5 out of 6 have gotten back to me, 2 of them are only interested in the free quotation a.k.a complete time wasters, the other 2 still have many months before they will actually get their keys and the last one finally responded to my email after 6 days.
The second time waster I have the unfortunate privilege of handling wrote in with a list of renovation work he wants done, asking me to provide him with "different options" in the quotation. From the way his renovation requirement was written, it is pretty fucking obvious he has already consulted another Interior Designer before writing in, so I didn't bother with the "different options" he requested because if the customer isn't sincere, then why the fuck should I put in so much effort. When I asked him if he would be interested to come down to our showroom so I can run through the quotation with him...
"Can you email me the quotation first? I will make an appointment with you once I have seen the quotation."
... Emailed him the quotation, told him about it on Whatsapp, he doesn't even bother to reply, no "Thanks" , just 2 blue ticks to indicate that he has read my message.
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| You're Welcome! |
I will be meeting one client on Friday and another tentatively on Sunday, I have duty on Saturday as well, so this means that I will be reporting to work for 3 days straight, it really isn't very bad but I have been spoiled by my current duty schedule that the thought of having to report to work 3 days in a row suddenly sounds like the most inhumane thing the company can do to me.
Recently, a new but very experienced Sales Designer joined the company and I learned from him that back in his previous company, the designers were only expected to report to work only 2 to 3 times a month, which made me wonder, what the fuck was ID3 doing making everyone report to work 5 to 6 days a week?
Anyways, the client I will be meeting on Friday informs me that she will be getting her keys in 6 months time, I went to dig up some information about her Executive Condominium online and learn that the project's T.O.P date is in 2019, so either the website isn't giving me an accurate information or somebody is a dirty little liar. I'm still gonna meet her anyway, even if she is guilty of fabricating lies, would be a good virgin experience.
It is both exciting and nerve wrecking to finally be meeting my own customers, I always imagine them as pompous assholes, that is my default assumption of all my customers, they are all pompous asshole who will use the line...
"Watch your mouth! The customer is always right."
... whenever they want to demand for something ridiculous, until I actually meet them and am proven wrong.
I actually served 2 walk-in customers a few days ago and that was a complete disaster. Not to say they were horrible individuals who need to be stoned to death, they are a regular married couple in their 60s, but the flow of the consultation was just such a mess.
They came into the showroom telling me that only wanted to take a look, so I just followed them around the showroom in case they had any questions that needed answering, every time I asked them...
"So you guys are not looking for any renovation works?"
... they kept telling me they only wanted to take a look, so I just treated them as a bunch of passers-by who probably just had dinner nearby and only came in to walk the calories away, it was only about 10 minutes later did they finally tell me that they wanted to do some minor renovation works to their daughter's bedroom. They also requested to take a look at our company's portfolio, so I grab an iPad and sat down with them as they looked through the pictures on the tablet. I tried to introduce some of the works to them, but since I wasn't actually familiar with the works, I really had nothing to talk about other then the obvious...
"This is a study table, that is a bed frame, this is an iPad, I am a boy."
... when I finally ran out of obviousness to state, the awkward silence that ensued was palpable. They didn't have any floor plans with them so I couldn't discuss with them in detail of what they could actually do to the bedroom. All I know is that the room they want to do renovate is small and in an odd shape, that's it, it also didn't help that it was raining quite heavily that day and the pitter patter of the rain against the roof made hearing what the husband was saying impossible because he kept mumbling, anymore "sorry, can you repeat yourself" after the 2nd one just becomes rude, so I just pretended I knew what he was saying... I knew nothing of what he was saying.
He could have been asking me....
"How much does this closet cost?"
... and I would just nod my head and agree.
The whole conversation was just such a mess I wanted to get it over and done with as soon as possible, and when they finally left, I got so distracted with that sense of relief I completely forgot to take down their contact information, which led to a series of...
"Why you never take their contact information? That is the first thing you should have done!"
.... from my senior designers. In my defense, the couple was very adamant that they only wanted to take a look in the beginning, that is why I did not take down their contact information because it seemed redundant at that time, but I should have gotten their contact information before they left, so the fault is still mine for letting them disappear into anonymity when they left the showroom.
One thing I have realized about a lot of customers who have very small homes is that they love to request for a lot of storage space, like storage space is some kind of "blackhole behind a cabinet door" you can just slap on the flat wall and viola, extra storage space. There is a limit to how much storage space you can put in your little hamster cage, you want more storage space, that's possible, but you will end up living in a fish bowl of a home. Can't blame them though because apartments are getting smaller and smaller.
Something memorable happened last week. I finally met my Aion Guildmate from Australia in real life, it was pretty surreal because I have always wanted to meet her in real life for the past 6 years we have known each other.
I recommended Holland Village to her and brought her to try out Laksa at a shop I myself have never been to before, not sure if dumb or retarded, but since I did know a little bit about dessert places, I brought her to Awfully Chocolate after dinner. The goal was to get some desserts from Awfully Chocolate to go and then head to Sunday Folks for some Soft Serve Waffles, but plans changed and we ended up just having Awfully Chocolate, I ordered a little too much so she got to bring one untouched dessert back to enjoy. 3 cakes and 2 drinks, the final bill came up to almost $50 and I don't have any income now so job well done on my dumb ass part.
Was hoping to have a second meet up before she returns to Australia, but unfortunately, her schedule is pack., so it's a little bit disappointing. But I am happy I finally got to meet her in real life.
