When a customer declines your quote...

climbingmonkey24

climbingmonkey24

Carpal tunnel level member
Location
United States
Goes without saying you don't win every bid. Some people will reach out and let you know, while others you may never hear from after submitting the bid.

I recenty bid a project that I felt good about. Good interaction with the customer, etc. A couple days after submitting the quote they responded "thank you for your time, but we have decided not to have you do the project..."

Maybe it's just me, but hard not to take it personally with the way it's worded. I mean had they said they chose to hire someone else, etc. I would've not thought that much about it. But the way they said "we have decided not to have you do the project" makes me wonder about it...or am I reading more into it then needs to be? And of course the way something is written in a message could be interpreted differently by different people as well.

I sent a polite response thanking them for letting me know, and also asking if they had any questions / concerns in regards to me doing the project but haven't heard back.

Curious what kind of replies some of you may have gotten to your quotes, and if people have ever given you a reason for why they chose not to hire you.
 
climbingmonkey24 said:
But the way they said "we have decided not to have you do the project" makes me wonder about it...or am I reading more into it then needs to be?
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Yeah, I think you’re reading into it a little more than you need to. That sentence just seems polite and dry. They may have just realized they don’t have the budget for it.

Most of my declines are people who just never responded to the email and never responded to my follow up. After doing that over and over I simply, truly, allow myself not to care. If I see the job was done by someone else when I drive by, I feel nothing.

If someone actually takes the time to reply and say they aren’t going to accept the quote, it’s honestly usually a sign of respect. I appreciate it a lot!
 
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climbingmonkey24 said:
Goes without saying you don't win every bid. Some people will reach out and let you know, while others you may never hear from after submitting the bid.

I recenty bid a project that I felt good about. Good interaction with the customer, etc. A couple days after submitting the quote they responded "thank you for your time, but we have decided not to have you do the project..."

Maybe it's just me, but hard not to take it personally with the way it's worded. I mean had they said they chose to hire someone else, etc. I would've not thought that much about it. But the way they said "we have decided not to have you do the project" makes me wonder about it...or am I reading more into it then needs to be? And of course the way something is written in a message could be interpreted differently by different people as well.

I sent a polite response thanking them for letting me know, and also asking if they had any questions / concerns in regards to me doing the project but haven't heard back.

Curious what kind of replies some of you may have gotten to your quotes, and if people have ever given you a reason for why they chose not to hire you.
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"We have decided to use someone else"
the word 'use' is a pet peeve and when I hear it in my head I say 'good riddance'

People are rude assholes, its the gems you want to keep. Almost left todays job in tears, a good client of about a decade is putting their house up forsale, She kept saying "it feels like I am abandoning all my friends" while gesturing out to the trees...IMG_1356.jpegIMG_1357.jpeg
 
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climbingmonkey24 said:
Very true! Different individuals may just have a different way of conveying that in writing.
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There was one client who I think was trying to rib me a little in the follow up. He said something like, we got a quote for substantially less than yours to take down the ‘difficult’ tree.

Ooh it hurts lol

I want people to make money… it was the right number for the work involved.. it’s pretty cut and dry emotionally for me. Folks who do it much cheaper have much bigger equipment or smaller margins and that’s their business.

Having emotional boundaries in these interactions is key. Not saying I don’t have my moments.
 
They could also be thinking that it may sound nicer than saying they chose a different contractor. Or maybe they have decided against doing the project at all, regardless of contractor. Really hard to say. It's unlikely you'll get the satisfaction of knowing exactly why you didn't land that one, but I agree with @Stumpsprouts that any response at all is respectful.
 
I wouldn’t necessarily count that job out just yet…. It’s possible they need to save some money up before they can do it, or a million other reasons.. I did an estimate for some tree removals on a 8 million dollar remodel a few months back (got that job) a contractor approached me while I was there and gave me his address to look at his trees down valley, sent him a quote, and didn’t hear back, until today when I was at the remodel job to do the two removals. He was pumped on my price and wants to proceed with the work, he just needs to wait to be paid for his tile work first.
 
I had a regular at my buddies bar tell me "he had someone else with a sharper pencil do it" I think I quoted him at 2800 for a decent sized oak that had been heavily impacted by snow and had multiple leads that never lifter back up and were in striking range of his house and a probably 120ft dead sugar pine and another smaller one. My quote was too drop chip brush and cut oak to firewood rounds.
 
If you priced it well for your crew, then I wouldn't think much about it. It was considerate they let you know, and as was said, they may still call.
Since it's bothering you so much, you could just call and ask lol.
What I think is funny, is that there are times I don't want to work for a particular client, and I specifically tell them, this project isn't right for us at this time. Wonder if they think much about it, I hope so. I have no interest in working for them, because of their demeanor. It surely doesn't make it hard for me to sleep saying no to a job, although I have wondered where the next job was coming from for a bit; then I get a call.
Life's too short for taking everything personal, if there's something you need to change, you'll get confirmation of it and no guessing will be needed.
I think you need a sales guy, he'd probably price your work higher, and may get a better close rate.
 
climbingmonkey24 said:
"thank you for your time, but we have decided not to have you do the project..."

Just their ofhand choice of words IMO.
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I remember from Coach John Wooden's book he wanted his players to neither be too dejected by a loss or too elated by a win. Did you do the fundamentals well and what could you do better would be the focus.

I've had people pay me $3k more than they could have paid another company where my bid was $11k. And I've lost jobs and gone back by later to see a bunch of the work I included in the bid left undone. (Landlord bids in the lower end of the market.)

If I wanted to pursue every/lots of bids and learn from most missed bids I would formulate a question that I polity asked everytime. Like, "what could I have done differently to win your business?"
 
Merle Nelson said:
I remember from Coach John Wooden's book he wanted his players to neither be too dejected by a loss or too elated by a win. Did you do the fundamentals well and what could you do better would be the focus.

I've had people pay me $3k more than they could have paid another company where my bid was $11k. And I've lost jobs and gone back by later to see a bunch of the work I included in the bid left undone. (Landlord bids in the lower end of the market.)

If I wanted to pursue every/lots of bids and learn from most missed bids I would formulate a question that I polity asked everytime. Like, "what could I have done differently to win your business?"
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Great question
 
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