This morning I received some really good news regarding a new client with the packaging business. This was totally unexpected as I had presumed this deal would have happened within the first week of sending out the various quotes. This company is where one of my sons best friends works and being a cold storage warehouse it was worth a crack and to see where this leads.
I sent the quotes out in February and had some inside information from my sons friend on the volumes they use monthly. This company is a subsidiary of a much bigger company so their volume of 1000 rolls of pallet wrap monthly is only the starters and there is a main course and dessert I am hunting for.
The friend is over at our house regularly and not prying too much have asked him once or twice if there is any news. Each time it has been nothing and I thought at least I gave it a shot and left it at that. This all changed this morning as the friend mentioned that his manager mentioned they need to buy from me as the savings are incredible.
I am not meant to know this, but they would be saving R30 per roll (50% too much) which is $1.50 so on a monthly order about $1.5K. My prices are good and could have told them that as there are no middlemen and is direct from manufacture. They have wasted $4.5K whilst working this out and in this economy that is sacrilege. These are the genuine prices and were not doctored in any way to lure them in so it goes to show you need to know your game. They thought they were buying cheap and what they were buying is actually top end retail price if you were only purchasing 1 roll and not 1000.
Nothing shocks me any more as I find these companies as professional as they might be they could be better if they paid attention to the details. This is only 1 item so when I eventually start digging around when I visit the cold storage there will be plenty of other things I can pick up adding to their savings.
What I have found in the past one client often becomes two or three and in this case being a subsidiary who knows where this might end up. This account is not worth a fortune yet and the hope is by the time I have completed bundling all the companies involved within this group it could be a decent pay day each month. I have known holding companies to have 20 other companies under their umbrella so here is hoping it is a very large umbrella. These are the scenarios you dream about because whoever is supplying them currently is already out the door and there is no business relationship.
I know what it feels like when you feel as though you have been screwed or milked and it is a hard lesson to learn because everyone knows besides you that you never did your homework. In this case whoever the buyer is the savings is probably his monthly salary and if I was in his or her shoes would want me to double check what else I could supply to find more cost savings. This is what I do and I know this is what I am very good at because over the years I have learned that if your costings are correct the business just works. The only reason that blocks my business from expanding is if the buyer is corrupt accepting backhanders and in this case it seems like this is not happening which is rare.
The next step is to give them various samples which I will arrange for next week when I visit and introduce myself.
