Work related-What to do?

0Face

I'm hoping someone can give me a little grace or wisdom here. Client called asking for a quote on some work they wanted done---we had a potential job that was coming, but not 100% certain, so I met with client---got a great site tour.

Got the plans, in the meantime, got the other job---told him I couldn't give him a quote with certainty of performance so I returned the plans. Client called a week later, asking for quote again---saying he could hold off until next Spring. I thought this was more do-able, in the mean time---just last week was told our spring is full.
WHAT TO DO!?! I feel horrible I want to call and just say:

"I cannot in goodwill even provide a price for a company that cannot perform the work. I apologize for the delay but it would be in bad business to give a proposal with no actual intention of ever doing the project for you".

That sounds?

VarunaTT

It's not like you mislead the client.

"I apologize.  As I had previously informed you, I wasn't sure I could provide a quote and had returned your plans.  I appreciate that you wanted our skills (or whatever sounds good) enough that you were willing to wait, unfortunately, I have received the news that we would still not able to meet your required schedule.  Thank you for thinking of us and hopefully we can do business in the future".

hmonkey

VarunaTT said:

It's not like you mislead the client.

"I apologize.  As I had previously informed you, I wasn't sure I could provide a quote and had returned your plans.  I appreciate that you wanted our skills (or whatever sounds good) enough that you were willing to wait, unfortunately, I have received the news that we would still not able to meet your required schedule.  Thank you for thinking of us and hopefully we can do business in the future".

i think this is excellent. i would add "... meet your required schedule for next spring. if you have some leeway in your schedule, i would be happy to see if we could accommodate you at a different time. thank you for thinking of us ..."

to give them an opening for still working with the company.

*Barbie*

What I would like to understand from a procurement perspective is that you are choosing not to quote the project, as your company has a full workload and does not feel that they could meet the customer's timeline on this job. You could give an estimate on lead time based upon current shop/workload and let them know when you should have availability to have the work completed - if they can accept this, you'd be happy to provide them with a quote. 

Have you and your bosses discussed the possibility of adding additional staff to accommodate work awarded as the result of incoming RFQ? Is the decision to turn down work coming from management? I don't see a lot of sense in turning down potential business in the case that another job would fall through. If you physically do not have space or have machine capacity to manufacture the product, it is understandable (and I would want to know this). If it's a question of workload/staffing, then you could always hire some contract employees to manage overflow work. 

0Face

Barbie,

I was told that any and all manpower is pretty much gobbled up by not only one but now another multi-million dollar project---that both of these customers that are current and good paying-would require an onsite staffing log and information to man these jobs from now until completion, which most likely Fall of 2015-Spring 2016.

Which at that point, my quote is invalid.  I was directed by management to keep open lines of communication but not give any indication that work can be performed within the next 12-18 months.  It was regrettable, and our company was literally kept in limbo until last week with the 1st project and the 2nd one popped up yesterday afternoon. 

Our industry is a strange one, in that---it's highly specialized, often from networked recommendations, and paying current customers are often fast-tracked versus new and "hey look at this!" requests.

0Face

Take that for what it is.  I usually am trembly excited from RFQ or recommendations but it was just HORRIBLE timing.  And in our area apparently everyone is BUSYBUSYBUSY! and couldn't get this gentleman any numbers either.

*Barbie*

@ftrMrsO - sounds like the potential customer is just late to the game - the market can't meet the demand, so you guys can afford to be picky. I completely understand the management decision to prioritize your current customers with large projects and good standing over new (potential) work. I'm fortunate that my company name holds a lot of sway - so we're usually a top client for a lot of our suppliers. 

it sounds like you've done a good job of communicating to the potential client that your workload was full for the next several years and you weren't currently providing quotes for additional business during that time. In a way, that's also refreshing, as I am currently dealing with more than one project where a supplier has overcommitted, and have put our projects in jeopardy due to their delay on a critical item. That's a pain in the ass for everyone involved. 

Also, if I didn't say it before - congrats on the project manager role for the new business - that's awesome!