Maintaining an H relationship

[papertiger]

Please focus on the title of this thread rather than each other, TY

If you find it very hard to ignore certain people, please feel free in adding them to your 'Ignore' list.

For advice on how to obtain a B/K/C please go to the reading room in the Reading Room The Newbie's HOW DO I GET A BIRKIN (or other bag) Reading Room

For advice on how to shop at your local store please do a search in Hermes Shopping sub-forum and look for your store/region/country.

 

[Crapples]

Just at the moment, until relatively normal in store shopping is resumed, you should not be concerned purchase histories and wish lists. In the circumstances you describe, it is "gauche".
I just wondered what you meant by
i've texted back and forth a bit with my SA about some pairs of shoes I'm interested in
Unless you were specifically asking for your SA to source something in a particular size with a view to you buying, at the present time if I were the SA I would regard the texts as a nuisance and not want to encourage you to send more.
It would be so different if you were going to be able to pop in next week and look at them.

I said the same thing. We may be wrong, but it doesn't sound like the OP was really buying anything, but was rather just trading small talk about items. Even the nicest SA might find this annoying after some time.

 

[Etriers]

Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time poster. My question is, when the by-appointment-only shopping stops, how do I continue shopping with him?

By appointment. Welcome to tPF, btw! You can drop in just to say Hi, although I would not recommend doing that much if at all as a new client. If you have a good SA, he is probably busy all of the time and has appointments lined up all day. My SA is very popular, has some big-name/big-spending clients and is always swamped. When they aren’t seeing clients, they are on a break, at lunch or trying to reply to the emails and texts they get from clients, sourcing products etc. If you drop by just to say Hi, the other SA’s will go find him and tell your SA you’re there and your SA will drop what he is doing to assist. Imagine being at work, head down on a project and having clients drop by your office all day just to chat.

If you do have a list, you will also want to make an appointment. This allows your SA to find, pull or reserve items for you and make max use of your time together. Note: Be sure to be on time, but when you get there, be prepared to wait on your SA. Being easy-going will go a long way toward building a fun, friendly relationship over the long term. If your SA has become tied up or is wrapping another sale he will be grateful if you are patient. I also always follow up with a thank you text.

 

[WhiteBus]

By appointment. Welcome to tPF, btw! You can drop in just to say Hi, although I would not recommend doing that much as a new client. If you have a good SA, he is probably busy all of the time and has appointments lined up all day. My SA is very popular, has some big-name/big-spending clients and is always swamped. When they aren’t seeing clients, they are on a break, at lunch or trying to reply to the emails and texts they get from clients, sourcing products etc. If you drop by just to say Hi, the other SA’s will go find him and tell your SA you’re there and your SA will drop what he is doing to assist. Imagine being at work, head down on a project and having clients drop by your office all day just to chat.

If you do have a list, you will also want to make an appointment. This allows your SA to find, pull or reserve items for you and make max use of your time together. Note: Be sure to be on time, but when you get there, be prepared to wait on your SA. Being easy-going will go a long way toward building a fun, friendly relationship over the long term. If your SA has become tied up or is wrapping another sale he will be grateful if you are patient. I also always follow up with a thank you text.

This is such a wise perspective. I counted at least half a dozen really good pieces of advice.

 

[lulilu]

This may be semantics, but you should be specific about your request too.
I can see that asking you SA if he/she would 'prefer' to get an item for you is a soft or gentle way to make your request. Surely the phrase 'be able to' would be better; agreement would confirm the commitment and ability to get you what you want.

If a SA wants the custom he/she would surely prefer to get the item for you, but there is no guarantee.
'I'm sorry. I tried, but I couldn't. (then add all the valid or feeble reasons imaginable)

I just say "I see/saw X at X store. I'd like to buy it from you. Can you get it for me." Just simple, clear.
Same thing re things I see online.

 

[nostalgists]

How long does it take him to reply? Many SAs are working reduced schedules and cannot answer on their off days even though you are texting them. Also, have you actually purchased anything or are you just expressing interest in items? Knowing the answer to these questions will help with my response.

