This is a good discussion!
Andy, as you know I'm one of your clients. I can definitely feel for you trying to balance all kinds of changes without making mistakes. A couple of different thoughts from this discussion have "leapt out at me" that cause a little confusion (no quotes):
1. It's been said that customers should communicate clearly and concisely, with minimal interruption of the knifemaker. That makes perfect sense.
2. It's been said that knifemakers should periodically update their clients, so clients can budget accordingly.
If I leave the knifemaker alone I am taking a risk that my order will be misplaced or forgotten. If I email the knifemaker, I am risking offending or frustrating the knifemaker.
For the sake of clarity, it is a business relationship, but also the beginning of a friendship. Faith doesn't require evidence, but trust does. How is the situation best resolved?
What's your best advice for me then? I have no idea when the project will be completed and I'm one of those guys who likes to "keep in the loop" (especially when my beautiful bride asks me for periodic updates so she can balance the budget accordingly...yours isn't the only project we've got on the go). However, I wish only to have a mutually pleasant relationship.
Your considered advice or opinions would be appreciated!
Thanks for your time, Andy.
Kurt.
I can only speak for myself, but honestly I don't think you'd be bothering anybody to ask for updates on a regular basis, especially by email. I'm not talking every day or anything, but letting a guy know how stuff is coming along every couple of weeks is no big deal.
The key is paying attention to any timelines given to you by the maker. If he says your order is probably going to be about 3 or 4 weeks before delivery, it's not a big deal to shoot him an email about two weeks in just to let him know how excited your still are about the knife and inquire how far along it is. Two weeks after that, if he hasn't given you word that it's done, email him again and tell him again how you can't sleep at night and "is it nearing completion?"
If he says the knife is 3 or 4 months out, shoot him an email two months in just saying something like, "howdy! Just checking in to see if we're still on schedule. Thanks!" Then another email a month later. Eventually he'll probably tell you once it's cued up and in the batch, at which point, feel free to remind him of how excited you are and get an update every couple of weeks like I said before.
As long as you're not saying,
"You dickhead. What could possibly be taking so long? You must think you're such hot sh#t that you can just make an order whenever you want. Update me or I want my money back!"
you're not bothering anybody.
Giving customer updates if they ask isn't a big deal. It's no secret that knifemakers can get forgetful about keeping people informed on progress sometimes. It's not because they don't care. Maybe they just have a bazillion things going on and keep forgetting to shoot out a couple of emails or think they already did and get confused. We're not the smartest bunch in the world. We just destroy steel bars a little prettier than other people.
Sometimes orders fall through the cracks. It's nothing personal and the maker would definitely rather that not happen, but hey... stuff happens and it's just a mistake. Maybe the piece of paper with the order on it got blown away or accidentally thrown away. If you have a stack of orders all over a table and one disappears, it's just an accident and a simple update request would remedy the situation. Then the maker would say, "Oh dude! Sorry, I must have accidentally lost that one somewhere. I'm glad you emailed me. I'll go find the email right now with your specs and print it out again!" No worries. Asking for updates can even help a maker avoid a mistake like that. So, that being the case, asking for updates is actually helping the maker out.
If the knifemaker you ask to make you a knife is upset or in any way bothered by you asking for an update, he's a dickhead and you should have given your money to a nicer guy. If any kind of maker of anything acted like I was bothering him by asking how everything was going, I'd tell him "thank you, but I've changed my mind. I'm sorry for any inconvenience." That's not the kind of guy that gets my support, kudos, or any bit of my money.
Wow. This turned into a rant. My bad. ONWARD!
"Email us asking for updates on the regular and it doesn't bother us at all" is the jist of all that crap above this sentence!
Integrity shapes the profile. Its one of the reasons why I like your knives.
