Do your clients issue a Notice of Award or Notice of Decline?
Scenario:
A potential client would call or email me a TOR & ask for a cost quotation. Sometimes they would even request for a meeting to discuss the TOR & negotiate for a lower fee.
All of this is good & normal.
My beef is that some of these potential clients would just keep quiet & disappear. I would later know that the work was given to another surveyor when I meet up with them in our annual convention.
I think clients should let me know if the work was not awarded to me. A simple email would do. No need to know who won the contract. Just so that I know I will be having a free schedule instead of hoping to get a work contract because I am still waiting to know if I won the work or not.
When you think about it, I already spent some money preparing the quote, going to the meeting & revising my quote based on the results of the meeting.
I usually don't get a notice for private work...just hear about it later or get a signed contract in the mail. I agree, it would be nice to just get a note saying they went with somebody else.
We follow up on our proposals within two weeks. Take the inititive and do the follow up yourself. I don't believe it is up to the potential client.
in a perfect world reasonable folks would let you know the outcome of your proposal, but this ain't a perfect world.
check up on it in a few days as Mr. Poole suggested.
also, something that i learned from gardening, which applies to any business, is not to depend on the weather. applying that to business means not to depend on any proposed job until you get it, and don't fret about scheduling until then.
You put your quote in writing? Just put an expiration term in it. If you dont hear by the end of the term do not sweat it.
> I don't believe it is up to the potential client.
Perhaps not but it would be a polite thing to do in general.
A long time friend contacted me earlier this year to help him rebuild his house after our floods a couple years ago. He needed me over there (about an hour's drive)for a few days and I agreed. He was going to feed me, beer me and pay me. I didn't care about the pay but it was going to put me in a tough spot. None-the-less I was going to help because he needed it. I cancelled other things I had going on and made arrangements for someone to care for my cat while gone. I got out my tool belt and a tote and loaded up with what I thought might be needed and packed a bag. All was setup and ready to go.
I have never heard a word since then. I went out of my way to make arrangements and everyone else thinking I was going to be gone for several days left me to be alone and somewhat in the dark for those several days.
My point being, if he got other help or whatever - just freakin let me know!
If you need to be late or wait a month or 2 or ten - fine....just freakin let me know!
To this day I have not heard a peep.
Some friend huh?
> To this day I have not heard a peep.
> Some friend huh?
Maybe you should go check on him and make sure he's not laying there with a heart attack or something.
Proposals are a 4 step dance:
1) prepare/submit
2) follow-up, follow-up
3) evaluate outcome
4) piss/moan or do the job
Really, this is all about a trait that most people no longer have today. That trait WAS called "Good Manners". It is no longer taught at home. Today's society is the "ME" society. I have seen T-shirts that say "It really is all just about ME!!". Too close to the truth to be funny.
The days of sayibg "Please" and "Thank You" are long gone. Why? Because that takes time and we are becommoing a very lazy, self-centered nation.
It used to be standard practice that when you interviewed someone for a job or contract, that when that job was filled or the contract let, you sent a letter saying "We chose someone else, but we will keep you in mind for future services. Thank you for applying." Today that takes too much time, and being the sloths that we have become, it does not get done.
Want to do an interesting experiment? For the next month, whenever someone does spmething for you, take the time to tell them "Thank You". Situation does not matter. It can be a waiter (don't forget his/her tip), the chckout person at the store, the mailman, whatever. At the end of thet month, look around you. Do people seem happier to see you? Does you waiter give you a little better service? Do people seem to go out of their way to greet you. A little dose of Good Manners goes a LONG way.
> Want to do an interesting experiment? For the next month, whenever someone does spmething for you, take the time to tell them "Thank You". Situation does not matter. It can be a waiter (don't forget his/her tip), the chckout person at the store, the mailman, whatever. At the end of thet month, look around you. Do people seem happier to see you? Does you waiter give you a little better service? Do people seem to go out of their way to greet you. A little dose of Good Manners goes a LONG way.
Well, here's the flip side, just a couple recent experiences...
Went into the blue hardware superstore to pick-up a recent purchase. I approach the "Customer Service" counter with receipt in hand and a smile on my face...
Me: I'm here to pick up this stove I purchased Sat
Her: reaches for receipt, starts typing on keybaord... never makes eye contact, never smiles, never says a single word... Gets frustrated when no one answers dept call, goes to co-worker and says something, co-worker calls for help on intercom. 5-minutes later, help arrives with stove. "Customer Service" rep hands receipt back to me, I smile & say thank you, she turns & walks away.
