A customer asks, "When will it be ready?" and the quickest answer is the one that sounds best: "End of next week." Everyone is pleased for about nine days. Then a supplier is late, someone is ill, the customer sends the files three days after they promised, and the date goes by in silence.
Most late deliveries are not caused by bad work. They are caused by a date given from hope rather than from evidence, and by a delay that nobody mentioned until the customer asked. Both can be fixed with a few habits that suit a company of any size.
Why dates are usually too early
People estimate a job by picturing it going well. The estimate leaves out the interruptions, the waiting and the rework that appear in almost every real job. This habit is well documented and is often called the planning fallacy; it affects experienced people as much as beginners. The remedy is not to try harder but to estimate from what actually happened last time.
The second cause is that a date is often given in the same breath as a sale. Nobody wants to lose the order, so the date shrinks. A shorter date wins the order but costs you the customer's trust a fortnight later.
How to estimate
- Start from past jobs. Look at the last five to ten similar jobs and note the time from "order confirmed" to "delivered". If you have no records, ask the people who did them and write down the range they give.
- Use a range, then pick the upper part. If similar jobs took between six and eleven working days, do not promise six. Promise nine or ten, and aim to beat it.
- Count the waiting, not only the work. The work may take two days, but the material takes a week to arrive and the customer needs a day to approve a proof. Add each wait as its own line.
- Include the customer's part. List what you need from them (artwork, access, a signed quote, a deposit) and when. The clock starts when the last of these arrives, not when they say yes.
- Check capacity. A date is only real if someone has time to do the work on those days. A quick look at the weekly capacity check shows whether the week you are about to promise is already full.
For work priced as a fixed job, the same logic applies to the money; see what goes into a fixed-price estimate for how to keep assumptions visible.
How to word the promise
A good promise is short and has three parts: the date, what it depends on and when you will next be in touch.
"We expect to deliver by Friday 14 November, provided we receive the signed quote and your logo files by Monday 3 November. I will confirm on Wednesday 5 November that everything is on track."
A few rules make it work:
- Give a date, not "about two weeks". A date can be checked by both sides; "about" cannot.
- Say what it depends on. This is not an excuse in advance. It tells the customer which of their actions moves the date, which is information they usually want.
- Distinguish a promise from an estimate. "Our usual lead time is 8 to 10 working days" is an estimate. "We will deliver by the 14th" is a promise. Use the second only when you are ready to be held to it.
- Put it in writing. An order confirmation or a short email is enough. A date said on the phone should be repeated in a message the same day.
If you sell to consumers, the law may also set a default. In the UK, for example, goods must be delivered within 30 days unless the parties agree otherwise. Check the rule in your own country before you choose wording.
What to do the moment it slips
A delay is not the problem; discovering it late is. The customer can adjust to a new date if they hear about it early, and cannot adjust at all if they hear on the day.
- Tell them the day you know. Do not wait to see whether you can catch up. If your own estimate says the date is at risk, say so now.
- Use a message with four lines. What is delayed, the new date, the reason in one plain sentence and what you are doing about it.
- Give a date you are confident in. A second slip is far worse than the first. Use the upper end of your range this time.
- Offer a choice when there is one. A partial delivery now and the rest later, a faster method at your cost, or a short wait for the full order. Let the customer choose.
- Own it. Say "we are late" rather than "there have been some delays". Do not blame a named supplier or colleague.
An example:
"Your order will not be ready on Friday. The printer's delivery of the material is delayed until Tuesday, so the new delivery date is Friday 21 November. I have asked for it to be checked on arrival so no further time is lost. If you need part of the order sooner, we can send the first 50 units on Monday; tell me if you would like that."
If the delay is long enough that the customer may reasonably want to cancel, say so and explain the options. A customer who is allowed to leave often stays. The same approach works for operational problems in other areas; compare it with what to promise customers when a service is down.
Keep your own record
Add two columns to your order list: the date you promised and the date you delivered. After ten jobs you can see the average gap, and which kinds of job or which suppliers cause most of it. Use that number to adjust your next estimates. Review the list once a quarter for five minutes.
Delivery itself has its own details: tracking, damage and who handles complaints. These are covered in packing and delivering orders from a small business.
A short start
This week, pick the last eight jobs and write down the promised and actual date for each. Choose one standard sentence for promising a date, including its conditions. Agree who writes the delay message and how soon after a problem is noticed it must go out. That takes under an hour, and the next customer who asks "when will it be ready?" gets an answer you can keep.