Firewood - FUNNY OLD GAME!!

[farmer_ben]

After a fairly slow winter of log sales and numerous Have A Go Harry's starting up a round here, I dropped a dumpie bag off to a chap this morning who was over the moon with the logs and after handing over the £65 said I was extremely cheap and will be telling his friends about my firewood business!!

 

Customers like him make it all worth while

[D.M.Taylor Firewood Supp]

There just what you need in the firewood game keep:thumbup: a good product & you'll do well.

[farmer_ben]

There just what you need in the firewood game keep:thumbup: a good product & you'll do well.

 

a good product, clean dry wood, is the key. people will generally be happy and support you if you deliver what you claim.

[shooterjim]

Good to hear! It makes you feel good when someone compliments your product. We all put a lot of time and effort into this log lark and a happy customer makes it more worthwhile! I am delivering 2 loads to a family who are moving into a local village. Told her i would stack the logs in the stable block on wednesday night so when they move in on thursday they can light the fire straight away! She then informed me that it was a log burner and it runs the central heating! Free bag of kindling included also! Little things yo udo can go a lot further than any advertising ever will.

[windfall]

Nice one Ben.

 

I am trying to focus on the little things too, specifying what time I will be there and sticking to it is going down a treat! Also being very liberal with dishing out free boxes of CrappaJack firelighters and nets of kindling. If a new client says they have a stove if i have space i will normally load up a pack of saw dust briquettes for them to 'try out'. Most people with stoves will then add the briquettes to thier repeat orders as they are finding them great to keep the fire going overnight.

[rovers90]

In my previous life I was totally geared towards customer service and I have carried that over in to my firewood business. Ringing people back when they leave you a message; on your voicemail state you expect to be able to return their call within two working hours; I always give them an hour slot as to when I will deliver - eg. between 3 and 4 pm; always be pleasant and polite when you turn up and check where they want the logs offloaded.

 

I dropped of 6 cube for a customer on Friday and gave her a couple of bags of kindling free and she was over the moon as she had just run out the previous night and didnot know how she was going to get the stove lit before the kids came home in half an hour.

 

I see every customer interaction as a chance to sell myself: if they like me and the product they will become repeat customers and advocates,ie they will refer you to friends and families.

[Stereo]

All very good stuff. I'm not in logs but I do sell to people and I know that people will only spend so much time looking for a supplier. Once they find one who provides a top service at a price that is acceptable, most will stop looking. That's the way we are and that's why insurance companies etc. put so much money into customer aquisition.

 

Just out of interst, these logs you guys sell, are they all clean and split? I mean would you bad up the tops of an ash tree, all covered in lichen? I would happily burn this but is this an issue with customers? ie they expect clean split logs with not much bark?

[shooterjim]

All logs I sell are split to the size requested by the customer. Some loads I've seen going around look like half rings! They were huge! Amazing how many people ask if they need to split logs themselves as the last lot were way too big! Hence me getting sales!

[Hodge]

I had a lady call today who I sold a nice bag of 1 year old barn stored Ash, she asked if I had anything that burnt hotter?? She said that it stays in for a long time but give no heat. I burn it on my burner every night and its like an inferno, so not sure what she is up to

[weldersunited]

I had a lady call today who I sold a nice bag of 1 year old barn stored Ash, she asked if I had anything that burnt hotter?? She said that it stays in for a long time but give no heat. I burn it on my burner every night and its like an inferno, so not sure what she is up to

 

I guess there are people out there who don't know how to "use" their stove properly. My uncle is a classic one for this and will keep his stove barely alight and then moan how it doesn't throw out any heat !