Yesterday I had to phone a competitor whilst at the same time acting dumb not revealing the information that they have lost their only contract. I was enquiring if they had any textile waste I could purchase so we could fulfil one of our small orders. My reason behind this was helping ourselves whilst also giving them an olive branch by purchasing the material I know they will not need and it gives them some much needed cash. The result was they agreed to supply 4 tons which is a huge win even if it is slightly more expensive yet more importantly workable and still coming in under budget.
No one else would phone them and if I have learned one thing the worst anyone can say is no. I don't mind, but was deep down hoping someone else would have volunteered to phone the competitor because these are skills you need to learn being able to talk someone into doing what you want. The trick is to make them feel you are helping them in an around about way and why it is a good deal for both parties. Relationships are everything in business whether is is a client or the enemy camp.
There were a few questions I was asked, but revealed nothing which is the truth because we have not received that clients order yet and only expect that later this week or early next week.
My textile waste supplier will have our order ready for dispatch within the next 5 days so finding top up material for now is a huge win. also enquired if they had any clients in Johannesburg who I could find any top up orders and they said there is none. This is kind of the answer I expected which justified contacting a competitor.
This is all good news for now as we have one client who has already given us confirmed orders for the next 6 months up till April 2025. I am still not sure if this is a seasonal business like may other sporting items and I am sure we will find out at some point. That is something we cannot control and should just concentrate on the controllable for now and get ahead.
We have just finished a very large order and ow the aim is to keep the production maxed out and build up stock so we can fulfil orders within 24 hours. Having a few thousand punch bags in stock is where we need to be and something the market would never have experienced before. The hope is the orders will slowly increase in size with no retailers being out of stock which from what I can tell was a regular occurrence over the last 5 years. The online side of things will now be grown plus there is one more major client on the horizon which will add another guaranteed 20% volume.
