Customer Relations...what Should I Do?
Decorating By rsaun Updated 19 Dec 2006 , 5:41am by emmascakes
I brought some cupcakes to a Halloween party, and one of the guests whom I did not know raved over my cupcakes and asked for my business card. Within a day or two, I got an email from him asking me to do his wife's birthday cake for her birthday that was on Halloween. His email said, "You're the artist, use your creativity," but mentioned that she likes pumpkins, ghosts, and graveyards for decorations at Halloween. He asked me for my prices, and I quoted him several, for different sizes/shapes. He chose a 10" round (3" high), and I quoted him a price of $40.00, which is competitive with private bakeries here in Columbus, Ohio.
I searched through CC pics and other places for a few ideas of some Halloween cakes that I thought might be good. I sent him four pictures and asked him to choose. He didn't get back to me until the day before I had to deliver this to him, and said, "Well, I guess I like the spider one, but I was hoping for a spooky tree and skeletons in a cemetary." This was the first mention of the "spooky tree" and of the "skeletons."
I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. the day this was to be delivered to get the cake to him. I did a tree with spiders/webs, two tombstones, pumpkins, a broken fence around the graveyard, and wild, overgrown grass. I was pleased with the result, but when I delivered it to him, he barely commented on it, thrust the money at me and left.
As I am fairly new to this business, I always send a standard email to my customers after filling each order, which says, "Thank you for your recent order, blah, blah, blah, I welcome any feedback, blah, blah, blah..." I always receive excited, enthusiastic responses to my email. He has completely ignored this.
Should I care? I mean if I lose him as a customer, then so be it. I think he got a great cake for his $40.00, but this is eating away at me. The cake is in my photos.
The cake is way too cute. Just forget him. Some people can be so rude and ignorant of other peoples feelings. You did him a huge favor by even filling the order after he waited until the last minute to respond to you.
Don't let him bother you, your work is great.
I think your cake is beautiful and he should've been happy with it! If he doesn't e-mail back don't worry about it too much. I know you enjoy feedback from customers but maybe he just hasn't checked his mail since.... I dunno but if you lose him as a customer it's his loss not yours. Continue doing what you do... make great cakes! And if he does come back complaining remind him it was a customized cake and he can't get something like that anywhere else and if he complains about some of the decorations just tell him nicely "well had I had more time I would've done them better but giving me less then one days notice you wanted a spooky tree and spider webs didn't leave much time to come up with a design that was more extravagant"
Either way the cake is wonderful and he should've been pleased with it 
rsaun I just looked at your cake and you did an awesome job. I think you are reading too much into it. I know sometimes I am so busy it takes me a while to get back to someone. You never know what is going on. The fact that he ate your cupcake and liked it so much he wanted to order a cake from you for his wife's birthday sound say a lot about how he feels about your cake and work. After all he is a man they do not look at things the same way we do. (Sorry guys) It's just true. Somethings are not as important to you guys as it is to us. 
I used to send out emails requesting feedback too, but nobody , except friends, ever responded.
But I would hear later that they raved to everyone else about how great the cake was !?!
So I quit asking for feedback. Now, for me, No News is Good News!
i agree with patticakesnc.....the cake is great and screw him if it wasn't exactly what he wanted.....he should have given you more than a day if he wanted specific details.....from the beginning, he told you "You're the artist, use your creativity".....that's what u did.....i wouldn't give it another thought! :0)
First of all, very awesome cake. Now on to the odd little man that ordered it. He is completely clueless as to the process and time that goes into making a "spooky tree and skeletons". It is absolutely no fault of your own that you didn't read his mind and know that was what he wanted, especially because the list of things he gave you included none of those. No worries. If he comes back, he comes back and you'll know how to handle him better. If not, you lose out on some stress and late nights.
I wouldn't worry about it. I sounds like he just had a bug up his but. I think that if he wasn't happy, he would have complained and tried to get something free. That is what they usually try to do.
If you think it looked great, that's all that matters. You never know what is going on in personal lives.
Stephanie
I'm sure you are curious to know why he reacted the way he did, but if he never responds don't worry about it.
If I buy something and I'm not satisfied I voice my opinion. If he chooses not to do that, there is nothing you can do. Your cakes are great , move on to the next customer.
I once had a misunderstanding with a customer, he never told me, but he told a co-worker which is a friend of mine. My friend asked me to please bake him another cake for free (he enjoyed the first one, it just wasn't exactly what he wanted). I said yes, I baked the kind of cake he wanted. My friend met me at work,picked up the cake and gave it to him. He never even called to say thank-you for the FREE cake.
The cake is wonderful. Some men lack social skills, he sounds like one of them.
As for feedback, I agree, no news is good news. Believe me, you'll know if someone isn't happy, that they will always share. Pat yourself on the back for job well done.
Oh my gosh! Wow, yeah. That stuff really eats at me, too--especially if I don't "hear" from someone.
All you can do is know that it was really tasty, and it is SERIOUSLY a gorgeous piece of cake, too!
He's just rude and inconsiderate. People are like that all over the place! 
DON'T WORRY---YOUR CAKE IS AMAZING! 
--Knox--
That cake is very nice!! I wouldn't worry about it either. I learned a lesson a couple of weeks ago and now I joke about it
A friend's daughter order a cake for her son's 2nd birthday (the cars cake in my gallery). I thought it came out very nice. When my friend and her daughter came to pick it up the reaction was " it's very nice... thank you... " then they handed me a check and left.
Before they came for the cake I had told my daughter that I know from experience, you never get the reaction you hope for. BUT at church the next day, there were a few people that went to the party. THEY RAVED about the cake!!! Made me feel better about it because as you know, we hardly ever get to mingle with the people who were at the party you made the cake for, and hear what they thought about the cake!! Usually the only feedback we get is when they pick the cake up and that's it!!
