So fed up with ignorant customers

[northcarr]

I don't see why it is "alarming" that not everyone followed you through the door?!

If you're hungry, you're hungry and will quote for the work. I don't see it being rude, at the end of the day when visiting a customer or potential customer you're there to give a quote it is essentially tendering for work. What is the difference between giving a quote infront of other customers and tendering for work online?

I do see your point the customers always king, if you ring someone to come and price a job you should have the courtesy to tell them that there will be other plumbers there and you will want a bidding war for the best price ,this is not unreasonable to want the best price but who would turn up knowing that ? If they attend then they know what is required.it is unfair to waste people's time especially if they are self employed sole traders time is money to them.

 

[SimonG]

I don't see why it is "alarming" that not everyone followed you through the door?!

If you're hungry, you're hungry and will quote for the work. I don't see it being rude, at the end of the day when visiting a customer or potential customer you're there to give a quote it is essentially tendering for work. What is the difference between giving a quote infront of other customers and tendering for work online?

Dont mind quoting but that situation is ridiculous. Somebody might just have been treat to a knuckle sandwich for my trouble.

Theres one thing quoting and another thing bidding.

 

[SimonG]

How many of you guys have, at any point, sent a list of materials to a range of merchants, and then played one off against the other?

How many of you have ordered something, and put your supplier to the trouble of organising it, and then cancelled because you have found a cheaper or better solution elsewhere?

This is is just normal customer behaviour in almost any field. If you run a business then you have to accept that your aspirations and motivations are not the same as your customers'. Sure, you can set up policies and procedures to lessen the impact on you, but there is no point in getting uptight about it. Its just a risk of business life.

I dont want to have to do that. I want a merchant to give me their best price for me. I appreciate that a bigger company will have better buying power but i dont want to go in today and pay a pound, in tomorrow and pay a pound fifty for the same thing. Just want consistency. Sometimes i go elsewhere just show i have other options if needed.

 

[Mike Jackson]

I will quite often take a quote from another merchant in. I will still use the merchant that gave me the cheaper price but I like to let them know why I'm not using them for a certain job. I think it gives them a chance to look at their pricing structure. Having said that I don't always go for the cheapest price as sometimes the service is more important.

 

[SimonG]

I will quite often take a quote from another merchant in. I will still use the merchant that gave me the cheaper price but I like to let them know why I'm not using them for a certain job. I think it gives them a chance to look at their pricing structure. Having said that I don't always go for the cheapest price as sometimes the service is more important.

Likewise when i miss out on a bigish job. I like to contact the cust for some feedback on my price vs the one that got the job. Keeps my pricing right or gives me a laugh to see just how little somebody is charging.

 

[Dotty]

I will quite often take a quote from another merchant in. I will still use the merchant that gave me the cheaper price but I like to let them know why I'm not using them for a certain job. I think it gives them a chance to look at their pricing structure. Having said that I don't always go for the cheapest price as sometimes the service is more important.

I agree, I tend to to stick with one merchantover here because he's reasonably priced but the clincher for me is he can turn round stock faster than his competitors.

Because of the nature of the business i sometimes have to get 2 or 3 merchants to price something over a £1,000. this is a contractual thing we're bound by but I always inform the merchant that I have to ring aound.

As was also said, we all also understand that custards will get 3 or 4 or more tenders for a contract, it's just common courtesy to keep us informed that we might be viewing the job at the same time as other guys.
I honestly don't mind as long as I know where I stand and I'm sure other guys feel the same.

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

In 95% I only use one merchant as price and the service is good. I only go shop elsewhere if they can't get some stuff.

 

[lame plumber]

How many of you guys have, at any point, sent a list of materials to a range of merchants, and then played one off against the other?

How many of you have ordered something, and put your supplier to the trouble of organising it, and then cancelled because you have found a cheaper or better solution elsewhere?This is is just normal customer behaviour in almost any field. If you run a business then you have to accept that your aspirations and motivations are not the same as your customers'. Sure, you can set up policies and procedures to lessen the impact on you, but there is no point in getting uptight about it. Its just a risk of business life.

maybe what some people do, but I have an independant supplier and what I do with his blessing is to go to the bigger companies and get quotes and compare his to theirs. if he is over then he can sometimes come down or match the other guys, but theres no point in forcing him below everyone else or he wont be there next year to sell me anything. with this attitude both of us trog along happily reaching a sensible compromise, but best of all, if I ring him at an odd hour I can virtually guarentee him opening up for me to get the bits I urgently need. so I remain loyal to him and it pays me to do so. Just a pity customers dont copy my way of thinking cos they would get a better service in the long term.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Well, there are a lot of you who I would love to have as customers with the attitudes described, and in fairness, we have a lot of customers who are like that.

But we also have a lot of customers who use us as part of a range of suppliers. One of my favourite conversations of all time went like this:

Me: "Hey T***, long time, no see. Where have you been hiding?"

Him: "Yeah, sorry Ray, I have mostly been using S**** at [competitor]"

Me: "Oh, why's that then? Is he beating our prices?"

Him: "No, its just that he took me to a golf day, and ... well... you know how it is..."

Me: "No worries mate. Anyway, how can we help?"

Him: "Well, I've taken this job on, and its a bit technically complicated for S****, so I though I'd come to you for some advice."

Me: "Splutter..."

Seriously - almost word for word.

And we did the quote, and made the sale, and then he went back to playing golf and shopping with the competitor.

 

[lame plumber]

should have bumped the price so you could have joined him on the course for a day