When a customer wants to look through your clip art and other images

[Albert Nix]

It seems that a lot of software as well as CDs that are loaded with images do not come with catologs to lay out for folks to look at. I know some of you have been at this a while and have collected quite a large selection of images. What do you do when a customer ask to look at your books so they can pick an image out. If Frank made hard copies of all of his it would cause a world wide paper shortage. I would really like to hear some different ideas. Thanks
Al.

[Gary Hair]

It seems that 90% of the people I deal with already know, or have, what they want to use. If not, I would start with asking them for a general idea of what they want. If I wasn't sure if I had it I would likely direct them to Yahoo Images and have them find what they want.

Gary

[Mike Null]

Gary nailed it. I only show them something that might fit their job.

[Frank Corker]

As much stuff as I have accumulated, I too just show them what they need to see, very few have actually asked to see something different anyway and I tend to use mine for inspiration really.

[Jason Jenkins 2]

showing a customer to many options and they get overwhelmed and end up not ordering. Near down what they are interested in and only show that content.

Jason

[Albert Nix]

All very good points. Maybe I need to find a better way to organize my files so that it would be easer to do just that. Thanks

[Michael Hunter]

Yep - customer confusion is right up the scale if you give too much choice.

Choose between 2 - "I like that one best"
Choose between 3 - "I don't like that one but the other two are nice"
Choose between 4 - "I will go away and think about it"
Choose between 5 - customer is lost forever


Thinking about this, I am reminded of a salesman's trick -
If the customer is dithering about signing up, then the salesman introduces a choice.
The new item could be poorer quality or an inappropriate colour, in which case the customer signs up for the original - having now made a "good decision".
Alternatively, the new item is obviously better and much more expensive - giving a good probability that the customer will spend more to get "the best".

[Bruce Volden]

+1 on this from my experience!!!

showing a customer to many options and they get overwhelmed and end up not ordering. Near down what they are interested in and only show that content.

Jason

[Joe Hillmann]

I usually ask them what they want then go to google images and only pick out 2 or 3 images with the excuse of the others won't engrave well because if you let them pick form the thousands of images that show up they will take FOREVER to decide and even then they won't be sure. If you give them only a couple choices, one that you think is what they want and one that may be questionable they will make a decision and be happy with it. And happy with the final product.

[William Milligan]

I've usually tried to figure out what sort of image they are looking for and then present them a few possibilities. Often they have an image or logo they want to use...problem with that is usually the image isn't a high enough quality and I often end up spending time trying to get it right so it will work. The fact that presenting them with too many options can overwhelm them is valid point. Often they are looking to us to come up with some ideas so as I say...I get an idea what they want and come up with a few options.
Recently, I had the exterior of our house painted. We chose a couple of colors and when my wife got home and saw the way the trim looked with the main house color we chose she kind of freaked. In the end we made a change which worked out great but actually, I would have appreciated it if the painter, who is the professional and has seen a myriad of color combinations, would have given a word of caution...we probably would have saved him some time on the project.
I do this part time...I have a full time day job and little time to spend each week working with our laser (someday THIS will be my day job... )....BUT...since I don't have a lot of time to waste I've begun to evaluate the project (i.e. clip art or photo presented) and say up front if I don't think it will work. I will usually spend a LITTLE time trying to make it work but I present some alternatives up front just in case I can't get it quite right. Practice has helped...I can make things work today that I couldn't have a year ago....

[Bill Cunningham]

the vast majority of my customers come to me via email and my website.. They generally have an idea of what they want, I do a preliminary google search using the 'large,black&white,clipart' parameters, send them the link and ask if they see something they like..I then show them what I have that will work. Yet there are always a few, that simply can't grasp why you can't use their 1 inch wide 75 dpi web clip on the 8x10 granite plaque they want. After all it looks just great when they look at it on their computer, and they can't understand what's wrong with mine?

[Martin Boekers]

Charge them by the minute to look through the books!