How to handle back log orders.

[JTknives]

Its very funny i must admit, haven't been able to just make a knife and sell it in over a year because orders keep coming in. I don't do any advertising at all and thy keep coming, and there not low budget knives ether there between 400-1000 in range. I don't mind doing custom orders when a lot of the artistic design is left up to me. And having this cast on for so long has set me back and I'm stacked up with 8-10 orders. thy all are great customers and know that it takes time to do what thy want and know that there is a order to the stack of orders. but I'm looking for tips on how to keep things organized and if or when to say sorry no more till x time. I have a customer that was referred to me by a knife store in Israel. i just seem to be getting more and more busy. Thanks for listening to my little rant

 

[Rusty McDonald]

Stay off of skate boards! Keep good log books of your inventory and material on hand, and of knifes sold or ordered.

 

[Dixieblade57]

Its very funny i must admit, haven't been able to just make a knife and sell it in over a year because orders keep coming in. I don't do any advertising at all and thy keep coming, and there not low budget knives ether there between 400-1000 in range. I don't mind doing custom orders when a lot of the artistic design is left up to me. And having this cast on for so long has set me back and I'm stacked up with 8-10 orders. thy all are great customers and know that it takes time to do what thy want and know that there is a order to the stack of orders. but I'm looking for tips on how to keep things organized and if or when to say sorry no more till x time. I have a customer that was referred to me by a knife store in Israel. i just seem to be getting more and more busy. Thanks for listening to my little rant

And this is a problem because...................................?
I have not had the great privilage of having this problem in this business yet but, when I use to do construction I was sometimes backed up months. I would tell folks I would look at what they wanted done but would advise them that I was so many months out and that I would get to them in the order they were in my book, if they wanted to wait for me and if they didn't I fully understood.
Believe me that's a better feeling being swamped than having no work. When I was that busy it was a good feeling and it also allowed me to somewhat pick and choose the jobs I wanted and pass on those that I didn't really want. Those that were not the kind of jobs I wanted I usually refered out to others in the construction field!
My take on that problem!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[LRB]

Ah feeul yore pane. I know what you mean. I am behind about fifty orders due to being flooded, and then three minor, but time consuming surgeries. I have reached the point where I am thinking of not accepting any more for a while, but then I think, if you don't keep your name out in the world, you could be forgotten, or people may think you're out of business. I thank God I had the sense long ago, to decide to never take deposits. If I had deposits on these orders, I would be a basket case.

 

[James_Terrio]

I thank God I had the sense long ago, to decide to never take deposits. If I had deposits on these orders, I would be a basket case.

Ditto. I don't think I'm even going to take payment up front on mods/repairs anymore. (these jobs are mostly just putting new/nicer handles on production knives and blanks. Not the highest-end work, but it's work and it's slowly getting my name out there.)

I'm seriously considering telling my next customer to send the piece to me, "here's my best guess as to lead time" and have them pay me when it's ready. Is that a dumb idea?

It hasn't been an issue yet, but I'm starting to get busy (thank goodness) and I don't want a bunch of people having money in my hands and waiting on their new handle or whatever.

 

[JBS TOOLMAKER]

I'm right there with you. Trying to decide whether or not to bite the bullet and go full-time. I am a Machinist/ tool and die maker and the money is good but the passion is in the blade. I am getting so many orders, it seems like all I do is work, sleep and talk to customers on the phone. If you have a family it can be tough sometimes.I also stopped taking deposits, if a customer backs on a job you can always sell it on ebay.

 

[rthawker]

I think you have to figure out a lead time that you are comfortable with and only take the orders that you can do within that range. Then you have to stick to it.

As far as keeping things organized, get a bunch of those stackable bins from harbor freight and use them to organize materials for each order. Use the card holders in the front of the bin for any info you may need at a glance like date the order was taken client name and style or description of blade. Keep a copy of each order in it's respective bin with all other pertinent info like contact info and blade material specifics. Keep the orders/bins in date order on a shelf where you can easily see where you are at. Of course keep a log of all orders somewhere whether on a computer or notebook that you can track everything on the business side of things. Payment info, addresses, tracking numbers for shipping and all dates that are pertinent like when order was taken, when completed and when shipped.

I'm sure there is more but you get the idea and you can modify the idea to suit you're needs.

Darren

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

JT,
I'm your old Dutch Uncle, and I know you can handle my advise.

Your problem is not being overwhelmed with orders. Eight orders would take two months at a leisurely pace. The problem is not doing them. You start a new project every week, and the old ones get behind. Quit building new things and going off on new directions. Put eight plastic bins on the kitchen table and do exactly as Darren said. Put the info on a card and put the materials in the box. You can work on several at a time. It should take you a little while to get thing back on track after your injury, but the end of August should not be an unreasonable finish date for the eight knives.

