Get Your Orders in on Time

Time moves so quickly that we often don’t realize we’re about to enter a new season. That is why I feel I need to be proactive and remind the building managers to put in their overcoat, parka and other winter orders during the summer time. Most of our regular clients thank me for reminding them. But a few can get kind of prickly and think we are trying to oversell them. This is not the case. Just last winter, about 40% of our clients called in November and some even as late as December for custom overcoats. I was hoping that all of our clients would have remembered how brutal the previous winter was and order sooner but alas, they did not.

Custom overcoats require eight weeks to manufacture. Sometimes it requires going to the building and measuring, which will add to this time. Parkas are a stock item but if you want navy or black, which are the best-selling colors, be warned they run out of stock quickly. That is why we do what we can on our side to remind our customers that winter’s a-coming, so putting in an order in August or September is actually the right time. Being able to anticipate your client’s needs is crucial to establishing and maintaining a long term business relationship. But nothing is better than a proactive super or resident manager, who is on it before we have to say a word.

I know it’s still steamy out, and it’s hard to imagine winter is just around the corner. So at the risk of sounding pesty, get your winter orders in…it will be freezing before we know it.