I have gotten ?partnered? enough times by supply houses to understand they are not your friends, and their idea of ?partner? is only between you and the salesman while the credit department has another definition.
The branch manager may or may not be a stand up guy, but majority of the time he is not in charge of the credit department, and for some strange reason every credit department for every major supplier in the county has to completely turn over about once every three years. New credit manages, new schemes, new deals, who are you again?
A lot of contractors don?t realize this but you can negotiate your own credit terms with the supply house, that are more to your liking. Little things like, no you can not invoice me until I accept delivery, and my billing cycle is from the 25th to the 25th, so if you want net 30, don?t bill me on the 21st and expect a check in 30 days, and if you still don?t get that and file an intent to lean you might as well close my account, because its over. If I do pay early its my choice and I want something for it, like a 2-5% discount.
My freight claims are the responsibility of the supply house, if you cant get it to me in one piece, I am not paying for it. Try explaining that to a credit department who just started their new job last week and does not even know your first name. Technically freight on a truck belongs to you, but I make the supply houses take responsibility for it, or I buy it from one that will.
If you want to form a business relationship then start with your inside sales man, and try to cultivate a good business relationship with the factory gear reps and fixture distributors, these are the people that will do something for you and when they move on its usually to another supply house or product line and you still get to keep the contacts only it may be for a different brand.
