Quilt consult with a potential customer

[Sharond]

My DH suggested I ask all of you what you do in this situation. Last week I got a phone call from a lady who was referred to be by another customer. She wanted to know if I could get a quilt done for her by a certain date, no problem. She then set up a time to bring it by. Once she got here, she wanted lots of quilting ideas, and looked through alot of my books. I wrote down what she wanted where, thread, etc. Gave her a estimate, then she tells me she would let me know today. This was after spending over 1/2 an hour with her. So she packs up her quilt, and backing and leaves. She called back this morning, to tell me that she decided not to have me quilt it. However, she has another quilt she might be interested in having me quilt. Now she wants to bring that one over for another consultation.

How many times do you meet with a potential customer, with out getting a quilt from them before you charge for the consulting time? I have been quilting customer quilts for 4 1/2 years and have never had this problem. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Quilting Heidi]

Sharon,

If it were me I'd probably give her one more chance and if after that I got the same response I'd tell her I was booked. Burn me once shame on you, burn me twice same on me.

[Jhend]

I don't have a very good feeling about this customer. I think she could be trouble.

[Matt Sparrow]

I offer free consultations up to 15 minutes where we discuss the quilts final destination and emotional attachment to determine a pricing point. The quilt is then left with me and I decide how to quilt it once the quilt 'talks to me'.

Anything more is a $45 Consultation up to one hour where I then have the choice of taking that amount off the final invoice if I want to score bonus points for being a nice guy.

You may want to tell the customer that consultations are free 'IF' the quilt is left with you to quilt. Otherwise the consultation will cost (x)$$$.

[lindasewsit]

hummmm... this is interesting! I've only had one person come back and get their quilt after they left it with me. This did not surprise me though. It was a very young couple and this quilt is something that their grandma had made and wanted quilted for a baby gift.... I think I scared them away with my price ( which was NOT high) like around $70)after they got home and thought about it. Don't know what they expected...but apparently not what they got! It was fine with me! Wasn't sure I was going to get paid anyway!!! Matt... I like the way you handle yours.

[ffq-lar]

I applaud Matt's answer--great from a business standpoint and also on a person-to-person level. The customer knows you mean business.

I had this happen to me once.

She is (was) a regular. She brought a nice twin-size for her DGD supposedly to leave to be quilted. She wanted me to draw designs on the quilt so she could "envision" them. I don't usually draw on the quilt--I draw a potential design on paper for them to consider.

I drew a section of sashing and border plus a few motifs for the overall in the center of the quilt.

After discussion she said "Oh, I'm sure I can do this myself at home."

She didn't even say thank you--just rolled the quilt up and headed out the door.

Here's the kicker--I drew on her quilt with a purple air-erase so when she got home all the marks were gone!!:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P

Sort of "karmic-al", huh?

[lindasewsit]

Oh LINDA!!!!!!!!! That is toooooo good!!! hahahahha:P:P:P:P:P

[Guest Linda S]

There are just too many people in the world who want something for nothing. I'd charge her for the second consultation.

Linda

[Primitive1]

I agree with both Matt and Heidi....and Linda I just love your story!!!!

[LibbyG]

What a hoot! Follow Matt's suggestion. But this time, I wouldn't have any books for her to look over for designs. I'd just say she saw them before.

[Ferret]

I think I would be too busy to fit her in. Sorry, but I don't get good feelings about this one.

It does depend how much you need her as a customer.

Ferret

[Dave-Jane]

I think everyone here has great advice, I would let her know too that if you don't leave your quilt the consults cost--this much. When I had the Autobody shop we would charge for the estimate and refund that amount when the job was done. Just for that purpose. She may just be pricing you to compare with another.

Linda, Linda, Linda----Ha Hah Ha!!!!

[witha'K'quilting]

linda... you are too funny!

i like how matt handles this! I have quilted a few quilts for others...and fortunately...they let me 'do my thing!" to the quilt. i love that! if i do something outside the agreed upon price...then it is 'on me'.

but for this customer...i have to say you have certainly been given good advice. stay clear!

[francine]

:P LINDA YOU ROCK!!:P

[Sharond]

All of you have given great advice/ideas. My DH thinks I should follow Matt's advice. So when my potential customer calls back I will do as Matt suggested.

DH started laughing when he read Matt's part about the "quilt talking to me". My husband is a math and science guy, so quilts talking to us is not scientific.

Wish me luck in dealing with this potential customer. I have a feeling I will need it.

[Merryjo2003]

Matt, that is a great idea. I piece with a group that always asks me how to quilt their finished quilt top, acting as if they are going to have me quilt it. Then they take it to one of the other girls to longarm because she's new at it and they think it will cost less. Next thing I know, the longarmer is at my house asking me how to do this or that because that's what the gal at class said that I ADVISED and wants her to quilt it just like I would. No more Mrs. Nice. They know I have the experience, but try to go cheap and have her do what I can. It doesn't work well and is rather unfair to the quilter as well as to me.

