You Want That Written Down?

My husband and I are doing a few home projects this summer.  One includes painting a large part of the inside of our house and having a few hard wood floors refinished.  We decided to call in a few professionals to get quotes.  One man came in and gave us a quote verbally to do one room the floor and the painting.  I was not happy that he did not put it in writing but he and my husband had worked it out so I thought, let it be.  What a mistake!  He came in unprepared each time, took a long time to finish, and then charged us more than he apparently had quoted my husband.   

So, I thought I would just see if it was possible to get a written quote out of him.  He came to finish up the project and my husband was out of town.  So I told him I wanted a written quote and he informed me that he had spoken with my husband and gave him a quote verbally to do the rest of the house.  I handed him a piece of paper with all the rooms listed, what I wanted done and a place for the quote.  He then said he didn’t have time that evening to give me the quote.  Really?  He didn’t have time to quote what was going to be a large project?  What he told me was clear.  As long as he could get away without anything in writing, he could charge us what he wanted.   As you can guess I told him thanks but no thanks. 

How do you treat your clients?  Do you and your employees always stick with what’s quoted?  Do you make sure that each potential or current client understands what work will be done and what the price will be?  These things can make or break a client’s confidence in you and your company.  As for our house, my husband and I have decided to do it ourselves.  And we found someone who has provided us with a written quote to handle those things we can’t do ourselves.   The other guy not only lost our business, but a larger job I had planned to refer to him if he had done a good job with our house. 

Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

...those doggone Customer Expectations

Over the weekend, my husband and I decided to make a run to Wal-Mart.   I needed to put gas in my car so we decided to go to Sam’s Club first.  We were about fifteen minutes early so we drove on to Wal-Mart and shopped. When we returned to the gas station it was twenty minutes passed the time they were to open and no one was in sight.  It was frustrating as a consumer to sit there and know they were supposed to be open, but obviously the employee in charge was really late. 

Do you know if that is happening with your customers?  If you have employees are they delivering everything they promise to the customer?   Are they on time, do they do good work, do they take the responsibility of their job seriously?  

It’s never a bad idea to do spot checking.  Like calling a customer to make sure that your employees are delivering top-notch service and something you would do yourself.  If not, the customer may come to you with the complaint, or they may just move on to another business without every letting you know they were not satisfied.  That customer may leave and tell a lot of people about that bad experience with you and not report it to you. 

Spot checking allows you to reach out to the customer, making sure they know that you know they are there and are getting what they need.  It’s the same thing when you go to a restaurant.  When a manager comes over and asked how my meal was, if everything is OK, I am more likely to back there, knowing a manager is taking the time to actually ask people about their service. 

As for Sam’s Club, I’ll go back there, but the Kroger gas station got my business this week.  

Image Source

Suzanne Cormier
Executive Director
BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)
Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and
Twitter @BizWorksCenter