There are times when the most
unexpected things can happen. You organize
your business and your life and begin to think there is nothing that’s going to
really surprise you. Think again. I am continually surprised by what clients
will and won’t do and what they will and won’t ask. Lend an ear, listen to the following and,
like me, learn something.
We had worked with a client to complete a
whole house renovation and had continued to keep in contact. About eighteen months after the completion of
the initial project I heard from another designer my client had signed with a
firm in San Francisco
to renovate an
apartment they had just bought in a condo there. Yes, I was surprised. Almost immediately the client called to ask
about selections of fabrics we had made for the previous project. She explained she was starting a new project
with another design team and they wanted to look at what she had done
before. I told her we would call back
with the requested pattern numbers before the close of business that day and,
with her permission, contact the other design team to offer any help they might
need from our office. The design team
never returned my telephone calls. I
didn’t hear from her for almost four weeks and thought she must have been well
on her way to a completed design for the new condo. The next day she walked into my office
without an appointment and in tears.
Fortunately I wasn’t working with another client and ushered her into my
office. The whole awful story spilled
out. She had gone with these designers
because they were referred by the realtor.
It’s a good reason. Many realtors
work with designers for referrals to purchasers. The new design team was young, excited about
the condo and persuaded her they could create the space of her dreams within
her budget. You know the rest. They wanted only to create what they felt was
right for the space and not the client.
They would not listen to any of her thoughts and continued to override
any attempt on her part to be involved in the process. Now, she was in my office crying on my arm
and wondering if I would work with her.
She was under a time deadline and needed a lot of decisions very
quickly. Of course we complied. We never spoke of the other design team and
her new project moved forward in a timely manner and with a minimum of
complications. She explained months
later the only reason she even considered coming back to us was the very
professional and prompt way in which we answered her request for fabric
information when she decided to work with someone else. She said she knew we would respond to her
current crisis in the same professional manner.
I was glad to help and also glad I didn’t try to burn a bridge with her
because she chose to try another interior design firm.
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