I'm just horrible at making good points when I get nervous. I just wrote about this customer today on another thread. We had 18 emails over a month, and I gave her quotes on 6 different cake designs.....today I decided I didn't want to do the cake for her, period. I gave her a quote of $3.00 pp for a fondant cake with hand painted flowers on the sides, plus gum paste flowers on top. I realized how stupid this is and I WAS. I'd rather deal with cupcake for .50 less per serving.

So I wrote her today when she finally placed her order yesterday, that I was already over booked (the day before Mothers Day). WHICH is true, I got a huge order for Mothers Day and I can't waste the day before making that lady's cake.

So she wrote back to me, "I thought you had committed to making this cake for us, we were just finalizing the details. What happened?"

PLEASE HELP ME, how would you respond? We didn't have a contract and now I AM too busy, plus I don't want to do her cake. Would you respond to her email?

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Margaret Newsom

3:00 PM (5 hours ago)

 

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I think that you could easily reply that you don't book estimates until you receive a deposit and  another client had placed a large order, making you unable to take on additional orders for that day.  Apologize for the inconvenience and wish her well. 

A"I'm sorry, but orders are only confirmed after a contract has been signed and a deposit has been paid to secure the date. Other customers have already confirmed orders for (date) so unfortunately I will no longer be able to fit your order into the schedule. I wish you the best of luck with your event."

If things are still not finalized by 4 weeks before the delivery date I will make sure the customer is aware that their order has not yet been confirmed and if other customers confirm first they may not be able to place their order. The warnings get continuously more dire as the date approaches.

AMaybe there is another baker you can suggest can help her, if you call a baker buddy first to see if they can accommodate her. Next time, charge her double and a half...maybe she will dump you!! :-)...if not, maybe the extra cash will make her being a pain a little less painful!

Thank-you!!. I think I'm going to go along the lines Jason suggested. That seems straight and professional. I don't want these kinds of clients. I used to work at her country club and perhaps they think they own me still.

I didn't read the other thread, but did you ever tell her that you weren't committed until she'd paid a deposit? I can see why she'd be annoyed if she was operating under the assumption that you had committed and she was never told differently.

No I didn't tell her that. She asked me a month ago on first contact if I was available on that date. I was available then, I'm now sold out (the day before Mothers Day!). I work on a first come first serve basis. When I sell out, I sell out.

I don't ask for deposits on small cakes. I only ask for deposits on wedding cakes or substantial projects. I do not state my terms to a prospective small cake clients. I don't have many of them!! I want to be able to reject unreasonable clients at any point. They can fire me at any time also, that's what I get by not asking for deposit. I give people quotes on cakes all the time, asking for a quote doesn't guarantee they'll buy from me, there is no contract. If I have a no show on a cake, my hubby is always happy to take it to work.

I didn't hear back from her for over a week after I gave her 6 different quotes on cakes. I figured she was busy shopping pricing with every decorator. I had no certainty that she'd finally order from me! I just continued on with my life. I didn't email her warnings, that's not my style.

I'd go with Jason's response.

From your previous posts, you have indicated you are trying to market yourself.  Turning away business after a month of consultations might not be the way to go, despite the fact you are now booked for that date.  I realize that this woman is a pain, but you gave her no indication about your booking policy, so she thought you were available.  It's a good idea to get deposits a few weeks in advance as others have indicated, particularly with customers like the one you are dealing with.  Even if you don't want her as a customer, you started the process when you were emailing back and forth with her.  Now someone else will get her business...

A

Agreed. If she was under the impression all along that her order was already confirmed, and you didn't say anything to the contrary, it may be in your best interests to try to squeeze the order in while apologizing for the misunderstanding. Perhaps you could work with her on simplifying the order so it won't take as much time.

If you reject the order you may get some significant negative PR, especially since it is so close to the event and it may be difficult for the customer to find a replacement.

Yes, now I see how I've screwed up! I did use Jason's wording. I don't really know what to do to make things better. No matter what she'll be pissed off at me....and no matter what I don't want to make her cake on that date.

Just a fyi (if anyone cares)..........I'm throwing in the towel for the most part with my business. I'm looking for full time employment. I don't enjoy being a sales person, I'm really more of a baker/artist personality and not out going enough. I'll still attempt to sell wedding cakes and my toffee as my side job/hobby.....hoping I can build that.

Having business doesn't make for profitability. In order to make money I need to crank up the volume and I can't do that in the rental kitchen near me. It sucks every penny of income. My other choice is to invest in opening my own store...........but time after time I see that the people in my own area won't pay a respectable amount of money for custom baked goods. The big box stores have everyone convinced that all baked goods should be that cheap. I know there's got to be a market for people who are willing to by a custom product, I just haven't tapped into that yet. I'd need to open a shop at least 45 minutes away from my home to reach a wealthier client. That would do more harm to my life then good.

