27 July, 2009
A customer phoned us last week to order three Berkshire gilts.
He was quite certain that he wanted them, insisted I mark the three best ones down for him, and said he’d collect them Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning.
However, neither the Other Half or I were that positive about the sale as we’ve been down this route so many times before.
Saturday afternoon came and went without a sign of the customer, nor was there a phone call.
Sunday morning came and went.
Sunday afternoon came and went.
To our complete lack of surprise, the customer failed to appear, never called and never answered his phone.
He was the third in a week and the ninth in a month.
I really don’t understand why people contact us, arrange to buy pigs, organise collection dates, and get very specific about what they want and when they want it—when they have absolutely no intention of going ahead with the purchase.
About two-thirds of the people who’ve contacted us in the past three months have been time-wasters, fantasists or chancers, and have quickly filtered themselves out.
Of the remaining third, most say they will definitely buy the pigs they’ve expressed an interest in and some even pay a deposit.
But then more than half of them cancel their order with 72 hours or less to go until the day of collection or simply fail to show.
The result is that the OH and I no longer believe anyone who says they’re going to buy pigs off us.
It doesn’t matter whether someone is a previous customer or a new customer, it doesn’t matter whether they been on the croft to inspect the pigs or not, it doesn’t matter how big the order or how small, and it doesn’t matter how committed they’ve seen or not.
Very, very few people think they have a responsibility to meet the commitment they’ve made and very, very few have the slightest qualm or moral difficulty in leaving us in the lurch.
But if we do manage to get in touch with them and tell them what we think, then they’re horrified that we’re such nasty people.
It’s not their fault, after all.
No Deposit No Order
No Show No Refund
Not quite money for nothing, but at least it’s money for inconvenience.
Works for me
SBW
We do that as well. And we do keep the deposits—much to their annoyance. If we wanted to get really pernickety, they have entered into a contract and we could take them to court to have it enforced.
The fact of the matter is that a lot of people believe they have no responsibilities whatsoever.
The modern world
I know my rights but having got a f***ing clue about responsibilities
Hello Stonehead,
There is an old saying. “80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers.” Can I suggest that you look at your regulars and send them out reminders/ flyers etc. Given them a discount card so the next time they buy through you they get either a discount or a credit towards there next purchase. Work in with their business. Work out when the require guilts and attempt to bread them around those times. Do your regulars require your breeds or do they need something else ? (survey them either directly or covertly)
Sorry about my ranting
We have professionally printed flyers and we send them out to regular customers as a reminder, as well as to new customers. (And being professional in our approach actually results in criticism and lost sales!)
Customers are always asking for discounts. We don’t do discounts as there’s no profit margin to discount and, with the past two litters, we’ve been selling at a loss anyway.
We do work out when people want pigs. We have a customer who wants his at the end of January when he finishes a three-month stint of work and heads back south to his smallholding. We’ve just put a sow in with the boar to provide a litter to suit him. We have several customers who like to get their pigs at Easter, so we time two sows to produce litters 10 weeks before that.
We breed Berkshires because they suit the size of our operation, because they are primarily a porker that’s ready for slaughter aged 24-28 weeks, and because they’re an amiable, easily handled breed. All of which is what most customers want. We tried a variety of breeds before settling on the Berkshire and, fortunately, the Berkshire happens to suit our temperaments as well as meeting the other needs.
I may not spell out the entire background to our decisions and why we do what we do in one post, but doesn’t mean that the thought and work hasn’t gone in.
i do actually like the public, but sometimes I’m not sure why.
Oh that’s it, because so many of the are so scummy to the people who provide their services, it’s always such a delight when I meet the nice, honest ones.
keep on keeping on fella, if only because it beats the alternative.
SBW
In the area I now live I get that sort of behavior, but not from potential customers – from *service providers*. Actual small business people. Folks who might take a large tree down for us, or put gutters on the back of the garage, or plumbers. I cannot fathom it. We talk on the phone, arrange a time for them to be here, and then they simple don’t show up and don’t call, even days later. This *never* happened in other places I’ve lived, but it seems to be the norm here. Our money is good, as is our word. I never bother chasing after such people. If they don’t want the work in this economy, well, what can anyone do?
Were I in your position, you can bet I’d go the route of a hefty deposit (at least a third), no show – no refund.
Kate
I love it when other plumbers do that
It’s how i get my work, the other fail to turn up.
My quote suddenly looks like the best option
SBW
We constantly have the same problem as Kate. Since moving into an older property we’ve found enough work in this building to keep most of the local tradesmen going for years.
I thought there was meant to be a recession. We’re obviously contacting the wrong people because they: (a) don’t turn up to look at the job give a quote (b) turn up, look round but never send a quote (c) send a quote that had us rolling about crying with laughter at the number of zero’s on the end, or – the best one yet (d) don’t bother to come back when we phone to accept a quote.
Our shooting job is going the same way I now take 50% deposit and make them sign contract !!!
I have a litter of 9 Lab pups for sale !! so will be going through the timewaster mill very soon
In our local paper there were weeners for sale last week I will not say the price as Mr Stoanhead will blow a gasket.
At the end of the day you get what you pay for !
Its a global problem it happens here in Canada also but then i only have 2 litters a year to sell. My solution is that i now have 2 prices one for existing customers who regularly buy from me and another price for the rest. Ok i may not make as much on the existing customers but they can be relied upon to pick them up when they are ready and the more of those customers i have the less i have to deal with the “public”. This method has worked well in fact my existing customer bank is now full enough to usually sell a litter by having a quick ring round. Ill probably be eating my words in september when no doubt ill have to sit and wait for no shows.
I believe you, absolutely, but at the same time I can hardly believe the numbers of them – it’s not like buying shoes for goodness sake (not even pigskin ones). It happens a lot with my ducklings, and people ring and say after making a definite order that they couldn’t wait for them to be old enough to be off heat and have bought others, but not to worry as they’re sure I’ll flog them easily to someone else even though I hatch to order!
But pigs? It’s such a big commitment (the ark, the fencing, the feedbins, the trailer, the…. well, you know all that), so what are they fannying about for? Has someone been spreading idiotic swine flu tales? Is it worse now than last year? Is it like folks who look round houses three times and say they will put in an offer and then piss off into the blue yonder?
Well if you are going down the virtual pig route again give me a shout
I’d say cash waiting but we are just about to clear ourselves out buying a wee croft with 2 acres of land
My husband is a contractor, and I swear at least twice a month he will drive to a job only to have the homeowner tell him at the front door “oh, it’s you…. yeah… we decided not to have you do the work because of , and we tried to call you, except we were not able to, because of .” Except that it’s awful tough these days to use the “I tried to call” excuse, with caller ID and voice mail technology, it’s really obvious when they didn’t.
And, same thing- they are utterly shocked that he still expects them to pay him something for driving there, and for then missing a full day’s worth of pay.
My dentist appears to have the same challenges, as he also sends out firm reminders that less than 24 hours notice of a cancellation will incur an office visit charge anyway; and he reports that people always complain about this “strictness.”
So, you’re not alone, the world appears to be full of narcissists. I guess it’s just part of doing business in anything, anywhere, and the deposit is the only small consolation for the hassle.
Another day and another no show for me !!
Couple from England came to see the pups on Monday and picked out 2 pups to take home with them today ( Thursday ) I have work to be getting on with but still have to sit at home waiting.
Andy