Role of "Sales Manager"
What is the role of the sales manager at a SR shop? Is it just to select the cloth and secure the order or are they also in charge liaiseing with the customer throughout the process? I ask because the sales manager I have delt with seems to operate under the impression that it is not his role to communicate with me or help me. I'm currently working directly with dispatch to faciliate the delivery of my suit after three missed deadlines. I don't think I have ever worked this hard as a customer. Perhaps I came in missunderstanding the role of a sales manager?
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tteplitzmd
Let's see: this is Savile Row you're talking about? Well, the answer should be clear. The Sales Manager's role is to sell you things and not much else in my limited experience. The basic rules of economics suggest to me, over and over again, that these sorts of establishments either don't want, or don't need your business. No reasonable person would put up with this in other areas of commerce.
Dear Dempsy,dempsy444 wrote:What is the role of the sales manager at a SR shop? Is it just to select the cloth and secure the order or are they also in charge liaiseing with the customer throughout the process? I ask because the sales manager I have delt with seems to operate under the impression that it is not his role to communicate with me or help me. I'm currently working directly with dispatch to faciliate the delivery of my suit after three missed deadlines. I don't think I have ever worked this hard as a customer. Perhaps I came in missunderstanding the role of a sales manager?
my suggestion would be to use all your communication skills and show this person and the head cutter that
a) They better take you seriously
b) They risk future business from you and damage to their reputation
I understand this is your first commission. SR houses have many clients turning up for one suit and disappearing after delivery. I think the attitude you are confronted with is unprofessional, but not very unusual. I have been confronted with this in the beginning, and was able to overcome the situation tactfully.
Good luck and kind regards
David
SR houses have many clients turning up for one suit and disappearing after delivery. I wonder why that might be? Are they cutting for the chicken or the egg? I fear that the more people pay for the Brand Name that SR has become, the more inevitable it is that they will sell them little more than a Brand Name. Recently, I considered a rtw item from a very highly rated SR house. The Sales Manager insisted it was a perfect fit even though it was so small it would hardly button and any dog in the street could see that it was an extremely bad fit. If they had any pride in how their work is perceived while worn subsequent to the sale, they would have been reluctant to let me buy it. I wonder how many prospective new clients have been used as training fodder for young apprentices? Are they cutting the goose with their shears to release the golden egg?
Is the SR Bespoke Ass.(forgive the pun)nothing more than a collective Brand with which to label the Emperor's new clothes? Or, is there any quality accountability in the process or end product of a bespoke order, that might motivate a new client to return with delightful anticipation?
Is the SR Bespoke Ass.(forgive the pun)nothing more than a collective Brand with which to label the Emperor's new clothes? Or, is there any quality accountability in the process or end product of a bespoke order, that might motivate a new client to return with delightful anticipation?
dempsy - sorry to hear your first SR suit has been a bit of a struggle. If you wish to use a house again I would give Edwin Deboise of Steed a shot. He in certainly in the drape style, but can make things clean looking at the same time. He is also a great pleasure to deal with. Please tell him I said hello if you choose to use him. Good luck!
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Frog in Suit
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I think one should keep in mind that a relationship with a tailor is just that: a relationship. It requires time and effort on both sides, until pattern, preferences, idiosyncrasies etc… are known and perfected. If a shop has too much work and long delivery times, which is probably often the case, it does not make much sense to devote too much energy to a one-off customer. It is much more useful, I should think, to keep the old ones coming back and ordering. This is a world of scarce resources.
If, as a new customer, one makes the point, early on, that one is looking for a more or less permanent tailor, I am sure the level of service will match one’s expectations.
Also keep in mind that the SR Association is only a trade group whose job is to defend the members against encroachments, fakers and so on. RTW is only a side issue to most members.
I do not know what a Sales Manager is or does. The people I deal with at my tailors’ (Jones Chalk & Dawson / Meyer & Mortimer) are the cutter (and one of two directors), Paul Munday, the “front of house man” (I do not know his title, is he “Sales”?), Brian Jones, who seems to deal with accounts/administration/cloth and generally “holds the fort” and, occasionally, Brian Lewis (senior cutter and M.D.). Larger houses may have a dedicated Sales Manager. In a smaller shop, one deals with the principals; it is much more pleasant and efficient.
If, as a new customer, one makes the point, early on, that one is looking for a more or less permanent tailor, I am sure the level of service will match one’s expectations.
Also keep in mind that the SR Association is only a trade group whose job is to defend the members against encroachments, fakers and so on. RTW is only a side issue to most members.
I do not know what a Sales Manager is or does. The people I deal with at my tailors’ (Jones Chalk & Dawson / Meyer & Mortimer) are the cutter (and one of two directors), Paul Munday, the “front of house man” (I do not know his title, is he “Sales”?), Brian Jones, who seems to deal with accounts/administration/cloth and generally “holds the fort” and, occasionally, Brian Lewis (senior cutter and M.D.). Larger houses may have a dedicated Sales Manager. In a smaller shop, one deals with the principals; it is much more pleasant and efficient.
Thanks for the perspective. I did pick a lofty house and I am sure they make suits by the dozens for many of their clients. While my suit was very expensive even by Row standards, it was just one suit. I have no doubt the 80/20 rule applies to tailoring houses too. I'm sure sales is focused on that 20.
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Frog in Suit
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For what it’s worth, I did not pick a “lofty” house.
I researched (from the, now old, Savile Row Story book and from the usual fora, including this one), drew a short list based on “house personality” (traditional/discreet v. “fashionable”/trendy, size -- a one-man band may be great but what happens when the owner retires ? -- , house style – structured, “military” v. “soft”, drape” – and a feel for what the clients are like -- if I am going to be using an English tailoring house , I would prefer it to cater to the largest extent possible to Englishmen, or Scots and so on, of a certain background--), called to ascertain price ranges and visited the last two candidates on my list, with my Dear Wife and our two teen-aged sons in tow (a somewhat unusual first contact but no one seemed to mind, which is a good sign in itself).
I asked a few questions about construction (fusing? location of workshop? number of employees? ...). After a few minutes’ conversation, I felt M & M / Jones Chalk & Dawson offered what I was looking for and, most importantly, I liked the people. I have not regretted it. That was in the spring of 2007.
I should add that, before I went through the above search, I had had experience some fifteen years previously with another tailoring firm, whose garments I still wear happily (they have aged very nicely), but which, alas, had changed beyond recognition when I contacted them again.
I researched (from the, now old, Savile Row Story book and from the usual fora, including this one), drew a short list based on “house personality” (traditional/discreet v. “fashionable”/trendy, size -- a one-man band may be great but what happens when the owner retires ? -- , house style – structured, “military” v. “soft”, drape” – and a feel for what the clients are like -- if I am going to be using an English tailoring house , I would prefer it to cater to the largest extent possible to Englishmen, or Scots and so on, of a certain background--), called to ascertain price ranges and visited the last two candidates on my list, with my Dear Wife and our two teen-aged sons in tow (a somewhat unusual first contact but no one seemed to mind, which is a good sign in itself).
I asked a few questions about construction (fusing? location of workshop? number of employees? ...). After a few minutes’ conversation, I felt M & M / Jones Chalk & Dawson offered what I was looking for and, most importantly, I liked the people. I have not regretted it. That was in the spring of 2007.
I should add that, before I went through the above search, I had had experience some fifteen years previously with another tailoring firm, whose garments I still wear happily (they have aged very nicely), but which, alas, had changed beyond recognition when I contacted them again.
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