OP
- Reaction score
- 411
Exactly. You've had no personal experience with a customer you've never met, but have preconceived opinions about them.
As you say, preconceived ideas based on your experience of others though.
Andy, To clarify the meaning of preconceived: An opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.
Being I have decades of experience dealing with many hundreds (if not more) of people with the accents I refer to, who on average only around a third of whom has ever lead to actual work, compared to two thirds of non similar accent customers accepting my quotes, then that is not preconceived it is a fact.
The fact that around a third (with the said accent) do accept my quotes, I don't know when a person with that particular accent calls me if they are one of the 33% or not, but my actual experience tells me it doesn't make business sense to waste my time quoting when statistically I will only get a minority of jobs which in order to get can also often result in hassle wanting discount.
I live in a very multicultural area and as above I perhaps have more experience of dealing with people with the accent I refer to than some other people might have.
I have had regular customers who have this accent and they have used me for years and will hopefully continue to do so for many more years to come (obviously in the 1 of 3 who are happy to pay my rates).
I am grateful to now be in a position where I can be more selective of who I quote to, and it is two way traffic because customers are also in a position to decide who they want to quote them, and who they give the job to.