Because most homeowners think they don’t need design and professional help, it takes a highly patient person to gently persuade them that they do.
Customers with some knowledge can be difficult to deal with. A customer tells you, for instance, that they don’t need your assistance because this is their THIRD kitchen renovation that can make you want to rip out your hair. Kitchen designers are aware that it takes us a while to become proficient at what we do. 50 kitchens might be sold and overseen annually by a full-time kitchen designer. And because each one is different from the others, it calls for special problem-solving abilities as well as building and financial concerns. If the designs and financial trade-offs we suggested as seasoned professionals weren’t superior to what a newbie might suggest, we simply couldn’t be effective at our professions.
Here are a few amusing illustrations of kitchen designers and our struggle with patience:
One of our YouTube videos has a well-known kitchen design expert named Doug Mottershead. Doug should have patience as his middle name. When Doug and I first started working together 20 years ago, walk-in guests to the showroom frequently encountered the following:
“Hello, how may I be of service?
I would say hello to them.
The client would inform me that they had all of their measurements and desired to sit down right away and commission a design from me.
I would apologize and say, “I’m sorry, but I work by appointment and I need to come out to your home, examine the space, and measure it to make sure the design work I perform is professional. Can I schedule an appointment for you or provide information? ”
At this point, the customer would be irritated and frustrated and seeing Doug at his desk, he would immediately bypass me and ask Doug the same inquiry.
If Doug didn’t have a client in front of him right away, his response was always the same. “Oh, come sit down; I’d love to assist! Your name, please? ”
The two kitchen walls are depicted here with their dimensions, and I can see that one wall is 10 feet long and the other is 12 feet long. Should I input 120 and 144 inches if I need to enter the measurements into my computer in inches? ” this may be Doug’s opening measurement-related query. The customer would confidently respond, “Yes.”
“Is there a window we should install because neither of these walls has one?”, Doug might inquire next.
Oh, the ten-foot wall DOES have a window in the midst of it.
How large do you believe it to be?
Doug would kindly inquire.
The consumer would hesitantly respond, “Approximately this big,” while spreading his or her hands out about three feet apart.
Doug would enthusiastically respond, “That looks approximately 36 inches.” Is the window trim included in that? And should I position it at the wall’s center? “Doug would inquire apologetically next as doubt quickly spread across the client’s face.
The consumer would eventually ask the critical question, “Could you come out and measure? “, at some time during this exchange.
“Mrs. Jones, I’d love to come to your house and take measurements.
After answering, Doug would pull out his appointment book and set up the first two meetings.
Three months later, or so, I might see Doug and Mrs. Jones completing her cabinet order. “Mrs. Jones, YOU created a gorgeous kitchen! “Dough would yell. I would now lean over to look at Doug’s computer screen to see Mrs. Jones’s design. I would naturally smile in approval whenever I saw another distinctive Doug Mottershead kitchen design.
Doug has consistently established sales records at every organization he has worked for thanks to his incredible patience.
Mark “The Pickleman” Mitten is another person that features in one of our YouTube films. In our video below, Mark portrays “The Engineer.” Mark, a good friend of mine and former stand-up comedian, is quite hilarious and has heard tales about kitchen designers who have had their patience challenged. About fifteen years ago, Mark tormented Ed Sossich, a friend of mine who worked as a kitchen designer, using his sense of humor and details from my stories that he had overheard me discussing. Ed is presently the operation manager at Main Line Kitchen Design.
In a Lowes shop where Ed was employed as a kitchen designer fifteen years prior, Mark approached him while posing as a prospective customer.
At his workstation, Ed was greeted by Mark as follows:
“Hello, I’d like to request your help getting my kitchen design onto your computer as it appears that you aren’t doing anything. I already know all the measurements, and since I’ve designed kitchens before and I work in real estate, I don’t require any design assistance from a designer. I’d also like to speak with whoever’s in charge when you’re finished putting MY design on your computer to receive a discount.
As Ed finished his planned statement, Mark saw a gradual change in his demeanor and the color of his face turning red. Mark blurted out just as Ed was about to react after he patiently waited for Ed to process everything. “I’m sorry, guy; I couldn’t help but bust your stones because I’m a friend of Paul McAlary. I am aware that you share his friendship.
Actually, Mark’s joke is not unusual. Sometimes kitchen designers may leave voicemails for other designers they haven’t spoken to in a while, beginning with a dissatisfying message and then disclosing their identity. It never gets old to test the patience of another designer since as designers, we constantly receive calls and voicemails that strain our patience. Similar to coaxing a guard at Buckingham Palace to grin.