• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Difficult Customers

turk89

turk89

New Member
A relief to see it’s not just me then. Clients wanting things yesterday is a regular occurrence, sad part is It’s probably my own fault for at times trying to go over board pleasing them.

Calling on day of delivery, and it’s always the same ones asking where their order is?. It’s 9.01am, wait up a little the day is still young.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
T

TimToad

Active Member
Breezy85 said:
Oh yeah I definitely think our area has something to do with it. We sometimes get unrealistic requests. For example someone called to get LED channel letters same day. Haha!
Click to expand...

That's not being "difficult" that's just not knowing anything about what it takes to build a particular type of sign.

In my definition, difficult is someone making the entire process unpleasant, not mutually respectful, more difficult than it needs to be, adversarial or being overly demanding given the context of what we're doing for them. We just got a beautiful thank you card in the mail from a realtor who ordered two little 6"x24" name riders.

I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of "you get what you give". If you project subtle cues that someone doesn't matter beyond their money, you'll have lots of impersonal, demanding types of clients. We try to be as genuine and friendly as we can be and it seems to attract clients who want their business transactions to be pleasant and mutually agreeable.
 
Breezy85

Breezy85

New Member
TimToad said:
That's not being "difficult" that's just not knowing anything about what it takes to build a particular type of sign.

In my definition, difficult is someone making the entire process unpleasant, not mutually respectful, more difficult than it needs to be, adversarial or being overly demanding given the context of what we're doing for them. We just got a beautiful thank you card in the mail from a realtor who ordered two little 6"x24" name riders.

I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of "you get what you give". If you project subtle cues that someone doesn't matter beyond their money, you'll have lots of impersonal, demanding types of clients. We try to be as genuine and friendly as we can be and it seems to attract clients who want their business transactions to be pleasant and mutually agreeable.
Click to expand...

Oh I know that's not difficult, was just saying that was a request we got. Hah.

Overall we mostly get good people, and lots of returning customers. We have maybe a handful of PITA customers.
 
T

TimToad

Active Member
Texas_Signmaker said:
When I hear the word "rush", price doubles. ;)
Click to expand...

Without in house printing capabilities, it makes it much harder to manage a "rush" job without a struggle or added stress. We have more than one printer in-house and are trying to further cement our reputation as the "go to" sign company in our area by working with people of all kinds and being reasonable. We have many very loyal, supportive clients who don't hesitate to be ambassadors of our business and send referrals that they really don't need to. We've gained tons of new clients from the referrals of clients whose bacon we saved on a "rush" job or done some tiny little job for quickly at a reasonable price.

If somebody needs something quickly and we have the ability to shift production on one of the printers, price it reasonably and come out looking like heroes while reducing the stress and anxiety of the customer, we've added another person to the list of folks saying good things. You can't buy that kind of advertising.
 
Breezy85

Breezy85

New Member
TimToad said:
Without in house printing capabilities, it makes it much harder to manage a "rush" job without a struggle or added stress. We have more than one printer in-house and are trying to further cement our reputation as the "go to" sign company in our area by working with people of all kinds and being reasonable. We have many very loyal, supportive clients who don't hesitate to be ambassadors of our business and send referrals that they really don't need to. We've gained tons of new clients from the referrals of clients whose bacon we saved on a "rush" job or done some tiny little job for quickly at a reasonable price.

If somebody needs something quickly and we have the ability to shift production on one of the printers, price it reasonably and come out looking like heroes while reducing the stress and anxiety of the customer, we've added another person to the list of folks saying good things. You can't buy that kind of advertising.
Click to expand...

That's absolutely true. We've had quite a few returning customers based on they came to us first when they needed something done ASAP and we followed through. Granted we just have one printer and one laminater, so we adjust our production priorities when those kind of orders come in.
 
Texas_Signmaker

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
I don't turn away rushes, but I charge accordingly for them and don't mind shifting things around to accommodate. "Everyone has their price" and if they are willing to pay I can get it done no matter what.

I used to think of getting a rush job done at a "reasonable" price was a "good deed" for the customer and make them come back... but most of those clients tended to ALWAYS need rush orders, it's like you did it before, why not do it this time, and the next time.... So I don't mind it, but I've learned not to be generous on price.
 
Breezy85

Breezy85

New Member
Just had this lady and her daughter walk in asking for a 6foot+ graduation banner for Sunday......and we close in less than an hour and a half. :rolleyes: Why do people wait until the last minute??
 
Last edited:
T

TimToad

Active Member
Breezy85 said:
Just had this lady and her daughter walk in asking for a 6foot+ graduation banner for Sunday......and we close in less than an hour and a half. :rolleyes: Why do people wait until the last minute??
Click to expand...

Because many have adapted to a fast paced, instant gratification model that society has seemingly embraced. Fast food, same day dry cleaning, instant communications, no wait notary, overnight delivery, etc. We are living at breakneck speed, but wonder why our customers should reject that mindset?
 
decalman

decalman

New Member
That is
Texas_Signmaker said:
For the most part I like my customers. Sometimes people have unrealistic expectations but that doesn't bother me, I tell them what were able to do.
Click to expand...
exactly what I needed to here this morning. I'm coping it and sticking it in my Android as reminder.
I might even make a copy for customers
 
Texas_Signmaker

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
You can't fault them for having unrealistic exceptions or to act in the most appropriate way because they don't live in the sign world. Think about it, usually when you are doing work for another sign company they know how the game is played. Customers don't because they don't know. I'm sure mechanics say the same thing when you bring them your broken down car and immediately ask what's wrong with it, how much will it be and will it be ready today?

Most of us have worked in food service as younginn's so we have sympathy for servers when they don't get us a refill right away while they are running around like a chicken with their head cut-off. I'm sure the only ones that get angry with servers are the one's that never served before.
 
originalsigns

originalsigns

New Member
Breezy85 said:
Ever have those difficult customers that tell you how to do your job or act like they know how to do your job better than you? Or have someone that says "You have creative freedom," you design something then they decide they want all these changes that does not look good with the design you made for them? Or those people that call and ask for a complex sign done same day. I could go on and on LOL! I'd love to hear some of your frustrating or hilarious customer stories.
Click to expand...
I had one customer recently who claimed to be a graphic artist, BIG RED FLAG. She had a new pontoon boat she wanted the name on it and with shark graphic. No big deal, I'll take a few pictures and measurements and shoot over some layout options. Well, she wanted me to know she's very picky and it has to be perfect, no problem. She kept going on and on how anal she is...after a few times of hearing how anal she is I replied with, "Listed lady, I'm pretty kinky too, but right now I'm trying to measure your boat." I sent her some cool layout options, but haven't heard back...hmmmm
 
Gene@mpls

Gene@mpls

New Member
Two of our best customers have been with us for years, I had to fire the owner of one [he now sends in his manager, a great guy] and I had to tell the father of a father/son company that I would not work with his son [the father is a nice guy].
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top