Jay Goltz

My informal study has shown that there are three things that everybody in America wonders about. One is the never ending question of who killed Kennedy. Was it the mafia? The CIA? Cuba? The more recent question is why are gas prices so high? Is it a conspiracy? Price manipulation? Greedy oil companies? And lastly the big thing that everyone is pondering is why is picture framing so expensive? Ouch! I’m not at liberty to give you the answers to the first two questions, but I can answer the last one (does that surprise you?).

First of all, it’s about perspective. Let’s say that a typical custom picture framing job is in the two hundred and some dollar range. Compared to buying something off the shelf in a discount store, mass produced in China, yes…it seems expensive. The fact is, it wasn’t mass-produced in China; it was custom made to your specifications. The picture frame moulding is made of wood and probably has a somewhat sophisticated finish. The mat board is probably of a higher quality and is most likely acid free. And the glass is probably a higher quality – maybe with UV filtering. The fact is, picture framing is not brain surgery, but it’s also not as simple as washing your car. To do it well requires a design sense and a skill to cut everything properly, put it together and attach the art in such a way as to not damage it. It takes time to learn these skills and in some cases, the skills are innate. As much as we try to keep our costs down by buying direct, there still are labor costs that we can’t do anything about.

The reality is that most people are not used to buying a product that’s custom made. If you go into Barney’s to buy a good tie, it could very easily be in the $125 range. Made of nice fabric. Mass produced. Probably 10 minutes worth of time put into it. The typical frame job takes an hour and a quarter. Many people have become accustomed to paying $125 for a tie because it is what it is – along with everything else we buy, including clothes, plumbing and car repair.

Here’s the most important thing: framing is one of the very few things you can spend money on that’s going to be in your possession in twenty years. And can, quite possibly, go on to the next generation.

One mystery solved. Two more to go!
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I have hired hundreds of people over the years. In the beginning I had no clue what I was doing. I eventually figured out this is an unusual company to hire for. I have always respected the fact that I am dealing with art and the people designing the framing should understand art. I also know that designing framing requires creative abilities. The obvious solution is to hire artists. That would probably be half right. I have learned that the artistic people I hire also have to understand and respect business – use a computer, follow proper procedures, honor deadlines, take care of customer requests, have professional business behavior.

You’ll notice that Artists Frame Service employees don’t casually walk in five or ten minutes after 9:00 and then leave their coffee cups on the counter. They are competent on the computer. They understand the responsibilities of working in a retail environment. While they might be free spirits, each in their own right, they are also business people. I take a little credit for giving them some business skills, but more credit goes to genetics and childhood development. I always make sure I thank parents when I meet them for creating such a wonderful, well-balanced person.

The average person in the showroom has been with the company for 8 years, in an industry where 8 months is a victory. It works for me. It works for them. And ultimately it works for the customer.

Since the day I started this business, I have always appreciated the difference between “average” frames and really nice frames. I like different colors, shapes, finishes and textures.

Frame design has become increasingly sophisticated over the last thirty years. Most of the nicest designed and manufactured frames come from Italy and Spain. Many don’t make it to America’s marketplace. Most frame shops aren’t big enough to order direct from Europe and local distributors carry commodity mouldings. About 15 years ago, as soon as we got big enough to handle large international shipments, I started going to the international trade show to buy directly from the manufacturers . We are still one of the few American companies attending the show.

We just came back from our annual trip and found some really great new finishes that have just been created. We have a whole new line of veneered mouldings in magnificent looks and colors, in addition to some really beautiful detailed smaller mouldings. We even have some really wild frames – including glittery frames, zebra and giraffe prints, snakeskin and other couture fabric-wrapped mouldings.

The right frame should speak to you; I hope you speak Italian!

I recently read how a parent that criticizes all the time really can screw
up a kid’s development, self-esteem and confidence. It made me wonder where
do you draw the line between helping your kid learn and develop versus doing
damage by criticizing? I have to believe that part of the answer is to be
sure there is also positive reinforcement, but as importantly it’s knowing
when being critical will not be productive.

