I must say,( maybe its because I have not being caught out yet, some slow to pay but no defaulters) But you have to build a relationship with the client that is going to be long standing.
Asking if he is a customer of company xyz before even though you know they are not, I don’t know I think it would give me the impression that you don't know your customers.
I use E-mail a lot for sending quotes and getting confirmation of order, don’t know about over there but I find a lot of receptionist do the corresponding, the boss will go on what she says, and this is great because she knows what she wants the system to do. I will also try to meet to see the site before quoting, to see whets involved and to meet the client in person.
Terms are on Invoice and order form. sign docket on completion of job. you don't have to know if they read them or not, once they have them before signing, they are bound by your terms.
I have a customer who when I first talked to them about a new system, some one told me be careful with him, he is a bad payer, I tried to cover myself, with terms and crap saying you have to pay on completion of job etc.. He turned around to me and said, do you not trust me, have you heard some bad things about his company. I nearly died, stuttering, no, no. Got the job and everything. he turns out to be my best payer, never had a problem, I could of lost that job because of pushing terms on him.
Once the terms are there and they sigh it, you are covered. Keep e-mails of all correspondence, do credit checks if unsure. If it is a big order ask for a 10% deposit on signing of contract.
Ken
