Its been a heck of week at the store. Suppliers are all over the place on missing times on order deliveries due to lack of raw materials and its making me crazy. I'll have what I am sure are good promise dates for customers and call and check 10 minutes before I fax and order in, and by the time they actually key the order we've lost the leather hides or there wasn't enough physical inventory to start with, which makes me look really bad when I have to call the customer back a week later and say 'its going to be another month'. Hate it.

But we're a hostage of the Recession and middling economy. A few years ago a supplier would have 10,000 s.f. of leather in stock of a particular color, now they keep lower inventories and might have 800 s.f. in stock (the average sofa takes about 330 s.f.). A dealer orders a sofa, loveseat and chair and its all gone. Argh! So I continue to try to do my best and be as accurate as possible at time of order, but I can't control the distribution or pull any strings to make things happen when delivery times slip....and I appreciate everyone's patience and good manners.

Speaking of good manners, I had two customers this summer that became adversarial with me and were shocked when I told them they would have to shop elsewhere. Respect is a 2-way street. One customer berated me for hours on the price of a Royal Pedic box and mattress over a two day period. How many times do you have to repeat "this is the best price i can give you" for it to sink in? When they get personal then its time for them to move on....(remarks that if I can afford an iPhone, then I can afford to give them a better price, etc.). Another customer insisted on calling the factory for every question, and then telling ME how I would handle the transaction, samples, cuttings, and guarantees that they demanded. Ahhhh....nope. Seeya! Poor manners, shouting, insults and threats will result in their order being cancelled/refunded immediately. Doesn't happen often, but I don't need the business bad enough to be verbally abused by anyone.

And speaking of Business, all in all I hear from the long-faced Sales Reps is that stores in general are having a hard time with sales and clammed up buying new stock, and manufacturers are still scrapping for new orders. I'm still (+) sales over the prior years and the reps seemed shocked when I give them a stock order, so I guess I'm doing something right. Its a pretty easy formula actually: 1) Don't put your business in debt, 2) Know your product line and if you don't know something, find out 3) Treat customers as friends 4) Don't get greedy on profits. 5) Be honest.