Offering Priority Or Rush Service For Custom Holsters?

[talon]

I've been thinking about offering a priority service for customers that need their holster within just a few days. I was wondering if any of you guys do it and what you think about it. I can see it being beneficial to those that really do need their holster ASAP, but I can also see customers thinking its just a way of extracting more money.

It wouldn't effect the order queue because that money would go toward paying someone to put extra time in at the shop, so it won't bump others back.

Thoughts?

Thanks

[particle]

I'm a one-man-shop, so it would push other orders further behind and I have a hard enough time juggling life and keeping up with existing orders. But, if someone emailed and asked if they could get it as quickly as possible, I'd probably try to honor that request. I wouldn't have a problem charging extra for the service if I decided to make it a standard offering - expediting charges are pretty common in most industries. Weddings, birthday presents, training classes - lots of reasons someone might be willing to pay extra for faster production times. Just make sure you charge plenty for the service, otherwise everyone will buy the "rush" option.

[talon]

I'm a one-man-shop, so it would push other orders further behind and I have a hard enough time juggling life and keeping up with existing orders. But, if someone emailed and asked if they could get it as quickly as possible, I'd probably try to honor that request. I wouldn't have a problem charging extra for the service if I decided to make it a standard offering - expediting charges are pretty common in most industries. Weddings, birthday presents, training classes - lots of reasons someone might be willing to pay extra for faster production times. Just make sure you charge plenty for the service, otherwise everyone will buy the "rush" option.

Very good points. In some cases I might be the one staying late, but the idea is that I be putting extra time in that I wouldn't have otherwise.

On a $70 holster how much would you charge for the service?

[particle]

Honestly, I'd probably charge at least $30, maybe $40, but that's just me.

[Guy W]

i'm not in the business of making holsters i'm still just working on my first one. but i do make websites and when i get someone that wants it "yesterday" i tell them that is fine my fee is doubled. that's what it is worth to me to have my life disrupted and work a ton of overtime. i'd probably do the same on a holster. for a 75$ holster i'd say ok you can have it in 3 days for 150$. probably seems steep but unless you want everyone that ever orders from you to take the rush option you have to make it expensive enough to weed out the people that don't really need it rushed.

the thing is you aren't going to have to work overtime on just their project. you will have to work overtime on all your other projects in the pipeline to meet your delivery date on those too. someone's gotta pay for that time and it's not the customers who didn't ask for a rush and just expect a standard delivery time frame.

Edited September 12, 2011 by Guy W

[TwinOaks]

I agree 100% with Guy W.

Your time is what is being purchased, so charge accordingly. The reason overtime pays more than straight time is to compensate you for what you're missing. Like Particle, it's just me turning out my work, and there are steps that can NOT be combined, and take a pretty set amount of time....like finish coats drying between applications. I'll always try to meet a deadline I set, so I won't push other work out of order. I might spend extra time on a rush job, but that won't effect any other orders. That means that the rush job is infringing on MY time.....and I DO price accordingly.

The key to managing it is to politely inform the customer that you have other customers that are just as important that didn't wait until the last minute to place an order, and that you won't rush a product because you won't sacrifice quality for time.

I had this happen to me last Christmas. One of my fairly regular customers completely ignored the posted notice that no orders would be accepted after a certain date. He placed the order two days after the deadline, and left his deposit with my business partner. I left town to visit family over the holidays right on schedule and the next day I got a call asking when his order would be completed. My answer was "by the first weekend in January". He was livid that I didn't make his order, but calmed down when I asked him if he would volunteer to have his orders 'bumped' from the production schedule if someone else placed a late order.

[WinterBear]

By all means, charge extra for expediting. If you have employees, you have to be paying them to do the work you normally do so you can work on this last-minute thing, or you have to be doing what they normally do so they can work on the last-minute project. If you don't have employees, you have to charge them for the extra overhead and for the inconvenience and extra hassles that come of having your non-work portion of your day become work. But, as others said, make sure you charge enough that it doesn't get to be a regular habit, or to where most of your work is "priority". Put a limit on the number of "priority" orders you're willing to accept. It can easily spiral out of control and come back to bite you.

