have now wasted 4 hours of my 1 day off a week and then stayed home to entertain her whim another 2 hours to come to the factory so to speak to buy a piece of furniture that I haven't made. Watch out for women who make their husbands drive 2 hours to your house looking for something that isn't yours, inconveniencing you on your weekend and making you do work you would not usually have to.


Im bloody fuming...if there is one thing I hate in life it's dumb, uneducated people, I just can't have a conversation with them, I just can't get down to their level.

End of rant!

Yep. Welcome to the real world. That sort of thing happens all too frequently. I no longer do cut price work. I always charge an adequate hourly rate. Often my price now works greater than what they would expect to pay retail.

Tends to sort the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.
cheers

The most common term for these types of people are 'tyre kickers'. When I feel like I've got one I'm blunt and to the point, either take it or leave it.

Spare a thought for her poor hubby having to put up with her ranting on the way home and beyond.

Try to get philosophic about it, you just invested 4 hours to learn how to deal with future tyre kickers.

My way of dealing with 'em is hit 'em hard and hit 'em high. If they are still standing then workout a more accurate pricing.

The other type to look out for is the "price is not object" brigade. Usually find you won't have a win with any of that lot either.

To echo Enfields greeting "welcome to the real world".


Cheers


Steve

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Originally Posted by fineboxes

The other type to look out for is the "price is not object" brigade. Usually find you won't have a win with any of that lot either.

Steve

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Or you get the interior designer type who want you to visit, measure & custom make bun feet to raise furniture for their paying client who has some form of disability. They want custom made to order with significant detail out of the best materials, with a HQ finish and then chastise you for not being competitive with an unfinished pine generic from Bunnings! Keh???

I feel for you mate, I don't do 'people' that well,

HazzaB

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Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Or you get the interior designer type who want you to visit, measure & custom make bun feet to raise furniture for their paying client who has some form of disability. They want custom made to order with significant detail out of the best materials, with a HQ finish and then chastise you for not being competitive with an unfinished pine generic from Bunnings! Keh???

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Yep gotta agree with that one 'Inferior Designers' are a breed on their own, expect everything for nothing but charge the client like a wounded bull.


Cheers

Steve

Usually the 'price no object' brigade will want something expensive, they'll happily fork out a 25-50% deposit on the spot...but try getting the remainder when they take delivery..."Ohh, it's not quite the colour I wanted, how about I take it for a third off?"; (referring to grain) "Oh, the wood is all liney, I don't like that, I'm not going to pay full price when it's defective like that".

You have to wonder if they are either really that dumb, or if it is just their standard haggling technique.

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Originally Posted by Master Splinter

You have to wonder if they are either really that dumb, or if it is just their standard haggling technique.

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That's how they got to the "money is no problem" status - screwed everyone along the way.

Interior designers, architects and engineers have their own worlds.:rolleyes:

Those time wasters are out there & they don't care how much of another person's time, telephone &/or fuel they waste because they think it is their god given right as a potential customer. :~

My wife has given up 2 weekends driving some dick all over the tablelands looking at property trying to find him the 'right' thing listening to all his waffle.

He currently lives on the outskirts of a city & wants to move to the country but now he has decided to go & buy something in Cairns. :?

I tell people that I make the chair. you find and buy the csnvas sling in the colour and patten that you like and I will put / make the head rest to match. But I will allways get asked.

"why don't you carry the slings"
because I carn't carry or stock 30 different colours or patterns
"if you had canvas in in stock, you could charge for the slings"
Sorry don't have a sewing machine
" what do you need a sewing machine for"
To be able to sew up the slings to size

"I'm sorry I don't carry canvas I only make the chairs"

The worst of all are the supposed "friends and family" potential customers. I do a folding stool which is quite tricky and can be quite time consuming to do, if you don't know the tricks to doing them.

At the moment I am trying to flog the last of the previous batch at a 30% discount to move them so that I can do the next, new and improved batch. I only have 6 of the things to move.

