GCF

[markw]

noticing a distinct lack of debate within this forum i thought i would try one of my favourite framing nags, do i take the GCF test, whats in it for me? I have been profitably framing for 15+ years. i dont know everything and im always amazed at the number of different ways there are to achieve the same results. My business is, like all others profit driven - bottom line - can i pay the mortgage - feed the kids. To achieve that profit i have to satisfy my customers that they are getting what they want at the price they are willing to pay - reason i use EST - i can reliably estimate cost knowing that my profit margin is good, for those jobs that are complicated i have nothing but experience to make sure that i build in the correct cost element. At no time has a customer ever asked me "are you qualified"? i doubt if 1in a 1000 would even know what GCF means to them or the work being framed. I do occasionaly get customers saying they want conservation grade framing - they have normally read something on the back of the artwork - (curios how work that carries this sort of label is often of poor quality). i go to great lengths to explain the standards that i work too - they are hopefully aware that i understand what their work requires and that i am fully able to provide what they have requested - so the qustion is why do i need GCF status - 99.9% of my customers wont notice the difference, they will still get the highest possible standard of work for the price they are willing to pay. PS i will be using flexipins - and i will be taping the back of the frame with very expensive high quality japanese pressure sensitive tape, it sticks to Corricor III - i will also be using self adhesive acid free ph7.70 tape to attach artwork etc, the use of these all conflict with some aspects of GCF framing standards.

[worriedwizard]

I totally agree with you, I bought a copy of the test manual & I feel that most of the ideas are very out of date. I've never been asked if I'm a member of the guilde & most customers judge you on the finished item & I can say quite a lot of customers come back for more time & again.

[Guest]

As a GCF I can assure you that there are several aspects of the Guild's teaching and framing standards about which I disagree - and I simply do things my way where I feel that the Guild has got it wrong.

As experienced and successful framers there is no pressing reason for you to become Guild Commended - and if you are working within 50 miles of my workshop I would strongly encourage you NOT to do so.

I will give you three reasons to become a GCF:
1/ It is very satisfying to know that (even if you don't agree 100% with the Guild) you have achieved he standard set by the industry.

2/ It is a tremendous marketing tool and selling point and will continue to be both while large numbers of framers remain "unqualified".

3/ It DOES help to separate, in the eyes of the public, the full-time professionals from the uncommitted, untrained, part-time self-asppointed framers who do it as a sideline and who would otherwise undermine our business and undercut our prices etc.

Go for it! Become a GCF and then argue afterwards!

Guest.

[Merlin]

To Guest.. What a pity you remain anonymous. You strongly encourage NOT to become a GCF if working within 50 miles of your workshop.. But where is it....
I will not hide.
However, having said that I totally agree with your three reasons to become GCF.
I had a major career change 7 years ago and opened a High Street framing shop and gallery, competing with 3 other framers within 5 miles. The general public ARE becoming very aware of the trained and untrained, this is proved by the number of 'reworks' that we are getting. The standard of these reworks is appalling.. i.e. Carpet tape on the back of X stitch. Cellotape used as hinges. etc etc. I am sure you have seen it all as well..
WRT the FATG, and I have taken this up with Rose Sumner MD. There are 81 listed retail picture framers in the Cornwall Yellow Pages. Yet only 9 (and awaiting the latest Directory from FATG) belong to the FATG. Only 1 (yes ONE) is GCF.. That is me.. The Branch Master position for the South West has been vacant for a long time.
On questioning some 20 of the 81 listed. The majority have stated that the FATG is a CORPORATE organisation and NOT interested in the small one man/woman retail picture framer. Sadly I have to agree with this statement.
I have been a member of the FATG and a GCF for five years and at approximately £175 a year. That is nearly the cost of a new MORSO.
However, they have helped when I have had a difficult job. Once I had to use the procedure when a customer complained about my work. FATG were then very swift and helpful and as an aside my work was carried out within their guidelines.. So is it worth it.. I have to say YES.
I may have opened up here for a few 'broadsides' but hey, hopefully this is an informative and educational forum. If it gets the hits that the GRUMBLE gets then John at EstLite has done a wonderful job.

[markw]

Gosh! its quite a long time since I posted the GCF "debate" starter, glad to see its started to move. Having taken and passed the test i suppose that I have accepted that its a positive, sensible business decision. Having taken the test with a number of other framers in the Gloucestershire/Wiltshire area at a local framers (Creative at Cirencester) I can say that if nothing else it has made all of us consider the quality of the framing that we produce. I would also say that it has given me more confidence in giving advice to my customers on conservation framing - my approach to tricky framing jobs and how i am going to handle the media to be framed.

Ive been framing for 14 years - and was a graphic artist before that - for too many years - so handling artwork has always been a familiar aspect of my work, the test made me reconsider some work practices, re-enforced others.
Taking the test was amusing - my elder kids had just taken their A levels and i had tried to calm their nerves - my wife practically had to put me on tranquilisers to calm me down when i dropped and damaged one of my test pieces on the way to a increasingly late appontment with the tester.