I came across this a lot when I still worked in retail. At one job, the policy that any late or last-minute order was to be accepted, no exceptions. It was a terrible policy. We wound up with a lot more priority orders than regular orders, and the regular orders began to suffer, especially at peak periods. We obtained more sales overall, yes, but it was outweighed by the amount that had to be paid in overtime to finish those extra orders, and loss of the goodwill of the customers who had contacted us in plenty of time to get their product and found out that someone else's order was given priority over theirs. It made our regular, conscientious customers feel pretty unimportant, and when somebody feels like that, they tend to let their wallets do the talking and go somewhere else. And it seems the people who often were the worst about giving us last minute orders were often the ones we didn't really want to have as a customer anyway--always complaining about the price, finding fault with everything, always trying to finagle the price down, rude to the employees and other customers, and constantly returning product for "just one thing" more to be done.

However, sometimes you can accept a last-minute order and waive that priority fee to help a good or new customer out of a jam without too much of an imposition on yourself or your shop, and that person will greatly appreciate it. Just don't do it too often, or you'll lose your shirt or your sanity in the end.

[RMB Custom Leather]

I've been thinking about offering a priority service for customers that need their holster within just a few days. I was wondering if any of you guys do it and what you think about it. I can see it being beneficial to those that really do need their holster ASAP, but I can also see customers thinking its just a way of extracting more money.

It wouldn't effect the order queue because that money would go toward paying someone to put extra time in at the shop, so it won't bump others back.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Great topic! I have had a few customers try to get me to put their order up front and offered to pay more but I said no because it wasn't fair to my other customers. Looking back I think the main reason I said no was because I really didn't know what would be a fair fee for the service. I think I agree with everyone else, offer it but make it worth your while.

[Lobo]

I have given priority to a few orders, all being from either law enforcement agencies or military personnel (being a retired cop and Vietnam veteran have guided me a bit on this).

A law enforcement agency requested 17 identical holsters with matching mag pouches for pistols expected to be delivered within 3 weeks. They got their order a week before the pistols arrived.

A special operations unit requested holsters for pistols they were to be provided upon arrival in an unstated location in two weeks. They received their holsters prior to deployment.

An Army Reserve officer received short-notice deployment orders and requested a holster 11 days before departure. He received his holster in 8 days.

In each of these cases I chose to add hours to my work schedule every day to complete these orders without interrupting regular production. No other orders were put aside or otherwise delayed. No additional charge was added to any of these orders.

Just about everybody else gets the same response, i.e.: orders are filled in the order received. I provide an estimated production time for each order and the customer can decide whether or not to proceed, based on that. Customers who indicate that they will order only if I put their needs ahead of those who came before them are politely declined. Frankly, when I receive such requests I wonder just how many other companies have received the same demands from the same people.

Then there was the order from Israel, paid for in cash, with instructions to be delivered to a post office box address with no name on the parcel, and no identifying markings on the holster. No rush instructions, so it went out with regular production items.

Interesting business at times.

[billymac814]

I Offer a rush service, the charge is 50.00 per item and the timeframe is under 5 days. I explain to people that it is my over time and done "after hours" so it doesn't push back other peoples orders. I don't see any problem with doing this if your on schedule with the rest of your orders. At one point I was running a bit behind so I turned down the rush orders until I was caught up. It has been pretty popular, I've sold way more rushed items than I ever thought I would when I added it. The only small glitch is when someone wants a holster and a belt or magpouch together, I don't really feel right charging 50.00 extra on a mag pouch so I usually cut them a break. I think I should update my site and charge 25.00 on rushed mag pouches.

[Bronson]

If you're inclined to accept rush orders I'd say have a policy in place but don't advertise it. Let the people that want a rush order ask for it. If I were to do it I'd also double the fee on everything.

Bronson