Setting up Yesoma for a specialty retail store

Yesoma helps specialty and showroom retailers manage the inquiry layer that sits on top of their point-of-sale system — the stock questions, special orders, delivery scheduling, trade account requests, and warranty claims that come in via WhatsApp, email, and web forms before the customer ever reaches the checkout counter. It is not a POS and it does not replace your inventory system; your existing point-of-sale handles transactions, receipts, and inventory. Yesoma sits next to it, handling the customer relationship work that no POS does well.

1. Which businesses this playbook is for — and what it is not for

The specialty retail playbook is designed for showroom-style businesses where customers ask questions before they buy. The most common fits are:

• Lighting showrooms (floor lamps, chandeliers, exterior fixtures, commercial lighting)
• Furniture stores (case goods, upholstered pieces, outdoor furniture, custom orders)
• Jewelry stores (bridal, fashion, custom design, estate)
• Appliance retailers (kitchen packages, laundry, built-in and luxury brands)
• High-end electronics shops (home theater, custom installation, professional audio)

What these businesses have in common: customers don't just walk up to a shelf and add an item to a cart. They ask whether the item comes in a different finish, whether it can be ordered, how long delivery takes, whether there is a designer or contractor discount, and whether the store will install it. That inquiry layer — from first question to delivery sign-off — is where Yesoma operates.

This playbook is not suited for:

• Grocery, convenience, or fast-moving consumer goods retail (no inquiry layer; the POS does everything)
• Fast fashion or clothing boutiques (fit and return inquiries are a different shape)
• Pure e-commerce stores with no physical showroom (a separate online-store playbook is in development)

If you selected one of the aliased business types during onboarding — lighting showroom, electronics store, furniture store, jewelry store, or appliance store — you received this same playbook. The services, policies, FAQs, and templates are identical across all of those; you will edit the content to match your specific product focus after onboarding.

2. Applying the playbook — what gets created

When you select the specialty retail option during onboarding, Yesoma creates eight pre-configured inquiry types in your workspace:

• Product availability inquiry — the most common inquiry; customer asks whether a product is in stock, can be ordered, and what the lead time is. Set to $0 because no charge is appropriate for an availability check.
• Custom order / special-order item — items shipped directly from the manufacturer in a specific finish, size, or configuration. Requires a 50% non-refundable deposit; final sale once the manufacturer confirms.
• Price quote — formal quote for floor models, contractor pricing, extended-catalogue items, or anything not listed on the website.
• Delivery + installation — white-glove delivery and professional installation; starts at $150 for local delivery.
• Trade / contractor account inquiry — wholesale pricing for licensed professionals; requires license verification.
• Bulk / project order — multi-unit orders for renovation projects, hospitality fit-outs, or property development.
• Design / spec consultation — in-showroom guidance from a specialist (lighting designer, furniture stylist, gemologist, appliance consultant); complimentary in-showroom, quoted for at-home visits.
• Returns + warranty claim — we file manufacturer warranty claims on the customer's behalf.

Everything is editable. If your store does not offer delivery and installation, remove that inquiry type. If you specialize in a single category — say, outdoor furniture — remove the consultation types that don't apply and update the product language throughout.

3. The inquiry-types-not-products framing

The most important thing to understand about how this playbook is structured: the eight items in your services list are inquiry types, not product SKUs. They represent the categories of customer questions your team handles, not the individual products you sell.

Your point-of-sale system is the source of truth for product inventory, pricing, and transactions. Yesoma does not replicate that. What it tracks is the conversation: a customer asked about a specific chandelier, you checked availability, you sent a quote, the customer placed a special order, you scheduled delivery, the item arrived and was installed, you asked for a review.

This distinction matters for how you think about using Yesoma day-to-day. When a customer messages asking "do you have the [brand] [model] in brushed nickel?", you open a new case in Yesoma, tag it as a product availability inquiry, and reply. Your POS holds the inventory record; Yesoma holds the conversation thread. When the customer places a special order, you record the deposit in your POS; you record the order confirmation, lead time, and follow-up schedule in Yesoma.

The two systems are complementary, not competing.

4. Special-order deposit and lead-time workflow

Special orders are where the most friction happens in specialty retail, and the playbook is designed around that friction point.

When a customer wants an item that is not in stock on the floor, your standard workflow should be:

1. Confirm whether the manufacturer can produce the specific variation the customer wants (finish, size, configuration).
2. Get the lead time from the manufacturer — typically 2–6 weeks for standard orders; 8–14 weeks for custom finishes or hand-crafted items.
3. Send the customer a written quote that includes the product price, lead time, and special-order terms: 50% non-refundable deposit required, balance due at delivery, final sale once the manufacturer confirms.
4. Take the deposit only after the customer has explicitly acknowledged the terms in writing.
5. Place the order with the manufacturer and create a case in Yesoma with the expected arrival date so you don't lose track.
6. Update the customer when the item ships or if the lead time changes.
7. Contact the customer when the item arrives and schedule delivery or pickup.

The deposit requirement is not optional for special orders. Manufacturer-shipped items are produced specifically for your customer and cannot be returned or cancelled once the order enters production. If you waive the deposit and the customer changes their mind after the item ships, you are holding inventory you cannot sell. The playbook templates state the terms clearly and without apology — customers who want a custom item understand how this works.

