VI

We take every request we receive by e-mail or any other means seriously. This was the case with this very nice request from Voetbal International (VI), which we received by e-mail on an ordinary weekday afternoon.

It was a very extensive request, for an entire collection of merchandise, provided with a rather tricky printing. In fact, most of the requested items had to be printed with a slash, edge to edge, or seam to seam. And that is not always easy to achieve.

Still, I sent an offer for all the requested items, including that tricky printing. After a few weeks of not hearing anything, I received an e-mail asking if it would be possible to supply printed samples. "Yes, that is possible for most items, but there are costs involved. In this case a few hundred euros."

Answer: "No problem, those costs may be passed on." At least with such an answer you know, that the customer is indeed serious.

Because, as I mentioned earlier, most of the printing was not very simple, and the request was also made during the busiest time of the year, the sample production took quite a while. Fortunately, the customer was not in a hurry, which is nice, in our industry it is usually the opposite. But eventually I had a very nice sample series ready, and a follow-up appointment was scheduled at our showroom in Volendam.

Upon seeing the samples, my visitors were immediately convinced. Of course, we still had to agree on the final prices, but that was just a formality. At the end of the conversation I asked if I was the only one with whom they had made this request, or if there were other applicants. In response, I received the following answer:

"In fact, we emailed very many suppliers with this request. But you were the only ones who came back with a complete quote, let alone the entire set of printed samples."

Since then, VI has been a highly valued and satisfied customer, for whom we have already been able to realize several beautiful projects.