Avoiding the Bad Customer
If Ms. Jones tells you the kitchen has to be finished for her son’s graduation party, drop it like a hot potato. I’ve been in stone long enough to know that none of you really want to take this advice, because nobody wants to pass on a job. But, when you’re in the middle of this nightmare, you’ll all wish you’d run the other way at the start.
5. Trust Your Instincts on Potential Customers
If you’re like me, you can sense a nightmare customer immediately. Mine all fit the same description: They don’t have enough on their plate.
The mom with three kids who all have different soccer schedules doesn’t have time to obsess about her countertops. She’s more concerned she isn’t without her kitchen for a single day, and could care less that the bevel on her edge detail is 3/16” instead of a true 1/4”. In my experience, measure and install well, and this customer is a gem.
For others, a kitchen remodel project takes on an importance out of proportion to what most of us consider “normal.” If Ms. Jones calls my cell at 11 p.m. to talk about something she read on the Net concerning granite, odds are I won’t end up taking the job. Besides, at that hour I only answer questions about single-malt Scotch selections. (Oban is my personal favorite, but if you want a really interesting one, try Laphroaig.)
Or, there’s the retiree, Mr. Jones, who offers an inch-thick folder put together for a countertop-replacement project that will eat all your profit and drive you nuts in the process. You know he’s going to get six or more quotes, will express doubts about the sealer you’ll use, and can still “feel” the seam after you top-polished it to perfection. By the time you’re done with return trips, you’ll have done the job for free.
I’m painfully aware that it’s a luxury to pick and choose clients. But common sense tells us that a customer who drains away the profit in a job wasn’t a good bet in the first place.
Trust your instinct. If your gut tells you this customer is not a good fit for your company, and you can afford to turn down the work, take a pass on it.
The Ms. Jones of the world will be a fixture of the granite-countertop industry for as long as we exist. Understand how to work well with this customer, and you will see rewards for your effort. Create for her an understandable product and process, and then deliver on what you have sold, and you may well get to meet her friends.
Jason Nottestad, a 16-year veteran of the stone industry, is National Customer Service Manager for VT Stone Surfaces; he’s now on his fourth year of “The Installer” columns for Stone Business. He can be reached at JNottestad@vtindustries.com.
This article first appeared in the September 2010 print edition of Stone Business Magazine. ©2010 Western Business Media Inc.
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