Showing fabrics in the home and why it was important to my business

[Steve at Silverstone Fabrics]

Hey Gang, Here is my views of why going to a customers home was important to me and my business.

As son of an upholsterer and upholstery shop owner, I always thought that selling fabrics was part of all upholstery shop's income source but right out of college my 1st job in the "real world" was being a fabric rep for Dogwood Fabrics out of Atlanta....I learned that this was not always the case.

In this job, I was exposed to upholsterers that had a "mercenary" mind set.....they did not want to sell fabrics or help someone design the den, they just wanted to have the most efficient upholstery shop in their area. They wanted to upholster for 8 to 9 hours per day and go home.

After I left Dogwood and took over my father's shop, I followed the path he had established over the previous 25 years......have 2 upholsterers on staff, a sewer and I was encouraged to learn how to cut.

Besides cutting, my job was to give "free in home estimates".........and after a few too many wasted estimates, I knew that I must master the art of the pre-sell.

When someone would call for and estimate, here are the points I would make before I invested my time in going to their home:
----"Are you calling around and getting multiple phone estimates? "If you are, let me explain a little about our industry. We are not like plumbers and electricians, each shop makes their own standards, so just because someone is $100 less than my quote does not mean that our sofas are going to be exactly the same, except cheaper(I would explain the difference between reupholstery and recovering). I would ask, " Is getting the cheapest price possible or getting the best value (price and quality)available the most important thing to you?".......... In the opening few moments of each phone call I wanted to establish myself as a expert in my industry and I wanted to set a high set of expectations, in my customers mind, just in case they did make any other phone calls to my competitors.
----At this point I would build a picture of the piece(s) of furniture in my "minds eye" of what they are looking to have upholstered (please be sure to ask who made the piece....if it is Rooms to Go, start your exit plan of getting of the phone but if they say Century, Baker or Henredon......you know they spent big $ to purchase the piece and you should easily be way under any replacement price).
----Now I would give them an estimate based on one of my instock fabrics (my fabrics would range from $8 to $25/yd)....most of the time I used $16/yd as my base. Now I would ask if this number was within their expectations....If yes, I would move to set the appointment as soon as possible....this phone technique is my pre-sell
----When I got to their house (please be on time), I had a professional suitcase full  of the samples of my stock fabrics. I would then start my "show". I had the customer go very quickly through the samples and if something "catches your eye" put it to the side....I did not want a yes or no from them at this point. As they were going through  the samples, I was thinking of which fabric looks the best in the room, which fabric was the best for me to sell (best mark up) and if I was lucky they were both the same fabric. Now I started the elimination process (I always left the top three sample until the end) . At the end of the process (if I did it correctly), the customer was positive they were in charge of making the final selection.
----Now it is show time.... I give them a "bottom line" price (fabric, labor, tax, pick up and delivery), ask for  a half deposit and tell them when you will be back
----Here is a nice little trick, in a side pocket of my sample case....I had samples of remnants (1 yd to 10 yards) and I would only show these when I was positive that the piece was small enough to be used on the piece they were asking about.......it was always a wonderful thing to sell a 2 yard remnant for $30/ yard

----The more work you do on the presell the easier the in home sell is. At the time of my retirement, most of my calls were under 1 hour in the home.

I know that most of shop owners that post here are "class A" upholsterers and businessmen (and businesswomen) but most do not stock as much fabric as my shop did.....does that make me and my ideas better? Of course not! That is the wonderful thing about being self employed, there is no set formula. Find out which part of our industry has the most to give you and then figure out how to get your share.

The way I wrote my business plan,  I supplied an upholstery service to the public so I could sell more fabric.

I hope this has been helpful. Steve

[MinUph]

Nicely written Steve.

[Cheryl]

That is an excellent way to  deal with it if you're a large enough shop. I do  see tips and hints in there that are adaptable.  Thank you for sharing.   :)

[mike802]

After I left Dogwood and took over my father's shop, I followed the path he had established over the previous 25 years......have 2 upholsterers on staff, a sewer and I was encouraged to learn how to cut.

Steve: You sound like an excellent salesman, something every upholstery shop can use, unfortunately not all of us have the "gift".   I have read a lot about being a good salesman, even applied some of the techniques suggested, but some techniques, I am not comfortable with and will not use. I like to treat my customers in a way that I would like to be treated, and being able to sell without coming on like a salesman is an art all of its own.  You were, or are lucky to have been in an area that could support an upholstery shop the size you mention.  Where I live most shops are mom and pop outfits at most, but generally they are a one person operation.  Back in the eighty's I had four people on staff including myself, one of those people was a dedicated salesman with the ability to upholster when not out on a call.  With that kind of staff, I could afford to have someone doing free in home estimates, but today my shop is down to a one man operation, like it was when I first went into business, that means in order to offer free in home estimates I have to close shop and that is just to costly.  Although the idea of a pre sell is an excellent one.