Two Recliners, two different makers

[drcollie]

I have a couple who were on a tight budget, but wanted two decent recliner for both herself and her husband. Being price friendly was the major factor in their decision, yet they didn't want to buy the typical made-in-China product that is out there in most stores. The Bradington -Young # 4101 Alta Recliner (a clone of the 1044 H&M Sadler) I had in the store in the promotional leather was the target piece, and they needed a pair. This was priced in my store at $ 1,424 and met their price target. Fir her great, but him not so well. One thing I look at when customers are trying out recliners is how they fit in them, and their facial expressions, too. I could tell he was too big for this piece and wasn't comfortable. He could make do with it, but it wasn't right for his body type. Now at this point, she was sold on them and had I been an aggressive salesman I could have written up the deal and been done because she was ready to do the order. But that's not how I work and I said to him "You're not comfortable are you?". I could see he was pinched in the hips and his shoulders were hitting the upper pillow wrong as well.

This is dangerous territory to explore because the recliner I knew would fit him was a Hancock and Moore # 1076 Parkway and it was going to be almost double the price of the B-Y, even in a promotional leather. And what's worse, I didn't have one for him to try out. A lot of times at this point customers will walk and I lose the sure sale on the pair. Still, when you know something isn't working for someone and you have a solution you have to speak up, that's what separates an order-taker from a master dealer that knows his product lines. My suggestion didn't initially go over well, because of the price and because it was also a leap of faith for them. But ultimately I said "It's going to work - if you can find you way clear for the extra cost of the H&M you will be happy with the result."

So after a few hours, they decided to try it, if I could find leathers to reasonably match and the hides had to be in tier 1 or promotional. That was another challenge. In the end, we took the 9021-86 Promo leather from B-Y and used the Document Merlot from H&M and here's the result of the combo. I think they came out well considering they were from two different makers. There was a slight color tonal difference, but not too much.



We delivered them this past Saturday. I told my delivery guys that they had bought the one sight unseen, and if he really didn't like it just bring it back to the store. They got to their house, put the recliners in the room and once he sat it in he looked at my delivery guys and said "Its perfect - you guys can leave now!"

I always love it when a plan comes together!

[HowardRubin]

Wow good job Duane. When I looked at the pictures I had to smile.