Sometimes the Travelling Trini does rather domestic things.

This weekend involved buying a new ‘sectional’. (A chesterfield with a curve for those Canadian’s that are following along.)

Maybe I am thick or I am giving away the next great business idea here.

The Travelling Trini’s lovely wife and I visited several stores, some with international brand-name recognition and requested to get a price on our desired combination of ‘ends’, ‘chaise’s’ and ‘fabric.’ I’m guessing that the average furniture sales person gave out 30 similar quotations on the same day.

Such volume, one would think, would warrant a rather disciplined process that would do several things:

• Capture our name and phone # (so someone could follow-up)
• Capture the product configuration and special pricing quoted (so someone could confirm the price offered)
• Project an air of “We sell furniture” professionalism.

Didn’t happen.

We received quotations on a business card, an outdated brochure and a photocopy of a page designed for internal sales orientation.

In a competitive marketplace (these places were all on the same street), one would think sales rep would leave themselves a phone # and name to do some sales follow up. What else would they do while looking out into that empty store of smelly leather listening to some bad FM hitz-pop radio?

Now that I think about it, the price quotations when buying my last car consisted of hand-written price on the back of a business card belonging to someone else other than the person I spoke to.

I guess the world continues to buy furniture with this sort of lame process; so no one changes anything.

Be Sociable, Share!

•