Working on the Pain
Part 2 of our ‘Industry Pain’ Series
In my last post I talked about the things that research has shown to be big obstacles to selling more custom framing. If you’ve been to my latest seminar, you know that these obstacles are areas of “pain” for our brains and the human brain is wired to avoid pain at all costs. Because our industry presents several areas of “pain” to potential customers, it could very well be that we could attract more of the 92% of shoppers who steer clear of custom framing and get more business from the 8% who buy custom framing.
Last time I listed the 4 obstacles that produce the pain. I have received a huge amount of feedback about the need to change how our industry is perceived. Because of this, I thought it might be good start a dialog on each of these 4 areas. The first obstacle that many perceive to be a problem with custom framing is:
CUSTOM FRAMING IS PERCEIVED TO BE A TIME-CONSUMING PROCESS
In this busy world, people avoid things that take too much time. Everything today is about getting what you want when you want it and getting it immediately. If customers think that designing a custom framing project takes too long, they will put it off until they forget about it. Think about how many times someone has told you they’ve had something they’ve wanted to frame but have never found the time. It seems to happen a lot. If the process didn’t have the perception of being so time-consuming maybe we would see more work coming in….
My company, Framing Concepts, has been working on several ideas over the past couple years to combat this “pain.” I’m more than willing to share those ideas and what we have learned from the changes we have made, but first I’d like to hear about what you have done. How have you addressed this issue of being too time consuming? If you haven’t tried anything, maybe you have some ideas about it?
Please comment back on what you think and I’ll include your thoughts for others to read. I’ll also add some ideas about what I think can be done. If this subject continues to gather a lot of feedback, I’ll keep going through the three other areas of pain. Solving these issues is vital to our industry. Business models have never gone through as much change as they have in the past 3 years. The “old way” of doing business is never coming back. Almost every industry is faced with creating a new model that gives the customer what they want. If industries fail to change their ways of doing business, if they fail to listen to what customers are demanding, they will become obsolete. Industries that listen will create new models that can attract more business than ever.
Are we listening?
Ken and Readers,
We must adapt to the changing market in a way that benefits the client first. Based on the economy and a personal health issue last year, I closed my storefront frame shop and fine art gallery. Once the health returned, I changed the business model to one of more service.
Now I offer a MOBILE business. I discuss the piece, pull samples, drive to the client’s home/office/meeting place and design with them in the space the art will occupy. I take the art back to the warehouse/shop, frame and then deliver and hang it.
The client’s “pain” of too time consuming is greatly reduced by removing the obstacles of loading up the art in their car, driving around to find the “right” shop, and picking it up later. The client’s time in the process is reduced by more than 50% (in our busy city). And they can still pay by credit card, accepted via the iPhone!
There are trade-offs however, the most important being lack of visibility. This kind of service must be augmented by maintaining a communication with your clients, which we do through a regular emailed newsletter. And it doesn’t hurt to pick up the phone now and then 🙂
Sarah Adams, CPF
AV Framing Services
Indianapolis, IN
http://www.avframing.com