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{ 2010 01 07 }
Am I Scaring My Customers Away?
I get tons of queries every week by e-mail for websites. Most of them are looking for a website for tuppence and when I quote them thruppence they never reply. However for each of them I do reply. But I often wonder if I am responding in the right manner. I tend to reply with a e-mail (detailed and pretty boilerplate to be honest) and more often than not NEVER hear again. Now I know it isn’t always the price but perhaps an e-mail is too casual. Should I go the PDF/Word doc/Google Docs route and have a fancy Dan template to respond?
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Martin Mulcahy | 07-Jan-10 at 4:52 am | Permalink
I think it all comes down to price you quote, irrespective of whatever method of response you provide, Kieran. I think a basic e-mail response would suffice – that’s my ‘tuppence-worth’, anyway.
Paul O'Mahony (Cork) | 07-Jan-10 at 5:28 am | Permalink
I can’t tick any of those boxes. My first reaction whenever anyone asks me about a service I provide is to be unsure whether I’d like to work for them.
I only work for people I like. The others are too much trouble and I don’t see why I should import trouble into my life. So the key issue for me is “how can I find out more about the potential customer?” Also “How can I show the other person what sort of a person I am to deal with?”
The first approach is an unknown. My suggestion for what it’s worth is that you find a way to get into conversation with the person. These days it costs so little to phone someone, I always speak to the person before thinking of offering a quote.
Maybe we could get together for a face to face chat about this?
Twitter @marketingwrite
Kieran Daly | 07-Jan-10 at 7:59 am | Permalink
Thanks for the reply Martin.
Kieran Daly | 07-Jan-10 at 8:04 am | Permalink
Thanks Paul – you are completely right. Avoid those people who will break your heart
If someone asks me for a quote and sends a phone number I always call them, chat with them and get a feel for their needs. My success in getting business from these type of contacts is infinitely higher.
However you would be amazed at the volume of queries I get along the lines of (literally). Hi, I would like a website that ;looks like http://www.example.com. Can you quote me a price – John.
Literally that length. I always (nearly) give them a reply and questions (first being looking for phone number) but 99% of them never reply again. I am starting to think that I will respond less and less to them and concentrate on real customers.
And yes we will meet again soon as I think you need iPhone advice from @daly192 !!!!
Leslie | 27-Jan-10 at 10:56 am | Permalink
I work in SEO and get emails asking if I will quote for certain work.
Most of them I tell that I am too busy and wish them all the best. I don’t have the time to talk to someone who want to get to the top of G for €100 – this is so common.