A customer orders a door in early November expecting it before Christmas. It is a made to order colour, the factory closes for two weeks, and it arrives in late January.
Nobody lied to her. Nobody gave her a date either, and she made arrangements around a guess she formed herself.
1. Give a lead time at the point of order
In weeks, in writing, with the factors that could move it. A customer with a realistic date plans properly and one without a date invents one.
2. Explain what drives the lead time
Stock sizes against made to order, standard colours against custom finishes, and any non standard operation. Customers frequently choose differently once they know.
3. Flag the seasonal factors
Factory shutdowns, busy periods and weather that prevents installation. These are foreseeable and customers appreciate being warned.
4. Separate the site measure from the order
Where a final measure happens before ordering, say so, because the clock starts when those figures are taken rather than at the deposit, and customers assume otherwise.
5. Confirm when the door actually arrives
A notification on delivery to your premises, then a fitting date. Two communications rather than one silence of several weeks.
6. Say what the installation day involves
Duration, noise, dust, whether the opening is exposed at any point and whether the garage is usable that evening.
7. Tell them to empty the garage
How much space is needed around the opening, whether the whole garage needs clearing and what needs to be moved from the walls beside it.
8. Ask about the vehicle
A car inside on the morning is a problem and a car outside blocking the van is a different one. Agree where everything goes beforehand.
9. Confirm parking for the vehicle and materials
Doors are large and awkward. Somewhere to park within carrying distance is a real requirement and it should be checked rather than assumed.
10. Say whether somebody must be present
For the whole visit or only at the start and finish, and who can sign off the work. Customers arrange time off around this.
11. Explain the power supply requirement
Where an opener is being fitted, whether an electrician is needed and whether that is a separate visit. This is the commonest cause of a job being split in two.
12. Deal with the old door
Whether it is removed, taken away and what it costs. Customers assume disposal is included and occasionally it is not.
13. Explain what happens if something does not fit
Made to order products cannot simply be swapped, which is why the measuring discipline in measuring and fit questions before quoting matters so much.
14. Set out the full timeline in one document
Site measure, order, manufacture, delivery, installation, with dates. This is the document customers want and almost nobody produces, which is the gap in lead time questions on made to measure doors.
15. Answer the deadline enquiries quickly
Customers with a fixed date need to know immediately whether it is possible, which is the same urgency as time limit questions in injury enquiries.
16. Reply while the customer is still deciding
An assistant that gives an indicative lead time, explains what moves it, asks about any deadline and takes the measuring visit request wins the order from somebody comparing three suppliers, which is the case made in reducing lead response time from hours to seconds. See features, check the integrations, and start at try. The sector view sits under home services.