Sometimes he will respond within ~8 hours, sometimes I’ll get no response so I’ll text him again after ~24 hours. At my local store they are working in teams where they come in every other day. I have so far purchased a home item and makeup (roughly $1700 total) and have requested to reserve two shoes. I know that’s not a lot of spend but I’m just trying to build a profile and that was my first visit. I’m sure he’s just super busy but I do get worried he will forget to notify me if/when the shoes are available or may not get the requested shoes. I could totally be overreacting/overthinking but it’s helpful to hear people’s thoughts since the Hermes world is very new to me! I don’t want to bother him and keep pinging him obviously but I do want to build the relationship and my customer profile. Any advice/thoughts are appreciated!

 

[duggi84]

Sometimes he will respond within ~8 hours, sometimes I’ll get no response so I’ll text him again after ~24 hours. At my local store they are working in teams where they come in every other day. I have so far purchased a home item and makeup (roughly $1700 total) and have requested to reserve two shoes. I know that’s not a lot of spend but I’m just trying to build a profile and that was my first visit. I’m sure he’s just super busy but I do get worried he will forget to notify me if/when the shoes are available or may not get the requested shoes. I don’t want to bother him and keep pinging him obviously but I do want to build the relationship and my customer profile. Any advice/thoughts are appreciated!

The guy we work with is lovely and generally responsive, but it can be an instant response, or a response the next day. He did inform us recently that the store policies have changed (and become more strict recently) and they're only allowed to work and respond to customers during their working hours now. So while he used to respond to us on his days off (which I never expected and felt bad about when I realized it was his day off), he does not now.

I generally take the following into account when reaching out to him: (1) he may or may not be working that day, (2) he may have another customer in front of him or is busy with multiple customers (we've witness him being overbooked many times, he's a lovely person and very popular), or (3) he probably also has other customers texting him all the time too and is trying to get back to all of us needy people LOL

 

[nostalgists]

Just at the moment, until relatively normal in store shopping is resumed, you should not be concerned purchase histories and wish lists. In the circumstances you describe, it is "gauche".
I just wondered what you meant by
i've texted back and forth a bit with my SA about some pairs of shoes I'm interested in
Unless you were specifically asking for your SA to source something in a particular size with a view to you buying, at the present time if I were the SA I would regard the texts as a nuisance and not want to encourage you to send more.
It would be so different if you were going to be able to pop in next week and look at them.

Sorry that was a little unclear. What I meant by that was I requested 2 pairs of shoes in my size with the intent to purchase. I agree that it would be a nuisance to just ask about shoes that I had no intention of buying.
Do you have thoughts on what I should do going forward during COVID times? I’d still like a build a relationship and profile during COVID but are you saying I shouldn’t do this during COVID?
Also, just wanted to say I’m also new to TPF and really appreciate everyone’s advice so thank you!

 

[nostalgists]

I said the same thing. We may be wrong, but it doesn't sound like the OP was really buying anything, but was rather just trading small talk about items. Even the nicest SA might find this annoying after some time.

Yeah sorry to be clear: I wasn’t just casually texting him about items haha. I was specifically asking him to source items that I want to purchase and I have purchased 2 things from him. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[momoc]

It depends on where you are and how the specific store operates but I know in many places they cannot access their work phone or email when they are not at work. The work cellphones are all locked up when they leave the store for the day. It’s actually a solid policy IMO - can you imagine how much personal information of Hermès customers there is stored in those phones?

Many places relaxed this during COVID, and allowed SAs to take their work devices home. But now with things changing back, some are back to only having access at work. Adding to this their busy schedules & days off...I don’t think waiting for a couple days for a response is surprising. And I’d say it’s true COVID or not.

My SA joked with me that she wants to hire a programmer to write a script to auto reply her messages because they are all asking the same thing (aka their wishlist bag) every morning or even multiple times a day. Those who are asking about non bag stuff can get buried and so SAs may need some time to filter it out and find you.

Also, some SAs just don’t respond until they have sourced an item or have something for you. It’s possible that they do not respond while they are working on it or when they ultimately were not able to find it for you. Give them some time. I personally never had to wait that long, but if it were me, a week is when I’d start reminding my SA.

 

[WhiteBus]

Sorry that was a little unclear. What I meant by that was I requested 2 pairs of shoes in my size with the intent to purchase. I agree that it would be a nuisance to just ask about shoes that I had no intention of buying.
Do you have thoughts on what I should do going forward during COVID times? I’d still like a build a relationship and profile during COVID but are you saying I shouldn’t do this during COVID?
Also, just wanted to say I’m also new to TPF and really appreciate everyone’s advice so thank you!

