A right-hand chaise that should have been left
The sofa arrives after twelve weeks. It is the right model, the right fabric and the wrong way round. The customer asked for a left-hand facing chaise to fit the corner by the window. The showroom order form says 'LHF'. The purchase order to the maker says 'RHF', because someone read the handwriting wrongly, or mixed up whether the side is described sitting on the sofa or facing it. The maker has built what it was asked for. The customer has a sofa that blocks the door.
Other versions of the same thing turn up every month: a fabric code off by one digit, a foam interior instead of feather wrap, dark oak legs instead of natural, a two-and-a-half seater when the customer wanted a three.
Why specifications get lost
- The showroom form is paper or free text, with no rules about what can be combined.
- Each maker has its own codes and its own way of describing options.
- Specifications are retyped from the showroom form into the purchase order.
- The customer does not see or sign a clear summary of what is being ordered.
- Left and right are described differently by different makers.
Every retype is a chance for a mistake. On a made-to-order sofa, one wrong letter means weeks of waiting for nothing.
What a wrong specification costs
| Error | Result |
|---|---|
| Wrong chaise side | Remake, and the customer waits all over again |
| Wrong fabric code | Unsellable piece and an unhappy customer |
| Wrong interior or legs | Arguments about who made the mistake |
| Invalid combination | Maker rejects the order weeks later |
| No signed summary | Hard to show what the customer chose |
When it is your mistake, you usually carry the cost of the remake and the returned piece. Sometimes that piece can be sold as ex-display, and often at a loss.
How we carry the specification from choice to maker
- Each range's options are set up from the maker's price list: sizes, arm styles, chaise sides, fabric groups, interiors, legs and finishes, with the combinations the maker allows.
- Showroom staff build the order on a tablet with the customer, choosing only valid options. Online customers use the same configurator on the website.
- Chaise and corner orientation is shown as a picture from above, labelled the way a person standing in front of the sofa would see it, so there is no reading of abbreviations.
- The customer gets a clear summary, with the picture, fabric swatch image and every option in plain words, and signs it on the tablet or confirms it by email.
- The purchase order to the maker is generated from the same data, translated into that maker's codes and terms, and sent in the format they want: email, portal or EDI.
- When the maker's acknowledgement comes back, its specification is compared with what was ordered, and any difference is flagged before production.
An order in the showroom afterwards
The customer stands by the corner sofa on the floor and tells the sales person she needs the long side against the left-hand wall. On the tablet, the sales person picks the layout from a picture that matches what she sees. She chooses the fabric, legs and cushion fill, and the tablet refuses a leg finish that the maker does not offer on that range. She reads the summary, sees the picture of her sofa from above, and signs. The purchase order goes to the maker with the maker's own code for that layout. Nobody retyped anything.
Makers who change their options
Makers update ranges, drop fabrics and change prices. When they send a new price list, the options are updated in one place, and any open quotes using a dropped option are flagged so the customer can be contacted before they order. If you sell a maker's range on your website as well, the same options feed the web configurator, so the showroom and the website never disagree about what is available.
Mistakes still happen occasionally, but when they do, the signed summary and the purchase order show exactly where. That makes the conversation with the maker or the customer much shorter.
Signs your specifications need this
- Showroom orders are written on paper forms.
- Specifications are retyped into purchase orders.
- You have had chaise sides, fabrics or legs ordered wrong.
- Customers do not sign a clear summary of their choices.
- Makers reject orders for combinations they do not make.