Sorry folks, I can't keep up.

As is usual as a H&M sale period winds down, I am overwhelmed with emails, forum questions, phone calls in addition to the attention I have to give to customers in the store. As a result, you will see longer response times to questions and quotes. Once we are past the sale period it will calm down and we can resume normal responses. At any given time I may have sixty to seventy email conversations going on, please don't make me hunt for your address if requesting samples or tax my memory trying to remember what frames and leathers you are interested in. I often have to go back forty to fifty emails to dig that info out, it takes longer to do that than order your samples or answer your question. The shorter your email, the more likely you will get a quick reply. Long ramblings ones get passed over to come back to later. I cannot not rush. Rushing creates mistakes. Mistakes cost money.

For example.

If I get an email from "skatergirl@gmail.com" that says: "What nail to you think will look best on the chair I want?". I cannot answer that because I don't know who you are or what we are talking about.

Instead write "This is Susan Jones, on the 2038 Austin Chair I would like to buy in Cameo Stone Burnished, what nail trim would you recommend?" Now I have your name, the style, the leather and can reply back.

And rather than type "I'd like to see a sample of Cavalier Molasses, do you still have my address?" Just type out your address...

Help me to help you, be efficient and communicative in you contact posts, then I can move quickly on them and reply faster.

I apologize to everyone looking for answers to their questions and trying to crunch in on the orders for the H&M sale period, but I simply cannot keep up with the inquiries. Last night I worked in the store from 7 a.m. to midnight trying to respond to all the questions and still I was unable to get to all the emails, custom quotes, design advice, etc. It's just me folks, no employees - and when these H&M sale periods come down to the last few days I get swamped. Keep in mind too, I have customers that come in my store and can be there four to five hours asking questions, which takes up huge blocks of time. I also field a barrage of phone calls (the average phone call is 18 to 22 minutes per each). So yes, if you call you are very likely to get the voice mail, and there is nothing I can do to speed that up. I will get to the call-backs when I can and it may be 24 hours or so before I do.

At least with emails and forum questions I can work into the night on those whereas phone calls are done during the store business hours only. Sometimes that is a better way to go.

I know what you are all thinking...why doesn't he hire someone to help? Believe me - it has crossed my mind many times. The short answer is I cannot afford an employee. And to extrapolate that further, if I raise my margins and make more profit per sale, then I probably COULD afford that employee, but then you will be paying more for your furniture. Service or Price? If I charged 10% more I would have that extra $ 60K a year for an employee, but then the question becomes will YOU - my customer - be willing to pay 10% more on the items you buy in order to have the phone answered better and quicker reply times and perhaps the store being open on Mondays/Sundays with longer store hours during the week? It the age old problem of a very small business.

For now I will keep doing what I am doing, but I would like to get feedback on whether you would prefer better and quicker service, or have the lowest price possible. You can have one or the other, but you can't have both!

Duane, I think most folks understand, at least the ones that have been on this forum awhile and know how you run your business. The smart thing for folks to do is to start doing their research early and have their decisions made by time February and August come around. Frankly the savings is marginal during the sales period if you think about it. H&M price increased go into effect in January and July, and they have their sales in February and August. This year you would have saved 2% over buying a piece in February instead of buying the first few weeks of January. Your prices are so good already, I would not squabble over 2%.:)

I am actually all caught up as of Friday Night! Or at least I think I am. It's possible I could have skipped a quote or a question, so if you have an unanswered one please bump it up or repost, it's entirely possible I could have missed it.

Duane,
Is the "sale" that ends March 7 the same as the Town and Country Program? I have read about the program(married leathers and so on) but am unsure if the Feb and Aug sales and the Town and Country program are the same.
Thanks much.

Duane,

In general, there is truth in your statement that one cannot have quicker, better service and the lowest prices. I will pick one nit, however. All things being relatively equal, your level of service, including response times during the sale period, far exceeds that of others with whom I have done business.

I am not saying the others provide lousy service. I make every attempt at keeping business local. I especially like giving business to the homegrown, independent business owner. In my case, the homegrown fella has expanded so much that he's now too big for his britches, the result being negative for both service and price point. Not lousy, but not as good.

Additionally, Duane, you provide an educational service. I definitely have not received that anywhere else. Finding a business owner who provides that is a huge bonus for which I am most appreciative.

Just my two cents.

TXCajun

The 5% sale excludes pieces in the Town and Country Program which are already discounted around 20%.

Thanks TXCajun, I appreciate it!

We are an instant-response society now, and during these busy periods folks will send me an email (or phone call) and may think I'm at my computer all day waiting for them to come in (or answer the phone) and expect a reply instantly or quickly. Often I'm in the store waiting on customers or outside unloading/unpacking a truck. It's fairly common for some people to call repeatedly, like 3x over an hour and they won't leave a voice mail for me to call them back, or they send an email and then call an hour later wanting to know why I haven't responded to it? I understand they are anxious, but there is only one of me to go around - lol. If an semi pulls up and drops 14 pieces of Hancock and Moore upholstery in my parking lot, I have to attend to that rather than answer emails or take phone calls. If I have customers in the store, then I have to wait on them first as well. So, I try to get back to everyone the same day, but often it goes to the next day when it's super-busy.

Custom requests often take a lot of time. Not so much on my part, but from my suppliers and manufacturers. For example, if someone wants to know how much it would cost to add 8" to the length of a Hancock and Moore sofa, I have to submit that request to them and should that come in on a Friday morning, it likely will be the following Tuesday before I find out. There are no spreadsheets at Customer Service detailing custom work, it has to be taken out to the Production Manager and then in turn goes out to the Pattern Maker in the Frame Shop and they have meeting to discuss. It's quite involved and they are not taken lightly.

But the business is fun - I enjoy it, and take a lot of pride in my business. I'm pretty good at what I do and if I don't know an answer to something, I can usually get it with a bit of digging. One of the standing jokes at Hancock and Moore is that I might know more overall about their entire operation than any of them do individually. While I doubt I do, I always like to hear them tell me that!