Reuben,

You could put a list together of let's say 20 colors that you have tested, or know are good quality.  Then give that list to the customers before they head off to the slab yard.

At least the customer has a place to start.  You could also include the "Lemon Test" and the "Water Absorbtion Test" for stone that is not on the list.

[QUOTE]Tom M wrote
 I don't think my supplier would want to be cutting off chunks that may not end up being sold to the customer. Is this common?
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All our suppliers have been very accommodating in supplying samples to us and the clients we refer to them.  I am not sure how they logistically manage that, but can only assume that they sacrifice some slabs or use slabs damaged during shipping for samples.  I can only hope that other suppliers are equally accommodating

[QUOTE]Reuben wrote

but how do I go about helping a consumer make the correct choice in granites when I am selling it only and the slab yard that the fabricators I use is 2 hours away ?
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We are 2.5 hours away from the closest slab yard.  It is only very seldom that a client is not willing to drive up to any of the yards to select their materials. 

When a client comes to the shop the first time, we determine what kind of material they want:  light vs dark, patterned vs oatmeal, specific color/color family.  If the client is not able to decide on an exact material, we then give them a list of possibilities (the suppliers' web sites are very handy to determine further which materials a client will be interested in).  It is always good to have a goal - a narrowed down field of choice - before anybody has to brave a slab yard.  For a person not able to make a choice it would be sensory overload to go to the slab yard if they have no idea what to look for and a trip to the slab yard can easily turn into an overwhelming experience.

The clients honestly enjoy shopping for their slabs and gain a tremendous amount of satisfaction from being able to tag their own materials.

Thank you, Jon!  That was very kind of you 

2 1/2 hrs. to the closest slab yard?
Is that an Arizona thing, or are you that good?
Your customers must trust the heck out of you for that kind of dedication. Good on ya.

Brings up a point, though:
Do you find that fabricators who have their own yard on site are at a disadvantage, because they will be inclined to rotate their inventory, thereby feeling pressured to recommend the same stone you might with no such burden?

It works in the other direction as well....

Some customers enjoy the whole experience of traveling to a distributor and browsing the variablity of stone slabs.  They feel invested in the process as well as the ability to pick out something that the Joneses don't have.

Some customers don't wan't to be bothered and want to make a quick selection.  Having your own selections supports these folks.

Tom,

Not just an Arizona thing! Being located in St Pete, FL, we actually send some customers to Orlando (21/2 - 4 Hours depending on the amount of accidents) We have tons of yards in our local area But.... Some of the best stone around comes from these guys and if our customers can't find something they like locally these guys almost always have it and are willing to make that drive.

dauchesd,
You pick the inventory based on history of sales?

Tom,

That, and what my wife likes!  That's what seems to work and keep my marriage healthy!

Dan

Having your own inventory seems like a huge cash outlay.  Don't know if many could afford that.  We send all our customers to slab yards, but we have samples of the most popular colors.  Our customers always want something unique and then end up selecting the same colors everyone else does.

Andy after you see a "trend" in the client picking those "unique" colors you may want to consider purchase of a bundle and your profit will go up due to the bundle discount and the fact you can utilize drop from one job to the next since it is the same lot of stone. Damn that was long winded now