Management is similar. I will say though, whether it’s taping a box or
cutting a mat, there’s a good way and there’s a best way. I would be
hesitant to hold back my criticism if I thought something could be done
better. I think for a company to be as good as possible, criticism needs to
be encouraged, valued and listened to. As the customer, when a company is
gigantic, there’s little chance that your opinion is going to make it to the
person who makes the decisions.

For example, I’m a big fan of American Express cards – that is, of course
until I need to call the number on the back of the card. It is minuscule.
Even with reading glasses. There seems to be plenty of room on the back of
the card to make that phone number bigger. On more than one occasion I have
complained to the person on the phone, and almost every time, they have said
I was not the first person to say that. It makes me wonder, how many
thousands of people have complained about it and what would it take for
someone to make the type bigger? One advantage of being a smaller company is
that I have changed things that just one customer has complained about.

Compliments make me feel good. Criticisms make my company better. I value
both.

We’ve been interviewing a lot lately for a few open positions. There’s a
stark contrast between looking for people in December and January. It would
seem that people that already have jobs are not looking for jobs in
December. In January, you may be getting people that made a new year’s
resolution to get a new job. Why people want a new job is always
interesting. I have found, contrary to what you might think, that looking
for more money is not why people are leaving their jobs. Frustration with
what goes on at the company, lack of support, and lack of advancement
potential just to name a few. One candidate said something that I found
poignant. She was interviewing for a higher level sales management position
and she said she wanted to find a job where she would have a “seat at the
table”. She was looking for a company where she could make daily decisions,
not a place where she just took orders from the top.

I thought that was interesting. I would like to believe that most of my
employees feel like they have a seat at the table. That their input is
encouraged, valued and counted on. Our turnover here is very low and I do
believe that one of the key reasons is that people feel included and that
they are sitting at a very large “table”.

It was inevitable. We finally have temperatures in the single digits. I
decided it was time to do something drastic – I bought some cashmere socks.
I’ve never had cashmere socks. When it got really cold, I put them on. I
wore them to work, and lo and behold I found out something. While my body
was at work, my feet were on vacation. Warm and toasty. Every once in a
while you buy something that you get tremendous satisfaction from.

That’s our goal when someone comes in to frame a picture. Picture framing is
an opportunity to do something just for you. For something that you have
chosen to look at everyday. If you do it right, I mean really right, every
time you look at the picture you are going to get that same toasty feeling I
get when I think of my warm toasty feet. The difference is you will enjoy it
365 days a year, not the 30 or 40 days I anticipate pulling out the big
guns.

It’s been a while since I’ve last blogged. Time flies.

For those of you who have been in retail shopping mode lately, you might – like me – be yearning for the days when more sales people knew more about their product than you did. With the Internet so much a part of everyday life, I find myself telling store salespeople (whether it’s a car or a watch) things about their product they didn’t know. Back in the “olden days”, people working in stores could be counted on to give advice, direction and council.

What’s changed? Some very subtle things in the marketplace have contributed to this lowering of customer service expertise.

First of all, many companies only hire part-time employees as a way to not pay health insurance. As a result, the employees are not at work to learn things and the turnover is much higher.

Another reason is that many stores have gotten so hooked on the constant sales that price is the main tool they use to get customers in the door. As a result, they can’t afford or recognize that giving service is worth something to people – even if it means paying 2% more.

And lastly, businesses used to be run by merchants – people who had it in their blood to deliver great products and service. Now the people at the top of these organizations are just generic business people. They are not retailers. They do not have an appreciation for the nuances of retail and their name is not on the door. There is little passion for the product, only for their pay package. There are certainly exceptions to this, but they are becoming far and few between.

It’s getting to the point that just having product in stock, delivering it on time and having quality control makes you stand out from the crowd. Add to that someone behind the counter who knows and cares about the product, and you are in retail heaven. It’s actually becoming a niche.

I assume you saw the “Hanging with Jay” feature on the front page of the website. Framing is like a lot of things in business — it’s part the product and part the people. In some industries, like hair salons, it’s all the people. If you buy a set of tools, it’s almost all the product. Framing is somewhere in between. When I started the company I didn’t think about it that much. I was more focused on finding better products, and developing better techniques and standards. It became obvious when I started hiring employees that it is the people. They will not only make or break whether the customer gets great framing but they are also the key determining factor in me having a pleasant day or one filled with aggravation.

