Jason
I sent a big list for an order of silicone and connectors to three companies on Tuesday and not one has come back to me - even to say 'give us a
few days and we'll come back to you'.
I own a retail business and do loads of web/mail-order, and I wouldn't dream of ignoring a cusotmer who wants to spend a couple of hundred quid
for 4 days.
Is it me - or is this normal in this business?
I shan't name names as this post isn't to have a dig at them, just to express my dissapointment yet again in companies who deal in this
industry.
I reply same day mostly, but mainly to u2u's
Jason
I continue to be amazed by the way some suppliers in this industry deal with customers, if I ran my business like that I would be out of business very
quickly 
Cheers
Alex
quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
I sent a big list for an order of silicone and connectors to three companies on Tuesday and not one has come back to me - even to say 'give us a few days and we'll come back to you'.
I own a retail business and do loads of web/mail-order, and I wouldn't dream of ignoring a cusotmer who wants to spend a couple of hundred quid for 4 days.
Is it me - or is this normal in this business?
I shan't name names as this post isn't to have a dig at them, just to express my dissapointment yet again in companies who deal in this industry.
jason as you are a registered trader wot do you sell?
Alex
Most companies, no matter how good, cannot be relied upon to call you back. If you want something more than they do, you ring them. It saves dissapointment.
quote:
Originally posted by hicost
Jasp,
You need to tell them what you want, ie read it off the page in the catalogue. Then they will ship it same day.
You are asking people to think and make decisions for you.
Just pick the phone up and order it...
As people have said - a lot of these companies have flashy catalogues and/or websites, but in reality they're often tiny companies running their
business from garages, grotty commercial units, backs of shops, or whatever.
If you want reliability, big productions and top-notch service you have to pay for it (see 'Westfield' ). And, even then, things go wrong -
there are humans involved, after all...
I'm not making excuses for bad service - just telling it the way I see it, in realistic terms.
David
I prefer to order by phone or go direct if possible,as david said some companies have an ordering or quotation system on there flash websites but may
only look at there post on a sunday morning at home.
[Edited on 17/2/06 by bob]
hasnt anyone learnt yet in life that if you treat people like shite they respect you and come back for more!!!!
I havent quite got my head round it yet
Jasper,
i think you hit the nail on the head- you have asked three companies to quote for you.
At best, this means that two of them will be wasting their time compiling the quote.
It sounds brutal, but our small company will sometimes get 20 or 30 requests for quotation a day. We know that in 60% of cases we wont get any
money.
It very hard to get motivated to keep compiling quotes and then getting no sale, especially if the quote is a huge list of different items, whihch are
probably on different price lists.
As has been mentioned above- phone.
Always pick up the phone is my approach.
As a sales engineer for my company I get countless emails asking for pricing and datasheets - half of them don't appear to bear any relation to
what the company does?
I do however try and contact everyone within 48 hours to check who they are and what they want - even if it's an out of office reply when
I'm on the road.
Jasper - I'm sure your requests were perfectly reasonable. Look at it this way - I'm sure there are others who are keen to supply to you
and if nothing else you can eliminate the 3 companies you contacted as worthwhile suppliers.
Good luck!
Nick
quote:
Originally posted by Jumpy Guy
Jasper,
i think you hit the nail on the head- you have asked three companies to quote for you.
At best, this means that two of them will be wasting their time compiling the quote.
It sounds brutal, but our small company will sometimes get 20 or 30 requests for quotation a day. We know that in 60% of cases we wont get any money.
It very hard to get motivated to keep compiling quotes and then getting no sale, especially if the quote is a huge list of different items, whihch are probably on different price lists.
As has been mentioned above- phone.
We'd like to have your business. But we're not allowed to tell you that!
Steve,
How come you haven't registered as a trader on here?
Then you "could" tell Jasper that you're happy to supply him
I'm sure if I called him now he wouldn't be very happy to supply a quote at all
That's more like it, called another company, sent the list, they emailed it back in an hour with all the prices on it - it really wasn't that hard .... now lets see it any of the other come back .....
quote:
Originally posted by Jumpy Guy
It sounds brutal, but our small company will sometimes get 20 or 30 requests for quotation a day. We know that in 60% of cases we wont get any money.
It very hard to get motivated to keep compiling quotes and then getting no sale, especially if the quote is a huge list of different items, whihch are probably on different price lists.
As has been mentioned above- phone.
The problem here is Catch 22...
If youre doing well, you're busy. Sometimes too busy to do quotes, because you're doing actual work.
This might ring bells with certain kit manufacturers!!
likewise, when business is a bit quiet, we have tons of time to do quotes. So our quoting time is very fast.
I've u2u'd people who asked
Jason