Quote:
Originally posted by dentist90
Good product + good customer service = very busy. 8000+ e-mails a month? Sounds like you're gonna have to hire staff, or if you want to keep things smaller, invest in a good web design that will help track customer questions and orders without so much searching back. How in the world do you get any production work done with all these other demands???
Sounds to me like there is good opportunity for dramatic growth if you can manage your orders without offending potential customers. Personally I always have doubts about placing orders if the proprietor gives me the impression that my business is 'inconveniencing' him. Unless you have a monopoly, watch the tone of your rules.
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I've been dying to hire staff of some sort, but the problem is finding someone who knows the products well and can give the kind of responses and advice I can give. I have a part-time assembly helper, but all he's able to do is assembly. He will not learn the finer point of the products.
How do I get any production done? I work crazy stupid hours. I usually work untill around 10pm, or later, and answer email 'till 3 or 4am in the morning, and usually get up by 9am...unless the phone starts ringing earlier.
It's not someone's incoming business that is the inconvenience. I am more than happy to work with people, and love doing this kind of work. The problems arise when (and here's a perfect, fairly recent examples) I've been emailing with "GuitarusMaximus@something.com" for 30 emails. GuitarusMaximus doesn't sign his email, althought I've asked for a name, and the FROM collumn shows "GuitarusMaximus" - then, I get a Paypal payment from "Bob_Jones@somedomain.com" with a note that just says "Thanks, Bob" - but no order details. Well...who is Bob? An inbox-wide search for "Bob_Jones" reveals nothing. Ok...I try to track down Bob by using whitepages.com or similar to find a phone number. Bob is unlisted. So, I continue the search through the web.
Six hours later, I have finally connected "GuitarusMaximus" to "Bob_Jones" from a five year old post in some defunct web forum where his user name is GuitarusMaximus and he has signed his post with "Bob Jones"
The names, of course, have been changed. I still appreciate Bob's business, but yes..he did inconvenience me to some extent, and I've lost 6 hours of production time which ='s about $2000 worth of lost production.
It gets very interesting when I respond to a paypal email like this and the response is bounced back an undeliverable for one reason or another. Happens quite often when I respond to a Paypal payment to show reciept of the payment.
It once took me about 50 emails for me to get a guy just to tell me his name...
I appreciate my customers to no end. They put food in my mouth, a roof over my head, and fuel and parts in my car. Without them, I would no be doing what I love to do.
But man...sometimes....
this is exactly how I feel when trying to sort through orders...