Someone once said, "The good is often the greatest enemy of the best." That is true in life as well as in business. How often have you heard (or said), "Well, that's good enough for 'government' work?" Or, "That's good enough." Our shop policy states, "If you're tempted to say 'that's good enough,' it probably isn't!" Two hundred and twelve degrees is the boiling point of water. Many times, we work right up to 210 degrees and stop, thinking we can't work any harder, or do any more, and all we lack is merely two degrees more to be "the best" rather than just "good." It's the difference between hot and boiling. Let's look at some of the "little things" that can raise your "temperature" from 2100 and just "hot water" to 2120 degrees and steaming our way to success! (Disclaimer: No, I don't do all these things all the time either - I'm just like everyone else and have to stay on my toes to keep from making these same excuses..) Thank you cards - We all know we should send thank you cards to our customers, but we have all kinds of excuses as to why we don't do this. We don't know whether to hand-write them or do them on the computer. We don't know whether to purchase "store-bought" cards or print them out ourselves. Should we only send them to new customers, or to repeat customers as well? And, if to repeat customers, should we send them every time they come in or only occasionally? I think you need to choose your thank you cards the same way you choose every other piece of stationery, and every other "branding" item you use in your business. If your business is very upscale, with a gallery setting, obviously you won't want to use a "folksy" type of card. Use something that carries out the theme of your business (You do have a theme, don't you? That's another "little thing" you need to do.) Referrals - How many times do we actually ask for referrals? The excuses are, "Well, should I have them fill out a form, or should I have a space on the actual work order for referral names?" "Should I give them a 'reward' for referrals, or should they just want to refer their friends to us?" Again, this depends on you and your type of business. While you're deciding how to do it, at least do this much - when your customer picks up their work, give them a few business cards and ask them to give them to their friends. That's not nearly as intimidating as asking for names, and is a good place to start. Teaching Care and Maintenance - We know that we should spray the class cleaner on the rag and not on the glass, but do our customers know this? How many times have you handed a frame to a customer only to have them grab it by the top rail? And how often have you had to replace acrylic glazing because a customer cleaned it with Windex (with "AmmoniaD" of course!)? Provide instructions for caring for an art and framing package. You might even create a light-hearted brochure titled, "Care and feeding instructions for your art" with a "do and don't do" list. Don't insult their intelligence, but by making it fun, you can say things you couldn't normally say. For instance - "Do make sure your hanger is heavy enough for your framed piece. Don't hang your frame on a push-pin!" As for giving them a hanger -
many framers actually hand the hanger to the customer rather than taping it to
the wire. I'm sure we've all had a frame come back for whatever reason that
still has the hanger taped in place! Other "little things" we can do to up the
temperature: Take photographs of your work - This is a biggie! We all know that we should take photos of our work, but we often fail to do this. There is nothing I can say but DO IT! Do whatever it takes to make yourself do this. Yes, it is best to photograph frames before the glass is on the work, but so what if you forget. Don't use that as an excuse - photograph it anyway! Then to really "turn up the heat," create a PowerPoint program for presentations, or a screensaver of those photos to run continuously in your design area. This is almost as good as samples on the wall. And finally (just because we're nearly out of space) treat your customers like guests in your home. If you are a homebased framer, this is a no-brainer, but something that is often overlooked no matter where the business is located. 3 Offer to wrap the
frame to protect it. There are hundreds of little things that we could do on a daily basis to make our business more successful. And yes, we already know about most of them. Our biggest problem is "paralysis of analysis". We just "analyze" it to death. The key is just do something! Pick one of these things a week, or even one a month and create a new marketing/customer service "habit" in your business. Do this and you'll soon find yourself "steaming" your way to success! Betty Newman is the owner of Newman Valley
Studio in Kodak, Tenn. Betty may be reached by phone at |
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