Had a relation (sort of) see that I was discounting them and indicated that they were interested. Come on over I said, have a look, make sure that they are what you want and go from there. The upshot of it all was they then had the hide to ask for a further 20% off. This is for an item that is only available from me!!!:o:o

My response was if you can find the item for sale anywhere else in the world I will beat their price by 30%. The individual did their research and couldn't find a comparative item, Funny that.

She ended up buying 2 for the 30% off price but to be honest I would have preferred to not sell them to her at all. But one should not cut one's nose off to spite one's face.

When I have friends or family do work for me I do not expect a discount. I figure that it is better that I demonstrate my commitment to them by paying the right price, I just expect the work to be done to the correct standards.

At the end of the day you just can't let it get to you. Karma is a strong and powerfull force, it gets most of them in the end.

Cheers

I run a small fabrication shop,and I can relate to every post in this thread.But on the other hand I also have clients who no longer even ask for a price on work,as one said to me,we know you will give us what we need at a fair price.These are the customers I go out of my way for.

Cheers..... David.

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Originally Posted by Enfield Guy

At the moment I am trying to flog the last of the previous batch at a 30% discount to move them so that I can do the next, new and improved batch. I only have 6 of the things to move.

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What's this discounting for. You only have 6 left of the hand crafted one of a type line left. Doesn't make them a scarce item in terms of availability. To me that means the value is increasing and the price must go up. What's worse is the cost of materials is going up. Maybe the next ones won't be as good as these ones. I suppose for family friends you could freeze the price for a little while. Couldn't hold out for too long as you have buyers coming and they will pay the higher price.:U

It breaks my heart reading threads like this. I hate to think of master woodworkers wasting time and even worse discounting their products. If you have some time to read and want to turn this around go to your local library and borrow a copy of Robert Cialdini's " Influence : The psychology of persuasion". He holds dual appointments at Arizona State university as professor of marketing and professor of psychology. It's a book filled of stories to explain the theory that salesmen have been using for yonks.

I'm not saying become a salesman but understand some basics in getting people to quickly decide if they are happy to buy or move on. I have used what I learnt to beat salesmen at their game.

Best story for me was the shop owner who decided to discount items that weren't selling and gave the shop assistant the instruction to mark them down. Owner came back to find the shop assistant got it wrong and increased the prices on selected items. The result was a sell out.

Sometimes your buyers do not understand the value of the quality items they can buy. As far as your hourly rates go I doubt they reflect the years of learning and mastering you have had to spend before being able to built such items.

I just wish I was in OZ to buy some your furniture.:2tsup:

In a modern world you don't have to be in a place to buy from a place. I have an Etsy shop. Furniture homewares and really cool hand made by TimberDimensions Don't be shy.

I shall make a point of reading the reference.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by Blackout

Best story for me was the shop owner who decided to discount items that weren't selling and gave the shop assistant the instruction to mark them down. Owner came back to find the shop assistant got it wrong and increased the prices on selected items. The result was a sell out.

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A friend of mine worked for "Ding Dong A..n Calling". When they had ends of lines, they would be marked UP by 25% or more. Always cleared out in record time!

Another book which I found very interesting is

"Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value"

which covers all sorts of pricing strategies, and how and why they work.

My wife used to sell hand-made cards at markets, and would get frustrated at the folks who wanted her cards for far less than mass-produced cards in the shops.

I finally got her to (arbitrarily) set 3 price ranges, rather than her "one price for all cards", including one price range which she thought was so expensive that no-one would bother to touch, and her overall sales increased markedly, because she now catered to "bargain hunters" who wanted the cheapest option, "value seekers" who didn't want to think of themselves as cheapskates, but who were too savvy to spend excessively, and a few customers who wanted to feel so rich they could afford the best.

The book's coverage of "anchoring" is also very enlightening!

I get a couple a year! just had one for stool tops wanted me to match Bali prices and wanted 100 top within 5 days, told him to ring Bali after the feed back from forum and talk with timber yard! and like others the list goes on and on!the one I laughed at was I can make it out of scrap then they said the needed 70 units made! thats a lot of scraps! it can be disheartening!