Joe clicked the Excel icon. His computer whirred in the otherwise quiet house. Everyone else had gone to bed. He needed to get these quotes out so he could get them signed. His crew would be ready to start on them in a couple weeks.
His eyes started to drift shut. He got up to brew himself a small pot of coffee. “I’ll sleep when I’m old,” he told himself. This bid had been particularly challenging. The customer had changed his mind 3 times already, and each time he had to redo the bid from top to bottom.
He hoped he’d be able to get it right this time, too. Sometimes when he worked late, he made mistakes with his measurements and calculations. Sometimes his formulas wouldn’t work. Once, he forgot to copy a few lines onto the invoice and lost $10,000 on a job.
A few minutes later, with his coffee in hand, Joe sat down again to work through the quote. His fingers moved across the keyboard. He flipped back and forth between his pricing sheets. He looked over his numbers once, then twice. He copied them over onto his invoice. Finally, he put it all together into an email. He looked at the time. “11:54 PM”.
He sighed as he turned off his computer. The other two bids would have to wait for tomorrow night.
Joe had gotten too familiar with a 4 a.m. commute.
Joe’s Wakeup Call
Four hours later, Joe rolled up to his office. He cracked open the door, and the smell of coffee hit his nostrils. “Thank goodness Laura knows how to program coffee pots!” he thought. He’d instructed his secretary to make sure she programmed the coffee to be ready by 4 a.m.
He poured his first morning cup, and he thought about last night. He knew something had to change. He used to joke about sleeping when he was old. These days, he actually felt old. Just a couple years ago, his wife had been eager about moving into their new house. She seemed less excited about now than he’d hoped. He was afraid to ask her what she was thinking. He knew his long days were wearing on her, too.
The trouble was, Joe had no idea how to fix it. He knew there had to be a better way to do these bids and manage these jobs. He’d gone through 6 different software demos, and none of them checked all the boxes. He wasn’t about to invest in something that wouldn’t work. He resented salespeople trying to sell him on something on a whim and a promise.
He pulled a piece of crumpled paper from his coat pocket. “Silverloom,” it read. “Customized Business Software.” He’d read that line before, and he almost passed it up. But something about it had made him rip the page from the magazine. “I’ve got nothing to lose,” he’d thought at the time.
Halfway through his second cup of coffee, he decided he would call that number today.
Joe Breaks through the Doubt
Four months later, Joe opened up his email with nervous excitement. He’d been working with Silverloom’s design team. He’d been waiting for this email. The subject read, “Your Customized Silverloom Solution”. In it, he had gotten a drawing of his customized Silverloom solution. He started clicking through the different pieces. For the first time, he could visualize what an efficient quoting tool would look like.
It would be as simple as going down through the screen, putting the right numbers in the right place. If he missed something, the software would make sure he went back to fix it. One click of a button would generate the bid. It included a second page with the legal contract. He’d begun using that after too many handshake deals went sideways. Best of all, he would be able to email the bid from within the software.
He pulled out a notepad and made a short list of little changes he wanted to make. He had no idea how someone could make something like this from what little he had to give them. He knew nothing about software, but somehow they had managed to read his mind. They had managed to walk him through the entire process. If they could get him this far, he was willing to bet they could take him to the finish line.
The Takeaway
Can you identify with Joe? Have you been losing precious time to inefficient software? We’d be happy to speak with you and hear your story. We’ll help you determine if Silverloom is right for you.