I have a lady who has contacted me 4 times on 4 separate occasions for 4 different cake quotes, but never has she followed through with the order.
I just went through all my past emails and paper work after receiving a 5th email from her, the name looked familiar and I was asking myself "has she ordered before?â sure enough it was the same lady.
Each inquiry has been for a 3-D sculpted cake, and each time I have quoted her a price and I never hear from her again.
Now I'm thinking 3 things, either she is waiting for me to suddenly drop my prices or itâs another decorator who is curious of my pricing (which are posted on my website) or someone who needs help pricing their own cakes (my husband suggested that one).
What should I do, just keep giving her quotes and hope she one day orders, or ask her why she doesnât order?
If you REALLY want to know & are fairly confident of the prices in your area, the next time that she contacts you, tell her you've noticed that she has received quites from you before (leave it at that & don't mention anything about whether she's actually ordered from you or not). Offer her a one time "Competitor Price Match". Give her 10% off any other price she finds in the area (except grocery store cakes). If she takes you up on the offer, then you have a good idea that she is for real. Of course this is kind of risky since you could end up doing a $300.00 cake for $50.00, but it depends on how badly you want to know.
If you REALLY want to know & are fairly confident of the prices in your area, the next time that she contacts you, tell her you've noticed that she has received quites from you before (leave it at that & don't mention anything about whether she's actually ordered from you or not). Offer her a one time "Competitor Price Match". Give her 10% off any other price she finds in the area (except grocery store cakes). If she takes you up on the offer, then you have a good idea that she is for real. Of course this is kind of risky since you could end up doing a $300.00 cake for $50.00, but it depends on how badly you want to know.
Sorry but to me that sounds like overkill for someone just asking for quotes!! JMO. I would just keep quoting. She may just have an event in the future and she's considering you to do the cake. Ya never know.
Yeah, that's why I said it depends on how badly she wants to know.
I would let her know you remember her name but leave it at that...
"Oh, its nice to hear from you again"
#1 If she is doing something sneaky, she'll more than likely move on to another person to get her info and stop wasting your time.
#2 If she is hoping to use your service but keeps getting shot down (DH, co-worker, etc)... she'll push harder to be allowed to get one of your cakes if she feels that she has a "personal" relationship with you.
I would let her know you remember her name but leave it at that...
"Oh, its nice to hear from you again"
I think that's the perfect answer right there!! Although, it would drive me crazy and I would want to know more!
I agree with your husband. This person gets a $300 quote from you and tells her customer they can do it for $275 or what ever.
We call those people and pretend we are customers trying to find someone to make a cake for us. You would be surprised what you find when you do a little, as we like to call it "research"! 
Yea it sounds like she's "price checking".......heck, I do it too with both of my businesses, hair and cakes. It's a good way to see what my competition is charging.
If you're concerned about giving your prices to a competitor you could answer her e-mail with a vague quote. "The cake you requested would cost somewhere between $75 - $100 depending on detail and flavors."
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