If you ever plan on moving to WA and becoming a full time maker, you better get organized and learn to do things in the order they need doing.

Now give Barb a kiss, and get to work.

Uncle Stacy

 

[Ed Caffrey]

First of all, keeping track of those orders is paramount!

-Create a log of all those orders! Of specific importance are the details of EACH order, along with the dates the orders were placed, and the dates they were promised by (if that applies), along with the customers' personal contact information.

-You MUST keep in contact with your customers! They need to know that you have not forgotten them, and the deserve to be updated on their order(s) periodically.

-IF you have accepted ANY down payment, your indebted to that individual(s), and you will be fully expected by that/those customers to meet any delivery dates or deadlines you have established.

-Finally, do not allow yourself to get way behind! Being behind may seem cool, but customers will become disinterested if you take too long, their interests will change, and in many cases, if you fail to maintain contact with them, you will contact them with notification that an order is complete, only to receive a response that they have "changed their mind", or some other excuse.

Knifemaking is a business where it takes a long time to establish a good reputation.....and an instant to loose it. Your reputation and name are the things that will make or break you.....guard both jealously!!

 

[panch0]

You probably have better equipment than I do. I have 6 knives thay I have to get done for some cstomers and it takes me probably as long to make a 120 dollar knife than it takes to make a 400 dollar one. You have a good problem.

 

[Jim Adams Customs]

Ditto. I don't think I'm even going to take payment up front on mods/repairs anymore. (these jobs are mostly just putting new/nicer handles on production knives and blanks. Not the highest-end work, but it's work and it's slowly getting my name out there.)

I'm seriously considering telling my next customer to send the piece to me, "here's my best guess as to lead time" and have them pay me when it's ready. Is that a dumb idea?

It hasn't been an issue yet, but I'm starting to get busy (thank goodness) and I don't want a bunch of people having money in my hands and waiting on their new handle or whatever.

I did away with a deposit, except where a logo or something that makes the impractical for someone else i.e. Logos and such. Everything I make usually sells. I figure if I take an order and they don't pay. Someone else will.

I was 5 orders down as of Thursday. I ship the last one tomorrow. But I took another order tonight.

 

[Tinbasher]

I have about 14 knives in for pimping a sheath to make and a few other bits but things like a roof leak, bike engine overhaul, waiting for wood hardener to come in, hollow rivet material on back order keep pushing the wait time back.

Richard

 

[galadduin]

I do have the same problem as I'm the only knife-maker around custom orders falls like rain. I suppose I will have a big backlog for my entire life and I have to learn to live with it. I explain to each customer why a custom knife take too much time to make and why they have to wait some weeks if not months. I plan to make some models for common orders and make batch of them, I hope this will reduce the backlog burden of mine...
ps. I too take no deposits, this really makes me and my customers feel free. Most of the time, I also take no payment until they receive and use the knife a bit, this also increases my reputation I suppose...

 

[Phil Dwyer]

Hey Jarod,

That's good news! I once had a very prim and proper lady tell me I had a problem with the F word. I was shocked to hear such from her, and told her so. She said, "you know, Focus!"

Sounds like this may be one of those cases of, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." That full time knife maker goal may not be as far away as yo think, if you stay focused, that is. If you can forge out some give away steel with your clipped wing, you can probably do a good amount of other stuff too. Certainly getting your administrative, inventory and production tracking bins and overall system in place could be one of those things. Getting the materials and designs together for each job and in their prospective bins would be another.

Heck, if you were a full time working bladesmith I bet you could just about knock those 8-10 knives out in a week or two.

Good luck, Phil

 

[stephanfowler]

First of all, keeping track of those orders is paramount!

-Create a log of all those orders! Of specific importance are the details of EACH order, along with the dates the orders were placed, and the dates they were promised by (if that applies), along with the customers' personal contact information.

-You MUST keep in contact with your customers! They need to know that you have not forgotten them, and the deserve to be updated on their order(s) periodically.

-IF you have accepted ANY down payment, your indebted to that individual(s), and you will be fully expected by that/those customers to meet any delivery dates or deadlines you have established.

-Finally, do not allow yourself to get way behind! Being behind may seem cool, but customers will become disinterested if you take too long, their interests will change, and in many cases, if you fail to maintain contact with them, you will contact them with notification that an order is complete, only to receive a response that they have "changed their mind", or some other excuse.

Knifemaking is a business where it takes a long time to establish a good reputation.....and an instant to loose it. Your reputation and name are the things that will make or break you.....guard both jealously!!

Wonderful points,

one other thing that I do in addition to these is this,

if it's been more than a week or two since I took the order I will CALL the person who ordered the knife and go over ALL the details of the order again, just to be 100% sure that what I have written on my list is complete and accurate, and also to give them a chance to change little details BEFORE I get the knife built.

they LOVE the attention and personal touch and it reassures me that I'm building exactly what they want.