peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
The third page of this thread got me thinking about getting good prices and treatment from suppliers. Since I briefly worked for a supplier, I have a good inside track on how to get good service and treatment from a supplier. I'm sure some of this is old hat to a lot of you but hopefully someone will find the info useful. 
1) Whether you are a one man shop or a huge company, the key to getting good prices and service is to deal with one or more inside salespeople. Establish a relationship with them and have them come out and see your shop or office. They will make weekly trips by to take your order if you so desire.
2) If you're the kind of guy that just like to buy over the counter, then establish a rapport with the counter salespeople and store manager. Learn their names, treat them as you would want to be treated, and don't always moan and groan about the prices. They don't have any control over it in most cases. (More about that later.) If they see you on a regular basis and you aren't always calling the stuff they sell "junk," they will bend over backwards to help you.
3) Deal with one or two main suppliers, instead of trying to get the deal of the moment from everyone in town. I can assure we knew who shopped around and we knew who the loyal customers were, and I can assure you those two types of customers are in different pricing columns.
Now, we knew that certain customers liked to buy certain items from competitors because they carried brands that we didn't have, like our switchgear and wiring devices, to name the main ones. That wasn't a big deal because they were still regular customers.
4) Don't think buying material at box stores will count against you. We didn't hesitate to tell our customers to buy wire there because we knew it's cheaper and we knew, for instance, that our customer was trying to bid a lot of new homes and needed a good price. Many times our pallet price was still higher than the competition so we flat out told them to go elsewhere if it was for their benefit.
5)Prices are often times out of the control of the counter people or manager, but not always. We always had the power to cut a price or make a deal for a volume buy. Remember, the more you buy, the more you save. If I ever had a question about a price, I would go to the manager and he would tell me to cut the price or just tell the customer to go pound sand.
Don't be afraid to ask for a package deal; you might be surprised to see what happens. I'm not talking about 3 switches and 2 light bulbs, but if you put a nice list together to quote, you might be very surprised.
6) Attitude is everything. There were certain customers we loved dealing with, and some who we couldn't wait to get out the door because all they did was complain the whole time.
7) The worst customers are as follows:
a) The ones who moan and groan about every price even though they are charging the customer for the material.
b) The ones who don't pay their bill on time.
c) The ones who just plain moan and groan and are rude to the salespeople and other customers.
d) The hit and runners who are always looking for a deal and saying "I have a big job coming up" up and then are not seen again for several weeks or months.
e) And of course the ones who were know to have fast fingers especially around the tool wall.
Anyway, I hope this helps. I could go on and on but those are the main points. Please add to the list if you can.
[ August 28, 2005, 05:16 PM: Message edited by: peter d ]
1) Whether you are a one man shop or a huge company, the key to getting good prices and service is to deal with one or more inside salespeople. Establish a relationship with them and have them come out and see your shop or office. They will make weekly trips by to take your order if you so desire.
2) If you're the kind of guy that just like to buy over the counter, then establish a rapport with the counter salespeople and store manager. Learn their names, treat them as you would want to be treated, and don't always moan and groan about the prices. They don't have any control over it in most cases. (More about that later.) If they see you on a regular basis and you aren't always calling the stuff they sell "junk," they will bend over backwards to help you.
3) Deal with one or two main suppliers, instead of trying to get the deal of the moment from everyone in town. I can assure we knew who shopped around and we knew who the loyal customers were, and I can assure you those two types of customers are in different pricing columns.
Now, we knew that certain customers liked to buy certain items from competitors because they carried brands that we didn't have, like our switchgear and wiring devices, to name the main ones. That wasn't a big deal because they were still regular customers.
4) Don't think buying material at box stores will count against you. We didn't hesitate to tell our customers to buy wire there because we knew it's cheaper and we knew, for instance, that our customer was trying to bid a lot of new homes and needed a good price. Many times our pallet price was still higher than the competition so we flat out told them to go elsewhere if it was for their benefit.
5)Prices are often times out of the control of the counter people or manager, but not always. We always had the power to cut a price or make a deal for a volume buy. Remember, the more you buy, the more you save. If I ever had a question about a price, I would go to the manager and he would tell me to cut the price or just tell the customer to go pound sand.
Don't be afraid to ask for a package deal; you might be surprised to see what happens. I'm not talking about 3 switches and 2 light bulbs, but if you put a nice list together to quote, you might be very surprised.
6) Attitude is everything. There were certain customers we loved dealing with, and some who we couldn't wait to get out the door because all they did was complain the whole time.
7) The worst customers are as follows:
a) The ones who moan and groan about every price even though they are charging the customer for the material.
b) The ones who don't pay their bill on time.
c) The ones who just plain moan and groan and are rude to the salespeople and other customers.
d) The hit and runners who are always looking for a deal and saying "I have a big job coming up" up and then are not seen again for several weeks or months.
e) And of course the ones who were know to have fast fingers especially around the tool wall.
Anyway, I hope this helps. I could go on and on but those are the main points. Please add to the list if you can.
[ August 28, 2005, 05:16 PM: Message edited by: peter d ]
