Here at Apollo Caster and Apollo Land Co., we have several small construction / maintenance projects underway. Related to that, we have been working with a variety of companies and contractors for services such as roof repair, masonry tuckpointing and flooring. More times than not, the potential vendors have to be contacted multiple times to simply get their quote. These seems odd in two ways.
First, why is it that people feel they are doing their customer a favor to promise a delivery date and then miss it? Why not do everyone a favor by making a realistic promise of when the quote/ work can be completed and then meeting or exceeding it? To blow past it only undermines the customer’s faith about working with that vendor in the future. And it creates stress and non-value-added phone calls for the vendor. Further, if they put off doing the quote for two weeks, how many details have they forgotten about the original discussion?
Second, who is impressed by a supplier that cannot even build up the interest to try to earn some new business? At Apollo, we aim to respond to every quote request within a few hours. After all, if we give the impression that we’re too busy or uninterested to prepare the quote and earn the business, why would we expect the customer to be optimistic about our future service levels and why should they be excited about working with us?
Apollo Caster wants your business. We will say it and we will play it. Even when we’re busy; even when we’re short-handed, every veteran customer or new prospect has our attention and responsiveness.
It’s just not that hard.