What you can expect to see in the coming months with “Hanging With Jay” is the weird, wacky, wonderful reasons why this is a great place to come to work everyday; the nuances that make Artists Frame Service what it is. I believe it is these nuances that make our framing different. And I think our customers feel that and appreciate it.

With that, I am proud and happy to introduce you to the people who “Hang With Jay” and hear their stories. Click here.

I joined a new business group. Business groups are good – you get to see other people’s businesses, see how they operate, get input on your own business, see different perspectives.

I used to think, and most people probably do, the goal of business is to make money. If you are a stockholder, that’s generally true. If you work in the business, I have found that doesn’t quite cover it. As a business owner, it has taken me years to find out what my true goals are compared to what the most obvious ones are: growing the business and making money. I want and work toward three things.

The first thing I need is the company to be successful – which means making a profit. Too many businesses have failed despite the fact that they were giving good service; they couldn’t operationally make money. It’s the easiest thing to track, strategize and get outside opinions on. It’s an easy metric. Your accountant can come in and tell you how you are doing.

The next one is far harder to measure: happy customers. This one is almost instinctive. I grew up working at my family’s dime store, Jay Neal’s Variety Store. I have been “taking care of customers” since I was five years old. It makes me feel good. It’s why I got into retail. But it’s also what limits me. I don’t have 20 stores because I don’t think I could keep the level of service up to what I need it to be.

The last one I couldn’t have figured out until my company started getting bigger. I want happy employees. Partly because who doesn’t like making people happy, and partly because if they are not happy they are going to make me miserable. You see I figured something out that I call The Happy Triangle. If the employees aren’t happy, they aren’t going to make the customers happy. If the customers aren’t happy, the company isn’t going to be happy. If the company isn’t happy, employees won’t be happy… It keeps going.

Happy employees. Happy customers. Happy company.

I don’t know how you can have only two of the three. As a matter of fact, I don’t know why you would want to. Speaking of happy employees, I’m looking to hire a couple of people for our Customer Service department (in our wholesale moulding division) and a sales person to work in Jayson Home & Garden, selling in our Hunter Douglas Gallery. Send your resume to Felice (felice@goltzgroup.com) — mention the blog…that would be blogerific!

I’ve got a new business friend that commented to me that he couldn’t understand why framing was so expensive. No big surprise. Most people aren’t used to buying custom-made products. He took me on a tour of his office and showed me all the custom framing he had done. Ouch! Paying good money for beautiful framing is one thing. Paying good money for mediocre framing is quite another.

What’s the difference? It’s not just price, though the price difference may be less than you think. And I’m not talking about the difference between a beautiful hand-leafed frame from Italy and a simple black frame. I’m talking about whether you picked out in the best matting and moulding in the first place. If you didn’t, you can be assured that you will be getting something that was “just” framed. No wow. More like an oh. Did you ever notice that the pictures of homes in magazines don’t look like most homes you actually visit? That’s because someone paid a lot of attention to the details. Picture framing is one of those details.

Framing isn’t as simple as it looks. There are lots of materials, techniques and just plain sloppiness that effect the way a piece looks. Here’s the reality: there are plenty of cheap mouldings out there, some of which are made of particle board with a covering on top. They are really made for cheap pictures that end up in discount stores or cheap hotels. These mouldings have made their way into the custom business by “framers” who are looking to save money. At the end of the day, while they are cheaper, by the time they get marked up in price, not that much cheaper. The labor is the same. Unlike most things you buy, this thing is going to be “hanging around” for a long time. Way longer than your clothes, or car, or expensive dinner.

When someone sees the difference between a beautifully done frame job using quality materials and some of the mass market stuff, they can see the difference – and seldom go back. Once you know the difference, it’s like getting used to Chinette plates and going back to those paper thin ones. The difference? The plate ends up in the garbage in an hour. Framing a picture so that it has the wow-factor will pay dividends every time you look at it. For the next 20, 30 or 50 years – maybe on to the next generation.

Beautiful framing is one of those intangible joys – just like your favorite pair of jeans.