"Price Quote"

[Shorts]

I'm seeing this pattern of emails: Can I get a price quote for...?

I do have the Price link on the front page, right next to my email, which gets used very well. I'm just beginning to wonder why am I getting as many as I am and how can I fix that. I would like customers to send me emails on some really oddball items but I would like them to use their own calculator. Do I need to insert that widget into the site too?

I'm juggling spending time working and spending time answering redundant emails.

How do you do it?

[stelmackr]

I'm seeing this pattern of emails: Can I get a price quote for...? I would like customers to send me emails on some really oddball items but I would like them to use their own calculator.

I'm juggling spending time working and spending time answering redundant emails.

How do you do it?

Since most everything I make is custom made, it always requires answering e-mails and phone calls. It is just the cost of doing business. I include all the information to calculate their own price, but there is always something a little different that they want. Also, it seems that people need reassurance that what they have figured it is correct and that someone is really on the other end of their computer web page.

If you want to avoid the question: "Can I get a price quote for...?", then set up your electronic store so that every item is priced and let people add to their shopping cart with only those items priced out and ready for sale. Don't advertise that you make custom items and you should only get e-mails wondering where their items are.

You could employ a virtual assistant to filter your messages and give straight quotes on your behalf, but I suspect that this is just an annoyance and wonder why people can't add for themselves.

I'll bet there are some leathercrafters out there that would love to have the problem of too many quotations for their products ;-)

Bob Stelmack

[Shorts]

Oh I'm definitely not looking a gift horse in the mouth

Just curious if anyone has done anything on their site to alleviate some of the repetitive questions with some good results.

(I'm big on programs. If I'm seeing a trend, I like to adjust whatever it is I can adjust to accommodate or change that trend for efficiency)

Makes sense about folks needing some reassurance on orders. I do the same thing. Everything I do is made to order so there's no way to remove the element of communicating with the customer without changing the system which I operate with. And I'm not at that point (yet, if ever). I'd need quite a few shop gnomes for that

Thanks for the perspective Bob!

Edited September 9, 2009 by Shorts

[Lobo]

Monica: As you know, I have only had my website up for a few months. Prior to that I spent an ever-increasing amount of time responding to e-mails, sending photos, answering questions, etc. I was really concerned over the possibility of receiving more orders than I could keep up with, thus alienating customers.

I intentionally set up my site strictly as a catalog, describing and showing samples of my standard production items. All orders are taken by e-mail only (with a "contact us" link on the website). So, I spend an hour or so every morning and usually another hour or so every evening going through the e-mails, responding to questions, discussing options, etc.

At this point, I wouldn't have it any other way. Most customers seem to appreciate the personal contact, and I have cut incoming e-mails down to those from folks who have seen photos and read descriptions of the products and are at a point of making a buying decision.

I try to keep the website updated regularly, especially with estimated production times (probably the most frequently asked question).

I've seen your website, and it is very well done. Sounds to me like it is doing exactly what you wanted it to do, and that is to guide customers to you.

Best wishes.

[broddhisatva]

Y'know, I tend to get quite a bit of these kind of messages too. "How much would it cost for ..."

I spent quite a bit of time emailing back and forth with these potential customers about specifically what they wanted until I had a really solid idea and image in my head, then sent them my quote and got nothing but crickets in return, more often than not. If you're going to offer custom work, like I do, you're going to encounter a vast number of people who want prices LESS than mass-produced items, in which case you've just wasted a whole lot of time on emails and phone calls for essentially nothing.

I've set up a contact form on my website for when someone wants a quote, and the first section of the form is "What is your budget for this product?" Better to know right from the start if I can help them, I think. The side effect of requiring them to think about price up front is that I get fewer "How much..." questions and more "Can you do that like this..." questions.

-Brody

[cdthayer]

When you are selling things that don't have a clear "MSRP" available for buyers, such as custom work or vintage items, it seems like it generates a lot of "how much less will you take" questions, even if things are priced for them on the website.

I began using a set of forms to email me the information that I need to determine what the buyer wants. I first started using them because I was getting too many emails asking for a quote without giving me the shipping destination so that I could calculate shipping. It helped eliminate the inevitable follow-up email to find out where they were at. People sometimes just don't think to tell you that when they first ask for a quote.

I would still get emails from folks who didn't want to use my form, mainly because they wanted to negotiate the price. So, I added another field to the forms that were associated with those items. It is simply a "Make An Offer" field, and I encourage them to put down what they think would be an appropriate price for the item or items. On my vintage items especially, it's difficult for me to always know what price to put on them, so input can be valuable to me as well. Some use it to make reasonable offers that I have accepted. Others make unreasonable offers that save me from having to waste any more time on them....

CD in Oklahoma

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