I still disagree with many aspects of the guilds standards - for instance, I use corricorIII - it has a water resistant back - lick and stick tape doesn't stick for long - good quality self adhesive does. Flexi pins are a godsend on many jobs - shallow rebates - pastles to name a few - not favoured by the guild, but they work well.
The Fine Art Trade Guild are trying to raise standards in our industry, no other body is going to do it so i do support - As for other framers in my area, its always the newcomers that seem to get in the way - and they either survive and start charging a realistic rate - or they flounder after a couple of years - but they can distract some customers - but then good practices in workshop coupled with a friendly confident attitude towards your customer should keep them coming back. Having a bit of a problem with grumpy old men at the moment - but then thats another debate entirely. Did I mention that being able to give consistent accurate pricing is important -Better put in a plug for EST - presume John reads these posts?

Markw GCF

[sarah]

[quote="SB"]I don't agree with the guest who listed professional standing and marketing amongst the advantages of the GCF.

I have been involved in the family business for fifiteen years, we are a GCF framers and I feel it hasn't aided us gain the reputation we have. Bog standard customers wouldn't know what the guild was let alone care if we were commended or not, they just want their picture framed at a good price. Thus losing the marketing/selling advantage suggested.

As for professionalism that is something that you create yourself, you can have all the certs in the world but still operate an unprofessional and shoddy organisation. In addition if the people you are trying to impress don't even know what GCF stands for they aren't going to understand the 'professional' aspect of it.

[andy]

Sarah,

Can you please explain what you mean by a "bog standard customer" I personally treat all my customers with the highest respect and never refer to them as being what you suggested.

[Merlin]

Only today a customer came in with four hand painted silks for framing, saying he had had them for about three months. He had spent that time looking for a 'qualified framer' in the South West and had found us by searching the FATG website. Yahoo!!! the first (that has admitted it) in nearly 7 years. He was full of questions, felt like an interrogation really, but he did say he had visited about 12 other framers in the area and I was the only one that could meet his requirements. He did call them 'fly by night merchants'. Now that really is a sad state of affairs and at times an uphill struggle. I openly admitted to him that I was more expensive than my three local competition. His reply was. If it is done as you have stated then the expense is worth it.
Further discussion went along the lines of.. At least you have taken the time to study your profession and sit some sort of professional exam, He did note the GCF certificate.
I am also a member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen and that too came in handy last week. As a local architect wanted some plans framing. His comments were. I am totally fed up with 'cowboys in the building trade' who think they know what they are on about and quote 15 years experience. At least you are certified ???? and if anything goes wrong then I have a fall back from your Certification body whereas it would be the small claims court with these idiots!!.
I will say here that these two customers will get nothing extra and they will pay exactly the same as any other customer who comes in with the same requests. It was just so nice to enter a conversation from two professionals (in other fields), who are fed up being tarred with bad remarks from cowboys.
So maybe there is a gain afterall.
To Sarah, maybe it is you who is 'bog standard', surely as GCF framers you should be advertising that point and talking to your customers. Tell what the Guild is. If only to stand out just that little bit from your own local competition.

[SquareFrames]

JOHN GCF (UK)

Congratulations! I have been slightly luckier, in that I have been found on the Guild's website slightly more often, but hey, just proves that results come to those who are prepared to put the work in, in the forst place and not sit back and rubbish everything, including the GCF qualification. If Sarah doesnt think much of it, why did she do it in the first place, and why is she not prepared to promote herself to her 'bog standard' customers, maybe then would her bog standard customers become....dare I say it..clients!

I havent had the time to reply to Sarah's comments as yet, but I agree with you, I would not call any of my customers 'Bog Standard' simply because if it wasnt for the odd array of simple jobs, like certificates, photographs and the like, which I might add we always advise the customer of our skills by adding a diploma mount to certificates, and maybe hand finishing mounts for photographs, and we always, always tell the customer of GCF, and what it stands for, and no one yet has turned us down because we are slightly more expensive that our closest competitor, but the main thing is, we treat ALL our customers exaclt the same, whether they be spending £15 on a certificate or £100's of pounds on conservation or museum quality, we treat all with 'RESPECT' and 'DIGNITY' there is no such thing as a bog standrad customer in our workshop, and when they all leave at least we have told them of what we have achieved by gaining the GCF and the GCF Advanced, leaving them under no illusion that at least their job will be completed by someone that cares for tneir business and most importnatly of all 'return' business. Anyone cam do a one off framing job for someone, return framing clients are always the clients that you not only give respect to, but also they must respcet you and your abilty to do their work.

Like John (UK) states, maybe its you that is bog standard and not your customers and just maybe its time you changed your attitude towards the very people that help put food on your table and shoes on your feet.

