Nathan, it would be helpful if there were directions provided to remind people to provide basic info.
It seems like the minimum info required to intelligently respond to a potential customer boils down to Who, What, When, Where. I always get the Who, but its frustrating getting messages that don't address any of the others.
For example...these are similar to entire messages I have gotten...
"Need small parts"
"Cover"
"Need help"
I think in my head, Okay....tell me more as I craft my reply.
I don't want to ignore these as they can turn into good jobs, but I am also trying to keep my costs down and every message back and forth eats up time (cost) so the more info provided up front, the better.
Any thoughts or similar experiences or suggestions?
etc.
10 years ago
Non of the minimalistic contacts I received were spam, they all turned out to be real needs when it was all said and done.
Last week one that said "electrical enclosure"
no other info was provided and no reply when I asked for details
Idk if it is spam or not. But, if it is real people then we need to get it fixed, because it is a little aggravating opening your message and you only have a couple of words. Then you have to spend time getting all the info out from them.
Maybe have a form set up with the customer that briefly explains what we need to know like:
Count
resolution
Color
Material
ETC.
This way it comes to us all nice and pretty. and if they dont know what they want or looking at then they can just send a message explaining that they dont know what is the best option for them.
Do you have a model or have you seen one on the internet that you would like printed? Even the link to the Thingiverse model or other source would be helpful.
If you only have an idea of what you want, are you looking for me to design it?
If you are on a tight time frame, let me know that up front.
It is a trade between getting the customer to say what they want or scaring them away with too many questions that they may not be able to answer. We still have a lot of education to provide to counter some of the hype that generates the inquiries. These are interesting times.
Back last year - I had at least 10 - 12 Inquiries that NEVER Evolved into paying print jobs. In 2 cases I went back and forth MANY Times with messages - and them passing me files. In one case - even signed an NDA - but all for Nothing.
In another case - a guy gave me a Thingiverse link to an Object that can NOT Be printed on ANY Desktop 3D Printer - as it was like 30"x30" by like 5" high. And, to make matters worse - it was supposed to be a Train Tunnel for a Train that you put under an Xmas tree - and it claimed it was big enough to put the Tree ON IT! Problem was - not only could it NOT Be Printed as IS - but, there were NO Internal supports to Actually HOLD Up the weight of the Tree!
Long story short - the guy was even Considering Buying a 3D Printer. So - I took the time to Educate him - with a REALLY LONG email and explained the multiple problems with the Item!
In the end - after taking ALL that time to write up my response - I literally got NO REPLY from the guy. And - if you ask me - that borders on Rude. But, what the hell...