|
|
Post by plantsnobin on Apr 9, 2008 21:18:20 GMT -5
why I hate dealing with customers. Lady pulls up and asks if I have impatiens. I say no, I don't grow annuals, I only sell perennials. She says 'Oh, are they annuals? Which ones come up every year?' Another lady comes today wanting burning bush, which is invasive in Indiana, and 'that bush with yellow flowers'. She drove past the parking area, up to our house, then didn't even go to the house door, but I find her in our garage just standing there like she can't figure out why there wouldn't be plants in there! I am just not fit to try to run a retail business. Maybe I should just go wholesale only and not have to deal with people. Sorry to rant, I'm done now. Karen
|
|
|
|
Post by landarc on Apr 9, 2008 23:15:38 GMT -5
But, if you are wholesale, you still have customers. And they still act like customers. Just customers with a little knowledge.
|
|
|
|
Post by plantsnobin on Apr 10, 2008 5:51:45 GMT -5
True, but the folks I would sell to would know the difference between annual & perennial. I wouldn't mind people asking for annuals if my sign said Padgett's Greenhouse, but my sign says 'Padgett's Perennials & Gifts'. I really like to propagate plants, but I am just not a natural born salesperson. At least wholesale customers wouldn't be snooping in my garage. That lady was just wierd.
|
|
|
|
Post by MawkHawk on Apr 10, 2008 6:22:15 GMT -5
Maybe a simple name change would do the trick. Instead of calling yourself "Padgett's Perennials & Gifts" how about something like "Padgett's Plants That Come Back Every Year And Not Plants That Grow Only One Summer Then Die And Which We Do Not Keep In Our Garage, Plus Some Gifts"?
|
|
|
|
Post by lavandulagirl on Apr 10, 2008 6:30:46 GMT -5
That's a good one, Mawkhawk... or maybe, in the interest of conserving sign paint, "Padgett's Perennials and Gifts, Selling to Non-Stupid People Since Yesterday" Of course, the ones who walk into your garage generally have no sense of boundary, and think they're smart, so that sign won't keep them away. Make sure you keep the door from garage to house locked, or you may find them availing themselves of a snack or a shower! Geez...
|
|
|
|
Post by kctomato on Apr 10, 2008 9:41:04 GMT -5
Karen
I would put up a sign that says "we refuse the right to sell to Kentuckians"
off course their is the one small problem of them being able to read it ;D
oh and Canadians too
|
|
|
|
Post by plantsnobin on Apr 10, 2008 10:50:19 GMT -5
I like Mawk's sign. But I have to say that over the years I have enjoyed my Kentuckian customers. We are on the way to Patoka Lake, and once in a while a fisherman will pull in on Sunday evening and buy plants for his wife on his way home. I would welcome our friends from the north. Sometimes people from very far away stop by, just traveling through our little nothing of a town. The garage lady was from Bloomington, home of Indiana University. I think that explains it.
|
|
|
|
Post by PapaVic on Apr 10, 2008 13:16:54 GMT -5
why I hate dealing with customers ... I am just not fit to try to run a retail business. Maybe I should just go wholesale only and not have to deal with people. Sorry to rant, I'm done now. Karen Karen, I've been in owner/operated retail, too. And yes, also in Southern Indiana. Whatever you do, don't get a temporary portable lighted sign at the end of your driveway  and especially not one with the word "Special" "Buy One Get One Free" or anything similar  ... what we used to call the "ASSHOLE MAGNET"  pv |
|
|
|
Post by landarc on Apr 10, 2008 15:26:39 GMT -5
hmmm, I am a business owner and I hate sales and service. Fact is, I hate getting clients, or doing business in general. I do like doing design work though. And there is that whole cashing checks thing I like so much that makes the other necessary evils so necessary.
|
|
and especially not one with the word "Special" "Buy One Get One Free" or anything similar 
... what we used to call the "ASSHOLE MAGNET" 