I believe I might be in the minority, but I don't think this is the time to be over-concerned with building a relationship and profile.
Try and shop as you can without scheming to buy a quota bag.

 

[duggi84]

I believe I might be in the minority, but I don't think this is the time to be over-concerned with building a relationship and profile.
Try and shop as you can without scheming to buy a quota bag.

TBH, I think I have an opposite problem: our person at H doesn't really know what to do with me because I'm actually not that interested in quota bags...when I declined the B35 in Bleu Frida, he seemed lost and kind of frantic to make me happy. ='(

 

[WhiteBus]

He must find you really refreshing.

 

[duggi84]

He must find you really refreshing.

I really hope that's the case...I've unfortunately been refusing almost everything he tries to show me (or if I don't, they literally don't have it in my size anywhere), but then ask for weird obscure stuff that he has to search high-and-low to find, which I'm sure is just a new type of annoyance for him.

For example: I've asked him to order some Men's Competition Boots and matching "Mini-Chaps" (which make them look like knee-high boots) only available in Europe, a seemingly very-hard-to-find Attache Soie bag strap kit, and some Twillions (which they stopped carrying in SF due to low-demand). I also asked him for a nice vase in the "Passifolia" or "Carnets d'Equateur" lines. AND I haven't yet told him that I'm interested in the Clic H 33 bag seemingly only available in Asia.

I'm also pressuring him into getting France to make me some Story Boots in Rouge H...in size 45, which they don't make.

He actually does know that I'm interested in a Kelly 40 in Craie Epsom to go with my Harnachement Strap in Rouge H Epsom (another item I asked him to find/order)....and I casually dropped the fact that I hope to be a good enough customer to be offered a chance at a Kelly Feather one day. So there are at least two quota bags I'm interested in, I guess, but I'm definitely not in a rush or asking him about them at all.

I think it might be his amazing relationship with my husband that actually keeps him talking to me LOL!

 

[Etriers]

I really hope that's the case...I've unfortunately been refusing almost everything he tries to show me (or if I don't, they literally don't have it in my size anywhere), but then ask for weird obscure stuff that he has to search high-and-low to find, which I'm sure is just a new type of annoyance for him.

For example: I've asked him to order some Men's Competition Boots and matching "Mini-Chaps" (which make them look like knee-high boots) only available in Europe, a seemingly very-hard-to-find Attache Soie bag strap kit, and some Twillions (which they stopped carrying in SF due to low-demand). I also asked him for a nice vase in the "Passifolia" or "Carnets d'Equateur" lines. AND I haven't yet told him that I'm interested in the Clic H 33 bag seemingly only available in Asia.

I'm also pressuring him into getting France to make me some Story Boots in Rouge H...in size 45, which they don't make.

He actually does know that I'm interested in a Kelly 40 in Craie Epsom to go with my Harnachement Strap in Rouge H Epsom (another item I asked him to find/order)....and I casually dropped the fact that I hope to be a good enough customer to be offered a chance at a Kelly Feather one day. So there are at least two quota bags I'm interested in, I guess, but I'm definitely not in a rush or asking him about them at all.

I think it might be his amazing relationship with my husband that actually keeps him talking to me LOL!

Lol! I kinda do the same thing. I think my SA actually has fun with it and since he’s been with H so long, considers it a personal challenge. However, the key for me is that I don’t need anything in a hurry, or pressure him, so it keeps it fun. I do know he occasionally uses some favors on my behalf though on these wild goose chases, so I make a point to buy everything he is able to acquire.

 

[duggi84]

Lol! I kinda do the same thing. I think my SA actually has fun with it and since he’s been with H so long, considers it a personal challenge. However, the key for me is that I don’t need anything in a hurry, or pressure him, so it keeps it fun. I do know he occasionally uses some favors on my behalf though on these wild goose chases, so I make a point to buy everything he is able to acquire.

Absolutely the same here, I'm never in a hurry (and in fact have been sure to tell him this multiple times), always thankful, and never ever ask him to waste his time searching for something I'm only "on the fence" about...if he orders it for me (and it fits), I'm almost 100% certain going to buy it (actually 100% so far...). I do also think he has had to use some favors for me too, though! That said, I'm also open to what he shows me...I assume after he knows me a while, he'll have a better understanding of my tastes and become more on-point at showing me unexpected things I'm likely to fall in love with, but I need to give him time and opportunities to figure that out.