Lead time is the single biggest source of complaints in specialty retail. Set realistic expectations upfront and update the customer proactively if anything changes. A customer who hears "your item will arrive in about four weeks" and then gets a message at week three saying it is running one week late is far less frustrated than a customer who hears nothing and starts following up at week four.

The follow-up cadence is set to fire on day four after a quote is sent. Retail decisions take longer than service bookings — a customer evaluating a $3,000 chandelier or a furniture suite is often consulting with a partner, checking room dimensions, or comparing options. Day four is close enough to stay relevant without feeling like pressure.

5. Delivery and installation handling

Delivery and installation is one of the highest-value services a specialty retailer can offer, and it is also where the most operational surprises happen. The playbook delivery template is designed to minimize those surprises by collecting access details in advance.

Before confirming a delivery, get answers to:

• Building type and floor number (a sofa going to a third-floor walk-up is a very different job from one going to a ground-floor house)
• Whether a freight elevator is available for upper floors
• Any access restrictions, narrow doorways, or tight stairwells
• Whether anyone will be home who can make decisions about placement and sign off on the installation

The delivery template surfaces all of these questions before the scheduling window is confirmed. This protects both your delivery team and the customer relationship — the worst outcome is a delivery crew that arrives to find an inaccessible space or no one home.

For appliances specifically: confirm that the existing connections are in place before scheduling (water line for refrigerators and dishwashers, gas or 240V electrical for ranges). If the connection is not ready, the installation cannot be completed and you will need to reschedule. The template includes a prompt for this.

Delivery fees are confirmed in the quote, not at the door. The playbook policy states this explicitly: "there are no surprise charges at the door." This is a trust signal, not just an operational note — customers in high-ticket retail are often anxious about hidden fees, and naming that anxiety directly earns goodwill.

6. Trade account workflow

Trade accounts — contractors, electrical professionals, interior designers, architects — are among the most valuable customers a specialty retailer can have. A single interior designer who specifies your store for every residential project is worth more in annual revenue than dozens of one-time retail customers. The trade inquiry template reflects this by being gracious and low-friction from the first message.

The trade account workflow in the playbook:

1. Customer messages asking about trade pricing.
2. First-reply template acknowledges the inquiry warmly and asks for business name, license number or designer affiliation, type of work, and approximate annual volume.
3. You verify the license (state contractor license databases, NCIDQ registry for designers, ASID or IIDA membership, or a company website that confirms the affiliation).
4. Account approved: you send a pricing schedule and assign a dedicated contact.
5. Net-30 terms available for accounts with an approved credit application.

The volume question in the first reply ("approximate project volume per year") is not gatekeeping — it is how you assign the correct pricing tier. A sole-proprietor electrical contractor buying for residential installs sits in a different tier from a commercial developer outfitting a 200-unit building. Knowing this upfront lets you have the right pricing conversation from the start.

Do not make trade customers jump through more hoops than necessary. License verification is the one non-negotiable step; everything else should feel like you are eager to open the account, not like you are looking for a reason to deny it.

7. What your reply templates look like in action

The playbook installs eight reply templates. Here is what each one is for and when to use it.

First reply — specialty retail inquiry is the default response to any new inbound message. It collects the four pieces of information you cannot answer without: which product, when they need it by, delivery or pickup preference, and general location for a delivery estimate. Without these four answers, no meaningful reply is possible.

Stock confirmation has three variants built into the body: in stock and available, can be ordered with a lead time, or discontinued with an alternative. Edit out the two that don't apply before sending. The in-stock variant sets aside the item; the can-order variant states the deposit and final-sale terms; the discontinued variant redirects gracefully to an alternative rather than just saying no.

Quote sent structures the quote as a clean summary: product, configuration, quantity, price, delivery cost, lead time, and warranty. Keeping quotes structured this way reduces back-and-forth and gives the customer a document they can reference.

Special-order confirmation serves as the written order record. The customer has paid a deposit; this template confirms what they ordered, how much they paid, what they still owe, and that the order is final sale. It should be sent immediately after the deposit is received so the terms are documented in the thread.

Trade account first reply is gracious and efficient. It collects what you need for the application in a single message so you can process the account without multiple rounds of back-and-forth.

Delivery scheduling presents available windows and collects access information at the same time. Combining these in a single message reduces the number of exchanges needed to get to a confirmed appointment.

Post-purchase thank you and review request fires seven days after the purchase or delivery is marked complete. The seven-day delay is intentional — let the customer install the fixture or use the appliance before you ask them to review it. A review written after genuine use is more credible and more useful than one written at the point of sale.

Warranty claim acknowledgment does two things: it reassures the customer that you are handling the claim, and it sets a realistic timeline so they know what to expect. Manufacturer warranty claims can take time; the template is honest about that while committing to follow up.

All templates use [bracket] placeholders for variable content — [product], [lead_time], [price], [date], [address] — and {{customer_first_name}} for the customer's name. Fill in the brackets before sending; Yesoma's AI suggested-reply feature will pre-fill many of them from the case context.