[LFQuilts]

Sharon,

Several of us on the forum are math/science types as well as quilters. While your husband may roll his eyes at talking quilts, he will understand 'beautiful equations', symmetry, and things like fourier series. If you tell him that the pieced quilt top represents the first couple of terms in a series and that the quilting represents all of the other terms, he might begin to get a clue. The first terms in a series are ususally the major contributors but all of those other terms yield the 'exact', beautiful solution. So our waiting for a quilt to talk is really our subconcious solving the 'rest of the problem.' It's a bit of a stretch, but it works for me. The rest of you techies can jump in:)

And by the way, I appreciate the suggestions on how to handle consults. I desperately need this info. I have a new customer who wants me to piece and quilt a king-size quilt for her but is dragging her feet on providing me needed info to get going. I need to explain to her that other jobs that come while she is dragging her feet will a) get priority and cost her money is she doesn't make up her mind before fabric prices spike.

Lynn

[quiltjunkie]

I'm with Matt on this one, a new customer gets 30 mins to discuss what they want done, this helps me get a feel for them for the future. I just recently had a woman with a 36"X 36" baby quilt and she was unreal with what she wanted. (Not even going into that). It is a $50 flat chg for this and it was a RUSH, 1 week and I have 50 quilts waiting to be done..I tried to refer her to the computerized LA gal but she wouldn't budge.

I did the quilt and of course she just called me back with another baby quilt on Sun. I told her I couldn't get to it before mid Jan and she should call the other gal...some people you just don't want.

[Grace]

My guess is she is shopping for ideas and lowest price. I think I would be conveniently very busy each time she calls. If you have caller ID, this is helpful to screen out people you just don't want to speak with at the moment. If you 'forget' to return her call, so be it. Eventually she will get the message.

[sspingler]

I agree........charge for second consult.

And the "other" quilter........let her do her own consult. That's part of what she gets paid for.

[April W]

Last summer on a beautiful day that my husband and I had all to ourselves I had a lady call about a quilt. I didn't know her, but she was the Aunt of one of my regulars so I gave her a time and she came right over. She also brought 2 friends along. She brought this gorgeous, perfectly pieced top....bright fabrics with black background. My husband entertained the friends outside with the flowers, goldfish, dog etc. And I spent over an hour going over designs, threads and a price with the Aunt. Instead of leaving the top she took it with her to buy backing fabric. Never heard from her again.

Now I try to keep it to 10-15 minutes. Because most people either know what they want or they just want you to make it beautiful. Spending more time or giving them more choices doesn't always help.

[quiltaholi_518]

I would for sure ask "I am just curious, why have you decided against me quilting your other quilt? That may help me in a direction for your next quilt..." Was it price? Did you suggest something she doesn't like? I would insist on knowing before continuing to spin my wheels....

[PattyJo]

Linda R - You are certainly one of my most entertaining friends. I'm going to remember how you handled this one.

This has happened to me twice, the first one was a new customer who had her daughter bring over the quilt and I was to call her with an estimate. Well, it was 11" squares on point ( Queen Size) with no setting triangles on the edges, no border and she wanted me to bind it too. The quilting would have been about $75 for an all over but the binding was going to be about $400 (can't remember exactly). Well after I called her, her daughter was here within 15 min to pick the top up. I probably spent at least 1 hr measuring the outside perimeter to figure the cost to bind it and she told me the last quilter she used only charged her $30 to do another quilt which was just like this. I feel blessed to have had that quilt leave my house.

the second time, was a customer that has used me before, and she had a Christmas Tree Skirt and couldn't believe that I would charge my minimum ($50) to do it. But she has brought me other quilts since.

As someone else said, there are a lot of people who want something for nothing. So we have to be the business person and set our boundary's.

[njquiltergirl]

The next time she calls to make that appointment, I'd put her off for a while. I'd say I was booked from now to ______ . Then ask if she wants to call you then or if you should call her when you free up.

When you talk next, I'd make the appointment, then ask how it worked out with the other quilt...then ask why she did not use you. Let her talk, then ask if she will be using your services or is looking for some ideas at this point.

I'd be nice. I'd also be clear. It is YOUR time. If you are slow and have the time to spend with her...go for it. Other wise, schedule carefully.

Just my two cents! Good luck!!

[shelleywa]

I can so relate to all the comments above. When I first started longarming four years ago, I spent 2 hours measuring and discussing 3 quilts with a customer, NONE of which came back for me to actually quilt! I was surprised as I knew the lady quite well as she'd been a student in one of my beginner patchwork classes. She also saide she had saved some money to get the quilts done. I did see her much later on and she said that she was going to do them herself.

Another lady came with a quilt that she'd originally started to handquilt but had made a mess of it ( her assessment!), so had ripped out the stitches and brought it to me. It was basically a sheet of fabric with some appliques randomly sewn down on it. I felt the warning bells ringing as I looked at it! She explained that "all she wanted was for me to quilt a heart here and there"!!!!! So I explained that it wouldn't look right, would puff out all over the place etc etc, so it may be better if she hand quilted it in a grid pattern. I even told her I was teaching a hand quilting class at the local shop at that time, but I never heard from her again. And did I forget to mention that the backing had been machine stitched to the wadding in two places? After these two episodes, I gave myself permission to say 'no'! And I also try to keep my consults down to about 1/2 hr, usually mid to late afternoon by which time I've usually finished my quilting time for that day. This seems to work for me.

Shelley