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I work for a furniture manufacturer. I work with customers to help them design custom furniture. Our normal quote turn around time is about 48 hours. I did a quote for a customer that looked like this.
1) Table X by X, $XXX
2) Table Bases $XXX
3) Table Top Power Door $XXX
Subtotal for Powered Table Option: $XXXX
4) Table X by X, $XXX
5) Table Bases $XXX
Subtotal for Non-Powered Table Option: $XXXX
The quote request came in Tuesday at 8:45 PM. They are in pacific time, I'm in Eastern... but even if I was in their time zone that would be 5:45. I got it first thing Wednesday morning, and since it was easy I just did it quickly and sent it out at about 11am that morning. That is 8am their time, so they requested it at 5:45 and got it back at 8am.
Then Wednesday afternoon about 4 I get an e-mail "I need you to revise this quote to get rid of the power option, they want to see what that costs." As soon as that popped in I replied back "The first subtotal is for the table with power, the second subtotal is for the table without power."
Wednesday I was working some overtime, so I ended up being here until 6:30. At about 6 I get an e-mail form them "I need you to revise the quote to make the table 2' longer." I was already in that system, so I just pulled it up and did it really fast for them. I left both of the first two subtotals there, then copied both, and modified the length, so they now have the short length with and without power, and the longer length with and without power. I sent that out at 6:30 right before I left. So, it was on my desk for 30 minutes.
I come in this morning to an e-mail that was written to my boss and I was copied on:
" We lost the XXX project because of lack of responsiveness. What can we do to speed up the quote process?"
Here is my reply:
"The first request came in 3 hours and 45 minutes after we closed, and 45 minutes after close of business in your local time. It was returned to you before you came into the office at 9 am your time.
The second request was a revision request, requesting what was already quoted. You asked for it at 4pm the same day I sent you the first quote. I replied in under 5 minutes explaining that you were asking for an option that was already clearly called out as being included in the quote.
The third request came in at 6 pm, an hour after close of business here. I happened to be staying late, and went ahead and did your quote and had it back to you in under 30 minutes.
Our average quote turn around time is 48 hours. I fulfilled three requests in one day. One request came in after close of business and was retuned before open of business, the second request was returned in 5 minutes, the third in under 30 minutes.
What areas would you like us to improve upon?
I sent that reply to them and copied my boss. My boss replied "I guess we are supposed to send them the quotes before they think to ask for them."
1) Table X by X, $XXX
2) Table Bases $XXX
3) Table Top Power Door $XXX
Subtotal for Powered Table Option: $XXXX
4) Table X by X, $XXX
5) Table Bases $XXX
Subtotal for Non-Powered Table Option: $XXXX
The quote request came in Tuesday at 8:45 PM. They are in pacific time, I'm in Eastern... but even if I was in their time zone that would be 5:45. I got it first thing Wednesday morning, and since it was easy I just did it quickly and sent it out at about 11am that morning. That is 8am their time, so they requested it at 5:45 and got it back at 8am.
Then Wednesday afternoon about 4 I get an e-mail "I need you to revise this quote to get rid of the power option, they want to see what that costs." As soon as that popped in I replied back "The first subtotal is for the table with power, the second subtotal is for the table without power."
Wednesday I was working some overtime, so I ended up being here until 6:30. At about 6 I get an e-mail form them "I need you to revise the quote to make the table 2' longer." I was already in that system, so I just pulled it up and did it really fast for them. I left both of the first two subtotals there, then copied both, and modified the length, so they now have the short length with and without power, and the longer length with and without power. I sent that out at 6:30 right before I left. So, it was on my desk for 30 minutes.
I come in this morning to an e-mail that was written to my boss and I was copied on:
" We lost the XXX project because of lack of responsiveness. What can we do to speed up the quote process?"
Here is my reply:
"The first request came in 3 hours and 45 minutes after we closed, and 45 minutes after close of business in your local time. It was returned to you before you came into the office at 9 am your time.
The second request was a revision request, requesting what was already quoted. You asked for it at 4pm the same day I sent you the first quote. I replied in under 5 minutes explaining that you were asking for an option that was already clearly called out as being included in the quote.
The third request came in at 6 pm, an hour after close of business here. I happened to be staying late, and went ahead and did your quote and had it back to you in under 30 minutes.
Our average quote turn around time is 48 hours. I fulfilled three requests in one day. One request came in after close of business and was retuned before open of business, the second request was returned in 5 minutes, the third in under 30 minutes.
What areas would you like us to improve upon?
I sent that reply to them and copied my boss. My boss replied "I guess we are supposed to send them the quotes before they think to ask for them."
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