Steven (Square Frames)

[Underpinner]

Even though Sarah obviously disagrees with a couple of my earlier comments about the GCF, I think that she makes some very fair points, and that some of the remarks in the replies to her posting are a bit heavy-handed and unjustified. Admittedly “bog standard customers” was an unfortunate choice of phrase but it is perfectly clear what she meant and it’s no big deal: She meant ordinary everyday customers who have no special knowledge of art, framing and conservation issues and who are not therefore able to bring expertise to bear or to judge expertise in others. Probably 90% of our customers fall into this broad category and, over time, we should be guiding and informing them – and I feel sure that Sarah does as much of this as the rest of us.
I believe that I have found the GCF “qualification” useful, first because by studying for the test I learned a few things that I had not known previously. Secondly, and far more importantly from the business point of view, I have taken every opportunity to market myself as a GCF and this has produced results both locally and via the internet. Granted, the majority of customers have no idea what GCF means but confronted with two framers, one of whom has letters after his name, most people will tend to think that the framer with letters is the better qualified. Whether they then choose that framer, or judge him/her likely to be more/too expensive, is another matter.
I make no more claim for the GCF as a marketing tool than that. I do not regard it as a “qualification”. Lets face it, framing is hardly rocket science yet to hear some framers you would think that the next step after the GCF is at least a Masters Degree! Apart from anything else, the guild is not (so far as I know) a qualifying body in the same way as an academic/training institution. To my way of thinking, the guild is basically a marketing organisation. All the guild’s standards etc. (while very praiseworthy) amount to no more than a voluntary code of practice and the GCF merely proves that those who have passed the test have proved capable of achieving that code of practice. It does not mean that they will adhere to the code consistently. Neither does it mean that they will have a clue about the equally vital subjective aspects of framing (and the underlying science) – which the GCF fails to test.
On the other hand, the lack of the GCF does not mean that a framer cannot and does not achieve the same (or better) standards of work.

[markw]

John
Good to see a common sense approach to the subject. Has anyone filled in the FATG survey - last question reminds framers that they can fall foul of the Trades Description Act if they fail to meet the standards expected - I thought it uneccesarily threatening on a survey - and highlights the guilds lack of understanding of the trade generally, as well as the trades description act.
I cant think of a single framer in the locality who would fall foul of this law by producing a bog standard frame (had to use it somewhere).
How do you react to the customer who chooses a frame mount etc. with your advice, then on collection hates it? All the formal qualifications in the world make no difference to this customer if you have presented them with something they dont want - personally i try to make sure i have a happy customer leave the shop - but i somtimes know that some people can never be happy - in which case i happily recommend them to one of my neighbours - share and share alike

[Underpinner]

I find the guild’s survey questions very telling and most disappointing. The first five questions shouldn’t need to be asked by the organisation which invented the CGF and would like us to think that it believes in and knows what it is doing. The various answers to question 7 (In your opinion, what steps should be taken to ensure greater consumer awareness of the GCF programme?) are obvious but how many of them cam be implemented depends on the guild’s resources. I fail to see the point of questions 8 and 9. As for question 10, of course we all know that the Trading Standards Department can become involved if a customer feels that our work is not of merchantable quality, fit for purpose etc. However, I may be mistaken about this, but I simply do not believe that the guild has the authority to insist, in law, on its standards being observed to the letter. This relates to an aspect of the guild’s legal status which needs clarification. Some independent legal opinions on this would be of great interest.
All in all, the survey is pretty pathetic in my view and once again demonstrates the guild’s obsession with making framers toe the line rather than looking at how they might “win the hearts and minds” of framers and convince us that they are indeed a framers organisation. Incidentally, a whole calendar month has now passed since our comments on this forum were considered “by three levels” in the guild – and unless my computer has found a whole new way to play up, I conclude that we have received no response from the guild. Quite why is a mystery to me and I guess we may never know the answer. It must be intensely frustrating for those who are valiantly trying to uphold the guild’s side of the argument on the forum.
My answer to the question concerning the customer who is unhappy with the result, despite choosing the specifications, is that I will make the frame again at no extra charge. After all, the customer cannot be expected (when placing the order) to visualise the finished job all that clearly (unlike framers who do it every day) and I am also aware of a risk of selling something that was not quite what the customer wanted. The risk is slight because I am not a salesman but it exists. I actually point out (at the time of ordering) to any customer who seems less than certain about their choice, that if they don’t like the finished job I will make it again – and I would do so but it has not happened yet, in nine years of framing. The reason for this policy being that any happy customer can produce hundreds (perhaps thousands) of pounds worth of work over time, either directly or through recommendations, and I am delighted to have benefited from numerous instances of this. On the other hand, an unhappy customer will send a similar amount of work to your competitors.
Incidentally, usually it is possible at the initial ordering stage to detect the genuinely awkward customer but I don't even send these rarities to my competitors! If they want to be rude, pompous, patronisding or whatever that's fine by me. My pricing programme is designed to cope - if you follow my drift - and I just keep smiling!