Gore Galore
11-02-2007, 06:41 AM
Big year for the haunt industry and some vendors eyes were bigger than their stomachs. It was like a glutony of orders.
I have now spoken to alot of vendors and it seems this was a very good year for some, and almost too good for others because they didn't know how to say "NO". "We don't have the time to do it". "We don't want to take your order because I don't think we will be able to deliver it for you". Please give me your name and number and if we can get your order in we will call you back".
We use this technique and our customers seem to really appreciate our honesty. They didn't get mad. They usually thanked us. No, they weren't happy about not getting their order in, but atleast they weren't dissapointed when they didn't get their order.
I do have to send a public apology out to Myron St John. Sorry Myron we couldn't get your order done for you. We really tried. I am happy to say this is one of the only orders we didn't deliver on but that doesn't help Myron.
It almost seems like some vendors think their customers will be angry if they can't take their order. Yes, it is possible you may loose the order to another company but if you can't fill the order then what does it matter anyway.
Give a referral to someone who you support.
But we learned something. We have already started building an inventory based on the volume of orders this past season so we should be a bit more prepared this coming year.
But a couple things to consider
1. Always answer your phone or respond promptly to emails. I know how hard this is. I spent 6 hours 1 day on the phone. I thought the phone was sprouting tendrils and growing into my head.
2. Be as honest as possible with your customers.
3. build a call list you can call your customer back from later when you know your
schedule.
4. try to build a pre-production inventory. We can't just build an inventory of costumes yet. Can you imagine how much space our costumes would take up if we have 5 of each sitting around. But we are building an inventory of all the parts and partially assembling 5 of each costume.
I have now spoken to alot of vendors and it seems this was a very good year for some, and almost too good for others because they didn't know how to say "NO". "We don't have the time to do it". "We don't want to take your order because I don't think we will be able to deliver it for you". Please give me your name and number and if we can get your order in we will call you back".
We use this technique and our customers seem to really appreciate our honesty. They didn't get mad. They usually thanked us. No, they weren't happy about not getting their order in, but atleast they weren't dissapointed when they didn't get their order.
I do have to send a public apology out to Myron St John. Sorry Myron we couldn't get your order done for you. We really tried. I am happy to say this is one of the only orders we didn't deliver on but that doesn't help Myron.
It almost seems like some vendors think their customers will be angry if they can't take their order. Yes, it is possible you may loose the order to another company but if you can't fill the order then what does it matter anyway.
Give a referral to someone who you support.
But we learned something. We have already started building an inventory based on the volume of orders this past season so we should be a bit more prepared this coming year.
But a couple things to consider
1. Always answer your phone or respond promptly to emails. I know how hard this is. I spent 6 hours 1 day on the phone. I thought the phone was sprouting tendrils and growing into my head.
2. Be as honest as possible with your customers.
3. build a call list you can call your customer back from later when you know your
schedule.
4. try to build a pre-production inventory. We can't just build an inventory of costumes yet. Can you imagine how much space our costumes would take up if we have 5 of each sitting around. But we are building an inventory of all the parts and partially assembling 5 of each costume.