Today's business tip is an easy one to remedy but is something that costs businesses tens of thousands of pounds in lost work every year.
A few years ago, we wanted to renovate and increase the size of our kitchen. It involved knocking through into the old utility room and creating a new utility space from part of the garage. It was a large job and we had two building firms quote for the work.
The first was a recommendation from the company we were buying our kitchen equipment through. And the second was a recommendation from a family member.
We saw both in the same week, described what we were looking for, provided the plans, talked through options, and provided all the information they asked for. Both were extremely pleasant each bringing their own ideas and opinions. We were impressed. The next step was to provide a quote.
The family recommendation was honest, he was busy - he asked us if he could get us his quote in two weeks, and that was fine by us.
The kitchen firm recommendation said he'd have the quote to us in a week.
A week past ...
Then two.
We received the first quote from the family recommendation. We followed up with the other firm - the owner was apologetic, over email, and promised to get the quote to us in the next week.
A third week passed ...
And then a fourth.
By now we'd had enough. We went with the family recommendation, and scheduled the work in.
A fifth week passed ...
Then a sixth.
On the seventh week we received, via post, the quote from the kitchen company recommendation. It was about two grand cheaper. But that was never going to sway us to change. The damage had been done. If they were unable to get a quote to us in good time, what would they be like when it came to our project?
Today's small business tip is: Get your quotes out in good time.
And if you think it might take you a little longer than ordinary, let your customer know, there's every chance if they're aware, they'll understand.
But take too long to get your quote out ...
Or don't get your quotes out when you say you will ...
Then you will lose the project.
It's an easy thing to fix and you'll find more projects coming your way as a result.
Best, Sarah