Okay so picture this: you’ve just met with the guy from the kitchen shop, you’ve discussed in detail a new design for your kitchen. The guy is pleasant, professional, knowledgeable and you really like dealing with him.

On leaving his office you ask: “So when can I expect you to send the quote through?”

He replies: “You’ll have it by the end of the week” (it is Monday)

Friday arrives and you still haven’t received a quote. Shame, he must be real busy, I’m sure he’ll send it through on Monday

Monday comes and goes and you still don’t have a quote so you phone him up and politely ask when he’ll be sending your quote through.

“Ah Mrs So-and-so, I was just busy finishing your quote, so sorry for the delay, I’m going to be sending it through shortly.”

It doesn’t come through “shortly” and it doesn’t come through the next day either.

Grrrrrr.

The quote is finally emailed through a week later than expected.

At this point, you’ve lost interest and you’d rather give your business to another company than deal with this tonsil.

Sound familiar? I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of nagging someone for a quote and you’ll know that it’s not a nice experience

If you know you won’t be able to get a quote out in the next week, then just be honest with your client and let them know when they can expect it. Don’t ever make clients beg you for a quote, especially in these hard economic times – all you’re going to do is lose business. If you’re professional, you’ll follow up with potential clients and send quotes out timeously.