Why Get Mad at Us?

Is it us? I mean really, are we insane?

It's happened again. A woman came in today loaded down with all her ideas and samples - she is pulling colors together for her exterior. She specifically wanted to work with one of our store designers, and she got Richard.

He noticed that she had all these Home Depot and Lowes paint brochures amongst all her stuff. So he asked her (very nicely) if she was planning on using paint from our store.

"Oh no", he was told, "My painter won't use your paints, but he told me to come here for my colors." He asked if there was any way she would reconsider - nope. Richard (again, very nicely) explained he could only help her with our colors, and she gathered up all her things and left in a big huff...as if it was Richard's fault! She was genuinely mad at him.

To me, this is different than when you are going out in the marketplace, doing research on products, trying to learn all you can from the salespeople. In that type of scenario, salespeople are usually happy to help you find the right solutions for your needs.

She was just ballsy in my book.

I suppose it IS Richard's fault that he won't just give away his expertise. I think this kind of behavior is sooooo weird. What other type of business do you go into, hoping to get advice (for free, I might add), and then plan of going somewhere else for the product.

Can the customer be right if they won't even be your customer?