Wait List Help

blgoode

blgoode

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 3, 2003
Messages
7,137
Okay......On a good week I can get in about 14 hrs in the shop.
Now that I have some orders (more than normal) I am having issues with wanting to get these things done so people dont have to wait FOREVER.
Any advise?
 
blgoode said:
Okay......On a good week I can get in about 14 hrs in the shop.
Now that I have some orders (more than normal) I am having issues with wanting to get these things done so people dont have to wait FOREVER.
Any advise?
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Short of clones, all you can do is quit that day job and go fulltime. You can do it :D
 
Hey, that's what you get for being so damn good. No you're gonna have to go fulltime. :p :D Seriously, don't know what to tell you Brian. I guess just explain to them the amount of time you put into your knifemaking and I'm sure they'll understand. Tell them good things come to those who wait. ;)
Scott
 
I told you you need to get a divorce, and get yourself fired at your job. Collect unemployment, and make knives. Let's not have any more distractions!
Yah HEER ME BOY?
:D
 
Let them wait. If they appreciate the work, it will be worth it.

Don't rush your work, though. I'll bite you in the end - hard.



To help alleviate some of the problems I was having, I made a page on my website to show the waiting list: http:/www.kosterknives.com/orders.htm (organized by completion date, not order date - some orders are quicker/easier than others)

I got the idea from another knifemaker's website (sorry, can't remember who :()

Names are kept private, but the person who has the order knows where they are "in line". I won't take an order until the customer has read that page. I'm sure I have probably lost one or two orders because of it, but the orders I do have are solid, and the customers are patient.

Before this I felt like I was having to keep telling everybody "give me one more week"....it was driving me crazy.....

Somehow seeing it "on paper" (ok, virtual paper :D) makes it easier on both of us.
 
One good move that a lot of makers have been employing lately is to accept full prepayment, then never actually make or send the knives out to the customers. It's quite popular these days and, I'm sure, quite lucrative for a couple years until people start asking where their knives are!
 
It sucks but a wait list is totally necesarry. I hate doing it too but I gotta. You get used to it after a bit and if the customers are real knife nuts then they will only drool more once they get the knife they've ordered. Just give them an approximate time of delvery and shoot just a bit over that to cover your butt and it shold be fine. If they get it early, they'll love ya. If they get it around when you said you would, your a man of your word. Good luck!....Rich
 
One thing that saves me is when I start a job is I email images of the process. Saves me from telling someone..."well I have it heat treated but I still have to...."

Thanks guys.
Full time? man thats scarry :D Who knows???
 
blgoode said:
One thing that saves me is when I start a job is I email images of the process. Saves me from telling someone..."well I have it heat treated but I still have to...."

Thanks guys.
Full time? man thats scarry :D Who knows???
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Best part about being a full-timer is that now I can tell the boss to go to hell... wait... that's me!
 
1 need to back log customers (most will understand) and it says something about your work to them.

2 stop taking orders (not easy to do)

3 to slow orders go up on price. I like this one...haha

4 work your ass off and never sleep or have OTHER fun (;>))
 
Best advice I can offer......

Dont ever take deposits unless an exotic material is requested.

Dont ever make anything that you dont like or think you can sell to someone else if the buyer backs out

Don't rush....dont undersell yourself...

STOP AND TAKE TIME TO WORK OUT YOUR IDEAS IN STEEL!!! Take a break and make something for yourself rather than feeling like you have to get something done for someone.
 
Thanks Guys,
It helps to hear advise from my boys. Now I need to keep my head down and go at it for at while!!
 
Brian,

A wait list is not a bad thing, and most customers should not be surprised. I am on several lists and it helps me spread out the cash flows and gives me something to look forward to.

The only other thought is to batch your work for greater efficiencies. Congratulations on having a wait list "problem" :)
 
Brian, I am in the same boat as you i work a full time job am on call 24 hours a day with every other weekend off. I am up to a 3 month wait on most styles att. I just explain to them that at this point my "real" job pays the bills and the knifemaking happens as the opportunity shows itself i have not lost any orders that i know of yet but i am sure it will happen.
 
Daniel Koster
I'll bite you in the end - hard
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MuHuHaAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA!!!!

I think you slipped on that one Dan!!! :p :p :p

Just explain it Brian.

I'm about a year out now... some people smile and say yes, others think it's crazy and go to another maker.

Just put yourself in somebody like Fisk's shoes and look at something like an 8 year back-log! Yikes! :eek:

-Nick-
 
LMAO!!! :eek:



But it's true, Brian - I will bite you if you rush your work. :p




:footinmou
 
do you ever spank? :confused:
Oh Lord...here we go!!! :o
 
Brian I'm in a similar position, with a backlog of six months or more. When I take an order I just tell them when I expect to have their knife done, and like Rich suggested, add a few weeks to cover for any unexpected scheduling problems. If they don't want to wait, there's really nothing I can do about that; nothing would make me put a later order in front of an earlier one just to satisfy some pushy customer (they've tried). Once in a while I do slip in something to satisfy myself, but that's really too rare.

The worst part of taking orders, for me, is that I never leave myself enough time to do those projects that I just want to do; almost everything I make is an order, and usually a repeat of something I've done before. That's the biggest drawback to taking orders, seldom being able to branch out to new patterns.

I've been telling people "No" for a while now, just because I want to make some of my own ideas, new knives that I haven't already done a dozen times. Saying No is hard, because that's reliable money that supports supplies and adds to my general cash flow a little (very little! ;)) It's still going to be 2006 before I get caught up... :rolleyes:

Some day I hope to get to the point where I just don't take orders at all; just make what I want and let the chips fall where they may...but the reality is probably somewhere in the middle.

Be happy you have that much demand for your work! You're on the right track.
 
Looking at Dan's list, I feel silly! :D Mine is nowhere near that long, for which I'm very thankful. And completing four projects a week! Holy Moly Dan, I'm lucky to get one every four weeks... Sometimes that's two or three knives because I batch them when I can, but still! I don't know how you do it. You must put in some long days.

The website list is a good way to let potential customers estimate their delivery date before they contact you. I think that's one of the best ideas I've seen in a while.

I just have a bound record book I write them down in as they're ordered or as I dream up something I'm willing to commit shop time to. Over the years it's become a fairly long list and it's kinda cool to go back and read over it, remember what I've made and compare prices then to prices now. ;) (Fortunately, my workmanship has improved along with my price schedule. ;)) A second section of the book includes customer contact information.
 
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