My problem with the change in timing is that it was never reiterated again after it was brought up once, the flow of the message went like this....
Random Topic A
Random Topic A
Random Topic A
Change in Meeting Time Update
(It was a reply message to an earlier message but I thought it was a reply to Random Topic A, so I skipped it)
Random Topic B
Attendance Check for who will be attending the Lunch after the meeting.
(The change in timing was not reiterated in the attendance check message)
Attendance Check
Attendance Check
.
.
.
.
.
.
Attendance Check
... and then fast forward to today, I just notice that the timing got changed to 1pm after my colleague posted in the group chat that the meeting/lunch was starting soon at 12 noon.
Since I am probably the only one who seemed to have missed out the timing, it is my fault for not keeping a close eye on the chat, but the way the change in timing was so casually brought up and never reiterated again also really threw me off, and the lack of any reminders to reiterate the change in timing a day before the meeting date really did not help.
Anyways, my boss is actually at the showroom today to conduct the meeting, so I am probably gonna be blacklisted for not showing up, I wouldn't mind getting blacklisted from customer leads for a while, I could really use a short break from having to deal with shitty leads.
I got one a few days back that had an unrealistic budget, nice lady, we chatted on the phone, but her budget for her renovation can only stretch so far and it barely covers 40% of what she wanted to do, so I emailed her the quote and then my boss calls me up and tells me to follow up with the client a bit more tightly because this lady had a lot of potential as she was my boss's family friend.
Honestly thought it was a bit pointless to follow up too closely.
Honestly thought it was a bit pointless to follow up too closely.
1. She is my boss's family friend, not mine, so I am not gonna give her any family friend discount because, well, she isn't my family friend and I don't know her personally.
2. I am not paid a monthly salary by my boss, so I am not obligated to give her any sort of huge discount, my earning is fully reliant on commission, if I feel like the commission I will end up getting is not worth my time and effort, then I am going to drop her as a client.
3. There would literally be no commission because as I have stated, her budget can't even cover half of the renovation works, if I took on the project, it will be as good as me paying for her renovation, which brings me back to point number 1, she ain't my family friend, so why should I ?
I told my boss that her budget is way too low and unrealistic, but he kept pushing for me to follow up closely, to offer her suggestions on what she can remove from her requirements to reduce the cost, to give her an overall discount at the end to make the contract amount more appealing and then to just call her "right now" and speak to her.
Right Now = 1pm on a Monday afternoon.
She is working "right now" and he wants me to just call her whilst she is in the middle of work, it was a bit weird, he wasn't offering me any realistic advice and it just sounded like he wanted me to do hard sell to clinch the project, which is not something I am good at or even want to attempt to do because hard selling will just make the clients feel like they have been pressured to sign the contract and this would just lead to a lot of problems later on during the renovation.
If a client came back to me on their own, chances are they like me as a person and we have good chemistry, working with such clients is a lot better because they will be understanding when a problem arises, since they did not feel pressured to engage me, if something goes wrong, they won't think that I am trying to cheat them off their hard earned money and they will probably not nitpick as much. I am a socially awkward individual, if the other party and I don't click, then every meeting that we have will be awkward because I also won't feel comfortable starting a conversation with them.
If I had attended the meeting today, my boss would have probably asked me about this particular client, but alas, I see no point in heading down for the meeting and lunch now since the meeting is already over (as of me writing up to this stage of this post). The lunch was just something I would have partake in since I was already going to be there for the meeting, so I gotta Grab Food instead now I suppose.
I also got another lead a few days back with an even more unrealistic budget, so that is another waste of time I will have to deal with in the coming days when we meet in my office for a face to face consultation, this new client has yet to respond back to my message to double confirm the appointment, I really hope it is not gonna be another ingrate like Ros. I mean looking at the budget she has set aside, the meeting we will be having next week will very likely be the only one we ever have.
She has requested for a full renovation works - Estimated Cost should be anywhere between $40,000 to $50,000 for the basic stuff.
Her budget she has set aside is $15,000 - $20,000
Getting this kind once or twice, it's fine, but I have been getting leads like this for so many months now, it is irritating, do they not know how to do any sort of research online before they set the budget? It is so far off the mark it's just ridiculous!
I believe these clients uses the website Qanvast to get connected with the interior designers, Qanvast has a shit ton of project with the renovation cost for them to look at....
....this is the renovation cost range for an apartment of that client's size, between $50,000 - $150,000, such a simple research that can be done within a matter of seconds and she puts her budget as $15,000 - $20,000.
And the annoying thing is it is not just this customer, almost all the leads I have been getting from my company have the same problem, just this blatant lack of research for their budget, they focus so much on what they want for their space but then don't double check if they actually have the money to afford all their wants.
I feel like the websites that provides all this leads should also adopt the responsibility of educating the owners on the correct budget they should be setting aside for their renovation because companies actually pay these renovation portals for the leads.
These leads are not cheap but they are garbage.
She has requested for a full renovation works - Estimated Cost should be anywhere between $40,000 to $50,000 for the basic stuff.
Her budget she has set aside is $15,000 - $20,000
Getting this kind once or twice, it's fine, but I have been getting leads like this for so many months now, it is irritating, do they not know how to do any sort of research online before they set the budget? It is so far off the mark it's just ridiculous!
I believe these clients uses the website Qanvast to get connected with the interior designers, Qanvast has a shit ton of project with the renovation cost for them to look at....
Between $50,000 - $120,000
Between $68,000 - $150,000
....this is the renovation cost range for an apartment of that client's size, between $50,000 - $150,000, such a simple research that can be done within a matter of seconds and she puts her budget as $15,000 - $20,000.
And the annoying thing is it is not just this customer, almost all the leads I have been getting from my company have the same problem, just this blatant lack of research for their budget, they focus so much on what they want for their space but then don't double check if they actually have the money to afford all their wants.
I feel like the websites that provides all this leads should also adopt the responsibility of educating the owners on the correct budget they should be setting aside for their renovation because companies actually pay these renovation portals for the leads.
These leads are not cheap but they are garbage.
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