really!!

[pleasant]

At least my domestic user customers are more open to suggestion and understanding.

 

My pro user customers are a lot worse when it comes to quotes.

 

Lost count this month of how many calls I've taken from pro users who ring up and say "Iv'e got a Stihl such and such and there's a problem with the recoil.How much to fix it?

 

Me: Yeah- wait a minute. Where's my crystal ball.

 

See no different to these so called "muppets" is it?

[skyhuck]

At least my domestic user customers are more open to suggestion and understanding.

 

My pro user customers are a lot worse when it comes to quotes.

 

Lost count this month of how many calls I've taken from pro users who ring up and say "Iv'e got a Stihl such and such and there's a problem with the recoil.How much to fix it?

 

Me: Yeah- wait a minute. Where's my crystal ball.

 

See no different to these so called "muppets" is it?

 

These are also muppets, this is not surprising as you say you try to turn all the muppets that ring you into customers, so if your pretty successful at this a large percentage of your customers will be muppets.

 

You have made a rod for your own back.

[john p]

had a bloke ring me up 2 weeks ago,'ive felled 350 spruce,burnt all the brash,but i need the trunks clearing,' i got him to send couple of photos,they were about 6 to 8" diameter,down an embankment and he had left the stumps about 2 ft high,total nightmare to extract! So i rang him back explaining it would be expensive, he says ' oh i thought you would have given me some money to do it for the timber!' MUPPET

[WoodED]

You'll probably get a call to quote for the removal of brushwood and logs in few weeks time.

 

But you won't be able to charge much cos all the technical work has been done - surely its just a quick labouring job to clear up the mess left by 'my friend'.

 

How many times to we hear this - you just have to laugh.

 

or a call to remove a tree of the house haha

[renewablejohn]

Had a classic. Local gave me a call to see if I was interested in some timber. Turned up 3 large trees felled by local tree surgeon which he now wanted me to clear away and pay him sufficient to cover the cost of the tree surgeon. Came as a bit of a shock to him when I quoted him my daily rate for site clearance and no allowance for the timber.

[Mark Bolam]

I can assure you, that every day of my working life I take calls from people who ask very, very similar questions. 9 times out of 10 I can convert them into jobs/sales.

 

I have been dealing with the retail public and their machinery for nearly 35 years and if I assumend they were all idiots simply because they don't understand the product and/or my procedures, then I wouldn't expect to be in business.

 

If you can't be bothered (or more likely don't know how to) convert an enquiry into a sale, rather than educate and inform the uninitiated then I hope you already have a full order book, because one day, sure as eggs is eggs you may not have.

 

Don't get me wrong Pleasant, I don't mind the initial 'How much do you charge to take a tree down' query.

 

I sit down, spark up a large reefer, line up a few cans of Stella and explain what the crack is.

 

I have converted a fair few of these into well paying jobs over the years.

 

However, when they just continuously ignore my patient explanation and just demand, insist, beg and plead for a telephonical quotation, I have to eventually transfer them to my 'Muppetry' department. I can assure you the phone will ring for a very long time in that sector of my company.

[Rich Rule]

Pleasant - I need a machine for the garden. How much will that cost?

[Gav_A]

Don't get me wrong Pleasant, I don't mind the initial 'How much do you charge to take a tree down' query.

 

I sit down, spark up a large reefer, line up a few cans of Stella and explain what the crack is.

 

I have converted a fair few of these into well paying jobs over the years.

 

However, when they just continuously ignore my patient explanation and just demand, insist, beg and plead for a telephonical quotation, I have to eventually transfer them to my 'Muppetry' department. I can assure you the phone will ring for a very long time in that sector of my company.

 

 

 

Class. Beautifully put Mark.

[Czlowiek Drzewo]

word up!..

Don't get me wrong Pleasant, I don't mind the initial 'How much do you charge to take a tree down' query.

 

I sit down, spark up a large reefer, line up a few cans of Stella and explain what the crack is.

 

I have converted a fair few of these into well paying jobs over the years.

 

However, when they just continuously ignore my patient explanation and just demand, insist, beg and plead for a telephonical quotation, I have to eventually transfer them to my 'Muppetry' department. I can assure you the phone will ring for a very long time in that sector of my company.

[pleasant]

Don't get me wrong Pleasant, I don't mind the initial 'How much do you charge to take a tree down' query.

 

I sit down, spark up a large reefer, line up a few cans of Stella and explain what the crack is.

 

I have converted a fair few of these into well paying jobs over the years.

 

However, when they just continuously ignore my patient explanation and just demand, insist, beg and plead for a telephonical quotation, I have to eventually transfer them to my 'Muppetry' department. I can assure you the phone will ring for a very long time in that sector of my company.

 

 

Yup- no problem with that at all. You can only go so far, and if they continuously fail the "I stand a chance to make some money here" test, then by all means let them go. Can't win a customer over if they are intent on not becoming a customer of yours in the first place.

 

Get loads of calls tapping me up for info on how to fix their machines themselves, when quite obviously that's what I happen to do for a living.

 

Wouldn't ring a baker and ask him how to make my own bread, so why do people think I would be happy to tell them and loose business. Hate people who try to mug me off, but I get them in the end. Ask gardenkit on here- bet he gets the same thing.