She never spoke to me or made eye contact with me in the 10-minutes I stood there, although I made 3-4 attempts to engage in conversation.
Went into local convenience store yesterday...
I walk up to counter with my Diet Coke. I say Hello as I approach the counter. Clerk never looks up, rings up amount, then looks up at me and waits for me to hand her the money. Never speaks.... (This scenario happens frequently in my area in stores, restaurants, etc.)
I could go on & on... maybe it's just my area.... 🙂
I agree with cptdent.
Just out of curiosity, how many of you guys that think it's rude not to get the notice of not getting the award, call applicants that interviewed for a job and tell them if they didn't get the job?
#1.....these are exactly the kind of people I am talking about. You have to wear them don.
#2.....you are obviously their "type" o.O Next time hand a $50 out of tour pocket or a sock in your pants. 😛
> Want to do an interesting experiment? For the next month, whenever someone does spmething for you, take the time to tell them "Thank You". Situation does not matter. It can be a waiter (don't forget his/her tip), the chckout person at the store, the mailman, whatever. At the end of thet month, look around you. Do people seem happier to see you? Does you waiter give you a little better service? Do people seem to go out of their way to greet you. A little dose of Good Manners goes a LONG way.
You are correct. No need to do your "experiment" here as our children have been taught manners from day one. When we go out to eat it is fun to watch the waitress's reaction as each child says "Thank You" as they receive their drink and "May I Please Have..." when they order their food. Yes our waitress is happier.
The family gets compliments every time we go out to eat about how well behaved our kids are. I tell people it is no big deal, that they are just behaving the same way they do at the home dinner table. Then I get an odd look or sometimes a light bulb goes off in their heads.
> I agree with cptdent.
>
> Just out of curiosity, how many of you guys that think it's rude not to get the notice of not getting the award, call applicants that interviewed for a job and tell them if they didn't get the job?
I am not sure about other companies, but we tell applicants right then & there if they quality for the opening or not. Usually we look for experience by having them do a field test on the spot. If they fail that then we tell them right away. For computer literacy we just ask them if they know how to use a computer & what softwares they have used in the past. I personally feel that the office can teach them the CAD & survey softwares while on the job.
Survey companies do not get many applicants for the post of surveyor or chief of party. Usually 1 or 2 would apply in a day or even a week after we post a wanted ads.
If a position is already filled up then we tell applicants that the post is taken but they can leave their resumes & contact details for future openings.
I think the analogy between clients-surveyor is different from office-personnel. I am not working for the client as an employee. Client needs a survey company, company is offering our services. Resources are spent from the point that the client requests for a quotation. Heaven forbids the client that wants us to do a site inspection. I tell them to please email me pictures or google earth screenshots. We will send an engineer to do site inspection if client agrees to our initial quote. I had a client in the past tha twanted us to send an engineer to the site. Problem was in order to get to the site, you had to get on an airplane & drive for 2 hours after that to get to the mining site. And that was just to get a "feel" for the site so that we could provide him a quotation. I just told him if he can't ask someone on the site to take pictures & email them to me then forget about the quotation. He sent the pictures after that.
> > To this day I have not heard a peep.
> > Some friend huh?
>
> Maybe you should go check on him and make sure he's not laying there with a heart attack or something.
Nice thought Roadie, but his wife or other mutual friends would have called me. At least I would think so. I just chalked it up to yet another episode of someone saying they are going to do something and don't.
> Survey companies do not get many applicants for the post of surveyor or chief of party. Usually 1 or 2 would apply in a day or even a week after we post a wanted ads.
Wow....that is a different scenario. Around here, even if I advertise for a nonlicensed field guy I get more applicants than that; including licensed and lsi's. If some don't qualify, of course we tell them that they don't qualify for the job. My scenario above is about when you interview 4, 5, - 10 or more applicants and chose one.
In my opinion, that part of the dynamics is the same. You should respond to the applicants you interviewed for the job opening and tell them whether they got the job or not. And I say that the same is true for someone getting bids for a job from companies, they should have the courtesy to call them back if they went through the time and trouble to make a proposal.
Agreed. Good manners have no limits and should be applied evenly everywhere. There are NO situations where the rules do not apply. Therein lies the major problem. Too many people think they are for "special ooccasions" only.
I am from the Philippines & lately maybe the past 2 years it has been difficult getting survey professionals. Most go to work in the Middle East - UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Dubai. Even fresh graduates are hard to come by because most of them go directly to the Call Center jobs.
Our company last year posted a wanted ad for a Professional Surveyor with at least 5 years of field experience. We got no takers!
So we trained our older guys - rodmen, GPS operators for the job with an increase in pay.