After they left, I said to my daughter " I told you - never the reaction you hope for" Then I said.. This is the reaction we all want...
"OH MY GOODNESS.... YOU DID THAT YOURSELF????" They stare in amazement for at least 10 seconds. "GASP...LOOK AT THE DETAIL!!!!"... another silence as they stare in awe. Then you notice a little tear in their eye."I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU PUT SO MUCH INTO THIS ONE CAKE"..... as they look at you lovingly. "THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!! sniff...sniff....
But you usually only get "that looks nice...thank you....How much do I owe you?"
yup.
Your customer paid his money and got his cake. He has no further obligation to you.
It's a business transaction, and your need for praise shouldn't be part of the transaction. Leave that for your friends and family.
I love the cake that you made. I agree with lapazlady-- some people just lack social skills. And usually men are the most likely to pick up a cake and barely say anything about it. I'm sure everyone at the party made sure to tell him how great the cake was (just in case he wasn't aware) --
Your customer paid his money and got his cake. He has no further obligation to you.
It's a business transaction, and your need for praise shouldn't be part of the transaction. Leave that for your friends and family.
I agree with this 100%. As a businessperson with paying clients, it's the right attitude to take.
Unfortunately, most men are not as sentimental as we women. Don't let it get to you, he could have had something on his mind at the time.
Will tell you a little story:
I did this cake for a customer (her first time ordering from me); it was one of the Spongebobs (Paul III) in my photos. When she came to pick up the cake, she was so thrilled that she was crying and couldn't wait to get it home to show it off.
About a week later, I was dropping off some trash when low and behold what shall I see but the cake sitting there along with a knife with about 1/2 of the cake missing 
. I was so upset that the cake wasn't any good and that they had to throw it away 
.
I tried to get in contact with her to find out what the problem was without success. Then, maybe a month later, I ran into her at the store. I asked her about the cake and was informed by her that the cake was very good but it was more than they needed so she threw it away. When I told her that she could have frozen it, she was shocked...she didn't know that you could freeze a cake. And to think, I went a whole month fretting over this 
She has since ordered two other cakes from me and have one for this weekend 
Please, for your piece of mind, just ask him how the cake was...save yourself some unneeded stress 
Your cakes are beautiful!!!!!!!!!
As someone quite lacking in social skill and grace myself, I agree; Business is business. You want heart and flowers...well, I hear that Hallmark is looking! lol
By the time people get their cake from me, I'm so tired of looking at it I can't wait for it to leave my shop!
I hate to generalize, because I can be pretty much a cold hearted witch myself...but he's a man.
His wife was lucky he even remembered her birthday! lol
so, don't sweat it, but if you need to be reinforced with every cake order, I think you shouldn't sell your cakes to anyone but friends and family!
so, don't sweat it, but if you need to be reinforced with every cake order, I think you shouldn't sell your cakes to anyone but friends and family!
This is very true and something I had to learn quickly to get over! To us the cake is something we think about, plan, make it and then see the plan come to fruition and then proudly deliver but to the people buying it most of the time-just a cake, blow out the candles, yeah, yum, all done. We all love to hear the good stuff about our work but frankly you are going to hear back from a customer way quicker if someone is unhappy than if they were pleased and everything was fine!
I wouldnt worry about it. We all want great reactions because of the all the work we put into our cakes but some people just aren't that impressed or don't see the excitement in it...especially men! Sorry to any men on the board! My fiance never seems excited when I finish a cake but Im always exctactic!
He thrust the $$ at you: Perhaps he was having a bad day or he was just given some not so nice news. Who knows? You shouldn't have taken it personally either way. He's a customer not your husband or family member.
Your email received no response: Sorry, but I wouldn't have responded to it either.
Let it go.
First off, let me say this : MEN ARE MEN ARE MEN. They don't mean to come off so brash and rude most of the time. The rest of the time they are rude and you have NO DOUBT they meant it! Some people in general have a "I am done with your service, be gone." kinda attitude and mean no harm, just business. Don't take it personally. If he didn't like it you would've heard a complaint by now. The old adage " No news is good news." can ceratinly be true. And not everyone will reply to your email inquiries and so be it. You know you went above and beyond, you did your best, you got paid, THE END.
Besides, everyone on here REALLY liked your cake so pat yourself on the back and move on to those great cakes you got coming.
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I guess I wasn't looking for "pats on the back" (but they were so nice ), but rather if I should do anything about this. No, this guy isn't really a friend or family, but he is a good friend of my best friend and I guess I don't want him talking smack to the rest of our little group. The change in his response/personality was like night and day and so it had me concerned. Anyway...
Besides all of this, he had offered to help me build a website (it's what he does for a living) and when I mentioned that I was still interested in my "follow up" email to him, that was ignored as well, which leads me to believe even more that he's ticked off.
Oh well, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with these feelings. I'm really new to this, and I'll just have to get used to it and accept that "no news is good news."
Thanks!
Just an update: My best friend, the one who introduced me to the customer, had dinner with the customer and his wife last week. When they were sitting there, the customer said, "Did Becky tell you she made Lisa's birthday cake? It was so awesome! It had a tree and cemetary and ghost, etc., and Lisa was so thrilled with it!" So, anyway, all that worry for nothing.
So many of you were right...no news is good news!
I generally email my final photo of the cake to the client a few days after pick-up, sometimes they reply and let me know they liked it, sometimes they don't. I hate it when they don't - however I don't ring up my hairdresser, car mechanic, vet etc. to thank them either so maybe we're just too sensitive. I usually hear on the grapevine lovely thingd about my cakes - I think if they don't contact you then they liked it.
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