I’m trying to get an estimate to replace a medium sized aluminum sign in front of the business I work for. I contacted 3 local companies for a bid. 1 returned a price so far since Thursday. Seemed outrageously expensive, IMO. Then I contacted 5 more on Monday. Still no responses.

I’m providing all of the graphics. I used to work for a sign company & the job would come fully prepared digitally. just needs production.

Are businesses doing that well they can ignore customers? Wish I was in that category.

  • Stabbycrabs83@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    When I get busy it sometimes takes me 2-3 days to come back to people and I beat myself up about it.

    Then I realised the number of businesses that don’t ever return calls.

  • NiceKnowingYou@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    A lot of business owners have no idea what’s happening to their inbound calls. A lot can be blamed on their staff. But I’ve also seen a lot who only want to work with a specific customer type even though it’s not advertised. I’ve seen some shops where their estimators are party of their production line too, and they neglect the sales responsibility.

  • TorturedChaos@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I own a sign / print shop, and we have picked up quite a bit of business by just responding to customers. It really blows my mind. We are being praised for doing the bare minimum - picking up the phone / answering emails, giving quotes and offering basic customer service.

    I know in my area there have been a lot of business owners retiring either by closing up shop or selling off their business over the last 3 years. COVID seemed to be the final straw for many people.

    I can think of 6 print and/or sign shops that have changed owners and/or closed up shop in the last 3 years, which accounts for about 40% of our competition in the area.

    Several of the new owners have irritated long time customers, and those customers have taken their business elsewhere.

    So something simpler may be happening in your area.

  • flicman@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I wish i had an answer for you, but it’s happened to me and I HATE it. I just want to give someone money for a thing that they do and they don’t want to take my money to do the thing. Mechanic? No problem, go elsewhere. Custom case manufacturer? Not as easy to accomplish!

  • tenon_@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I own a small repair business. I try to respond quickly to every communication, but the reality is that at any given moment I have 20-30 quotes that need to be sent. And that’s on top of doing the actual work.

    I’m sympathetic to where customers are coming from, but I also find it annoying when people expect you to drop everything and prioritize them over everyone else.