I always tell my designers that the best sound that I can hear from the floor is laughter.  It is not brain surgery that we do.  No need for stress.  No lives hang in the balance.  This isn’t to say that what we do for our clients isn’t important.  It can be very important… but it should always be fun!

We do aspire to be great listeners.  Listening to you, our client, and understanding your needs is critical to doing our job well.  And from there, we design a room for you based on your needs — or maybe just help you find a fabric — or talk to you about different things that might work for your room.  (We do not just try to sell something  because we have bought 25 of them and the boss has said to get rid of them).

No, that is certainly not what ccino is about.  We are all about building a relationship with our clients.  If we treat you well, if we both have fun then together we will create more than just a beautiful room (although that is important), we’ll create friendship.

So when I do hear laughter on the floor—it means comfort, trust, and yes, fun!  Because we are all about having fun at ccino!

Maureen just had a neat experience with a customer that I would like to share with you. She was working with a gentleman in the store and he told her that he had been to furniture stores all over the state. Our store, he said, had been the only store who had not tried to sell him something off the floor. Maureen said that this client was so appreciative that we wanted to know about the room and that we really cared about his room. What’s more, he loved that we wanted to do a floor plan for his room.

I don’t think this prospective customer has ordered anything (yet). He may not ever buy anything. But, I love the fact that he noticed what makes us different than other stores!

Frankly, the furniture you see on our floor doesn’t matter at all. It is only there to show you what we can do – to stimulate your imagination. Our floor display is simply a tool to help us help you.

It is all about our clients and what they want. It is not about us or what we got a good deal on and are trying to blow out. Our imperative is to listen to our customer and to create a room that she loves… and it can be so affordable!

I was in Omaha at ccino the other day. A mom and daughter came in to the store, and I got to work with them.

They were in a hurry, and I was trying to honor their time — yet ask the questions that would allow me to best help them.  The mother said that her daughter knew what she wanted.  It turned out she was right.

“Great!” I said, “Then we are the perfect place for her because we can do exactly what she wants.” She found a sofa design that she liked. Then she found a fabric that she loved. We played with buttons and pillows to give more sophisticated, personalized “ccino” look. A look that is different — not one that she will see whenever she visits one of her friends.

I really think that is one of the most important of the many reasons that people like to shop at ccino and by Design. We can get you a unique look for a terrific price.

So our young client is going to get the sofa that she loves.  And, I had so much fun working with her! It was so cool to see someone that young who cares that much about their furniture and home. And she had great taste too!

It was such a fun experience for me!!!

Bonita

I recently worked with a client who had special ordered a table.  She wasn’t satisfied that the table was right for her room.  Well, you all know that we cannot afford to return special order merchandise.  Nevertheless, in this case I decided to let her make a re-selection.  We emailed back and forth and were having a hard time coming up with the right thing.  So—I finally just decided that we needed to talk and oh, my gosh—it was so much better.  It was so nice to have a human side to it.  We both agreed and we found the right table and she is  thrilled.

She and I both decided that email is nice but sometimes, you just need to talk and hear the voice — and even hear the heart behind the email.  I feel that , if everyone is reasonable, anything can be worked out.

Life is short.  Your furniture experience should be a good one!
Bonita