Page 28 - CMA PROfiles Winter 2018

20
Anniversar 20 YEARS 20 YEARS 20TH ANNIVERSARY THE VERY VERSATILE WOODWORKER
GOING
GOING
th
STRONG
Anniversar
STRONG
Celebrating
Celebrating
1998 2018
1998 2018

Most people fell into one of two camps.
Camp 1: The customer was bad news and he shouldn’t do
In the end, the lesson learned was: don’t business with her.
sell tables with pointy oval centers. If a Camp 2: The table had a flaw, her expectations are “entirely

client doesn’t ask for it, and isn’t paying for reasonable, and you made a mistake trying to pass it off
it, and it might cause trouble, don’t do it. to her.”

Both of the reactions were valid, he wrote in a follow-up column,
and they weren’t mutually exclusive. “Difficult people often deliv-
er information that you would rather not receive, but it doesn’t
accuracy. Is there a better way to build that design next time? mean that they should be ignored,” he wrote.
No, it’s just a difficult detail, and there’s no better way to do it As for the Very Picky Customer, while Downs took issue with the
than we had tried the first time.”
attitude she had brought to their exchanges, he gave her high
• With that question answered, they turned to the sales marks in other respects. “She did one thing perfectly: she let her
department. “Why was the table designed that way? Did the standards be known from the beginning,” he wrote. “She was
client ask for it? Not really, it turned out: the salesman just entirely honest about her expectations and crystal clear about
thought it looked cool. Did we get extra money for all of that where she thought we had fallen down.”
extra coolness? No, but we did get the sale. Which beats not
having any work to do at all.”
Join us in Denver in March
• “In the end, the lesson learned was: don’t sell tables with
pointy oval centers. If a client doesn’t ask for it, and isn’t Hear more of Paul Downs’ take on
paying for it, and it might cause trouble, don’t do it.” running a small business.

THE PUBLIC WEIGHS IN YOU CAN REGISTER NOW AT
For Downs, the discussion continued after his post was www.cabinetmakers.org/denver
published, and the comments rolled in.

26 PROFILES WINTER 2018