This current client (who I don't want) is one of the "richer" people in the area. It's a group of 4 women throwing a shower at the country club, sharing the costs. I was approached by the client who said they were looking for "something special". What that really meant was they want something special, but they aren't willing to pay for it. She kept shopping out options with me for a cheaper design. Then she stalled in contacting me any which way. I took that to mean she wasn't hot on placing her order with me. So I kept on with life.

AHow many times have I read on CC not to wait for imaginary orders when real ones are slapping us in the face with a deposit? If OP had come here saying she passed on the large order because she was waiting on this lady who might order we would be telling her to do exactly what she did: attend to the paying customer.

A

If there is no process for confirmation, no required deposit for a small order, and a first come/first served policy the customer is reasonable in assuming that their order would be filled. It would be a different story if the customer was made aware that their order was not confirmed.

Here's my last email to the prospective clients before she stalled. In one way I see that it's looks that I've agreed to make the cake, but in another way it seems to me I've told her this isn't complete until she pays the bill.

"I always recommend going with your first choice. It's rarely wrong! Here's a really great website for colors, http://www.theperfectpalette.com/2011/05/chartreuse-gray-white.html The best thing to do is tell me which colors you want, then copy and paste them in an email to me here (or tell me their exact names so I can look them up). Use the website to choose a pretty complimentary color to match your brides color.

AFrom that email, it sounds like if she was planning on paying in cash she wouldn't have to pay anything until she picked up the cake.

Adding something like this would have changed the situation: "Please note that your order is not confirmed until your design is finalized and a bill has been sent. Orders that have not been confirmed run the risk of not being filled depending on availability."

Life isn't perfect.  Sometimes we make mistakes.  Just send her an apology saying "I'm so sorry if I didn't make my policy clear - I speak to many prospective customers each day, and my schedule fills up as orders are finalized."  Just be honest: "my schedule filled up while you were deciding what to do, and as a small business, I can only handle so many orders at once".

If she wants to be a b*tch, she will be one regardless, so send her a heartfelt apology and move on.  Maybe refer her to another baker who could help on short notice??

Liz
 

Thanks to everyone who responded. I do appreciate your help a lot! Things should be done with this client and I'm on to new horizons with yet another good lesson under my belt.

I really hope everything works out well for you!

I did apologize after you all helped me see I did things poorly. It's very cool to have a place like this, where people can mentor others who need it. This whole thing has me wondering exactly what everyone else writes in emails to prospective customers in their daily routines.

We share tutorials of how to make things and do things............but I need tutorials on how to respond to situations better. I know I'm not handling aspects of my business like everyone else here says they do. I feel awkward to set rules before any play happens. Instead of leading the process I seem to always be reacting to how things have gone wrong. I'm not sure if that's because I'm used to being the employee and always doing what's asked of me...........or if I'm seriously stupid. It's not like I'm a passive person who can't talk to strangers I can be VERY Bold and very out going when I have to. I understand as the business owner I need to lead the conversations..............but they always seem to get away from me, so I know I'm doing something/probably a lot of things wrong.

Anyone willing to role play with me and show me what your emails look like to customers? When SuzieQ emails you and asks are you available on May 30th because she need a special cake.........exactly what does your email response to her look like?

My website is a disaster! It shouldn't be set for public viewing, but I don't know how to change that. I have hired a person to re-make my site, whom has encountered problems in the wordpress software not accepting his code. So everything is on stall. I've not told anyone about my website at all. The only people who know it exists are the people here at CC where I've included it in my signature.

Seriously, writing here and learning from everyone is really educating me on how I've gone wrong.

My biggest business problem is I haven't defined what my business is. I've taken anything that comes my way hoping that might help me define what path I should take. I clearly see NOW, just how wrong that is, it doesn't work at all. But had I not done that I wouldn't have learned what does work and what doesn't work, for me. So I'm glad I made those screw ups on a small scale.

So back to learning.........

Most of you have a response email to send to all requests somewhat like Vgcea showed above. I get that and I see how I can and should following that. Please take me through the next hurdle........ role playing:

"Hi V,

I'd like a special cake for a wedding shower. We were thinking we'd like an umbrella on top. Can you do that? How much will that be? I looked at your website but I didn't see any cakes with umbrellas on them."

thanks,

SusieQ

(I went back and disabled what I could to eliminate incorrect info. on my site like you pointed out Vgcea. I appreciate you making that point to me!)

A^ That sounds about right. Note that many of these questions can be included in an online order form, and depending on your target market you can make some or all of the questions required and/or add dropdowns to help guide customers as to the available options. You can even include a photo uploading feature. This will save a lot of back-and-forth time.