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Sniffing out time wasters
Oh I do wish my nose would hurry up and get working.
I have spent the last two weeks quoting and quoting and quoting for one namless bunch who have chopped and changed their mind about what they require. At first i was happy to put in the effort as this would be a small run but amounting to quite a nice contract over the year…….
Back and forth 4-5 calls & 6-7 emails a day, can you quote this can you quote that, can you quote this with these three options blah blah blah…….
I never knew it was so difficult to make up your mind what you wanted on a T-shirt………
Todays 4th email comes through as follows:
We are using another company for the t-shirts we need on Saturday.Thank god as today is wednesday!
We have asked for a quote on the following we need this quote today as our sponsor/s need it for there budget.(5,000 over the remainder of this year), our sponsor has agreed to pay for the shirts (subject to cost).
We would like to use 185gm shirts and in order to keep the costs down we
will stick with a standard one colour front and standard one colour back
design for all the shirts. I would expect to use around 8-10 different
shirt colours in total.FRONT – Our logo
BACK – text with our sponsors logo belowThe best all inclusive price we have been quoted for this job using 190gm
shirts is £2.50 + VAT per shirt or for printing only £0.60 + VAT per
shirt. Can you please confirm whether you will be able to match this
price based on the above specifications.Please quote us this afternoon.
Thanks & Regards
By now I am more than p****d off………. so my reply:
The all inclusive quote you have for £2.50 a shirt is a very good price. Assuming the quality of the T-Shirt is as requested and the finished print job is quality.
I would be very interested in finding out who is supplying you with quality
190g T-Shirts printed up, as I would like to use them to supply and print my garments, if they can do a quality job at that price.Kind regards
I bet this is a classic case of playing games with smaller companies. I really hope they were just bluffing and come back with their tail between their legs and everyone says what I have said
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5 Replies
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Well done Lorraine.
If i could get T shirts that low i would have them printed as well. Can you quote me for 5000 T Shirts with the following logos.
Next
Nike
Ben Sherman…………I would make a fortune down the markets
Anyway to a serious point i do not do T shirts etc but how much is it for the following
10 High Quality T shirts with collar/ without collar with our company logo on breast
Logo is Pegasus (the flying horse) and SignMade (UK) Ltd on back. Delivered to Portsmouth
Cheers
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It`s all to easy to print a job for no money. I have a competitor who will print 15 items for £20 which includes the screen cost. I just let him carry on with it.
The screen alone would take 30 mins from coating to printing. The drier would take 30 mins to heat up to 150 degrees and the job itself would take about 10 mins. They`re mugs.
A similar competitor has just called in the recievers only 2 days ago. I say let these people work for pea nuts, I`ll work for the cream cakes.
Customers do play one agaist another.
Last week I quoted for some screen printed correx signs. Thats 25p more than I`m paying now he replied. 2 days later he put in an order, and has now just placed another order for 100 more. He says his last printer was cheaper, but he had to wait 3 weeks for the job to get done. He says the extra cost is worth the fact he gets them in 5 days.
We also get customers coming in the shop asking for prices, we then ask them what do they want, most of the time they say “I`m not sure”.
When I hear this, I give them a brochure and tell them come back when they`ve got more of an idea.
Time is money, you can spend all day talking to a customer, only to get an order for £20 profit.
Another time waster is phone calls, wanting you to change fuel suppliers or place an advert in a diary for ” children in need”. These I can`t stand, and just say I`m not intrested and put the phone down. You can still hear them talking as the phone goes down.
Time to lock and load, and kick some butt. (:) (:) (:)
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Adverts in diaries and charity yearbooks are almost always sold by publishing companies, backed by aggressive commission based telesales and door-to-door agencies. We all must have had them on at some time.
The money you pay goes to the publishing company, and not to the charity in question.
The charity does benefit somewhat, by getting so many thousand free diaries or yearbooks which they can then sell on – but they usually don’t benefit half as much as the publishing company!
Several publishing companies have been done for scams along these lines.
We have a policy of supporting local charities by providing free or ‘at cost’ services to the most deserving cases – and don’t believe in lining the pockets of telesales agencies or publishers.
Next time a rep calls asking you to place an ad in the Fire Service Yearbook, the local Road Safety Annual or the Beleaguered Cats League – politely refuse but offer them some discounted sign work. Amazing the effect it has!
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Actually when I said to one tele – sales that I couldn’t afford to spend any more on my advertising budget I did suggest that I could offer my services to a good cause by perhaps doing a few banners or signs for them at a nominal rate………..and it did work
😉 😉
John -
Hi guys
Get them all the time What I used to be was totaly rude and tell them to f off. but found thier was no fun in that. So now I explain to them that I have allocated all of my advertising fund for the year thank you. If they are then cheky enough to enquire as to what on I tell them free rounds of drinks at the golf club. 😆
My other pet hate is the ones who will collect your bad debts for you.
I just tell them that I never get bad debts. I also tell them that should that ever be the case my Brother is a bailiff any way. 😛
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