3800 Big Sale going south for me

[imported_Ron Vogel]

I had a customer in my account base that's a big hitter, but hasn't bought from us in a few years. I have been working pretty hard on them, and had a deal that was a perfect fit...so I got them into Vegas for the closeout show, and they pulled the trigger.

Mind you, this is a potentially high-risk customer. They have a bad reputation in the industry for not paying people for a long time on terms. Also problems with honoring deals.

A good order for my industry is about $10K...this company ordered $70K from me. Nothing to cough at!

After hearing of their reputation, my boss gave me direction to offer them a 5% discount if they give us cash up front. They agreed to it, and started the ball rolling. This was 2 months ago.

Large companies face logistical problems, and this company is no exception. They wanted to have us do fulfillment to the shipments we aren't prepared to do without a substantial increase in pricing. So at a stalemate, they decide to take about $40K of the order we can fulfill to their requirements and drop the rest. I knew this about 2 weeks ago, but there was no official word on it yet with the exception of getting PO's on only the $40K of the order.

My boss found out today they weren't taking $30K of the order, and he was not at all happy. Now you would think the fact that we still have a $40K order was good enough, but it's not that simple. That $40K was the loss leader, the remaining $30K was what we were going to make the margin on...that's why he's pissed; so pissed in fact he sent an email to the CEO of this company on how dissapointed he was on how this was handled.

We also have other customers that would buy this up in a second if we had it available.

I hate losing this order, but even worse if my boss finds out I had advance knowledge of them cancelling the margin portion of the order is going to put me in an ugly spot!

Fortunately, I have no written declarations of this. I do however have a bad track record customer, and an unfinished PO on my desk (from them) on the $30K in question if it becomes a question of them vs. me.


I really hate this political BS with large customers, but it seems to happen a lot in my account base. It really should go like: customer likes product, customer buys product, customer pays for product.

Looks like the worst decision I made in this whole process was allowing this customer to buy this product.

What would you do, pull the plug...or try to save it? Keep in mind, whatever is done needs to be done tactfully, I still may need this as a valid business partner!

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[Royalgtp]

Future sales arnt worth giving up on it, unless this company is a total POS.

They seem to have a lot of purchasing power so remember that. Better them stick with your company then go somewhere else.

 

[Fish]

If you have another company wanting to buy the product your POS company is dicking you around with, sell to the other company. You do not play favorites. Especially in sales. Ive seen account managers here fail for that exact reason. They focused on the one big payout. 9 outta 10 times that big payout wasnt as big and they were better off working 4 other customers with smaller orders.

Also, if a situations comes up about them dropping a huge amount of the order, do not hesitate to take it to a manager. Your ass is more important than someone elses while you are at work.

 

[imported_Ron Vogel]

If you have another company wanting to buy the product your POS company is dicking you around with, sell to the other company. You do not play favorites. Especially in sales. Ive seen account managers here fail for that exact reason. They focused on the one big payout. 9 outta 10 times that big payout wasnt as big and they were better off working 4 other customers with smaller orders.

Also, if a situations comes up about them dropping a huge amount of the order, do not hesitate to take it to a manager. Your ass is more important than someone elses while you are at work.
[/b]

Amen, I actualy have feelers out on the stuff with other people right now. I'm in Dallas, and am taking a drive up to Shawnee, OK to visit with my biggest customer. Mostly a PR trip, however I gave him a primer on the deal going down with my other customer, and worked in a teaser. I had another salesperson send me pics of the product and forwarded it to him...and he will probably take it; plus I'm selling him 50, 400 pieces at $.75 vs the $.66 I was going to do for the other guy.

If it all works out I will still be golden, we'll see what happens.

The thing here is I AM going to tell this guy to pound sand, but want to do it nicely, AND keep them as a customer. It's never easy.

You're right, playing favorites never works in sales. Boss wants results, that's it.

At least if this plays out right, I still get to keep the sale in the long run. I'm in a first come first serve industry, if I don't move it someone else will.


I should've told my boss right away when it looked like they were pulling the $30K, that I regret. However if I didn't, there would have not been any opportunity to move it into one of my other accounts until now..kind of a dammed if you do, dammed if you don't kind of thing.

 

[imported_Theautoguy]

The original deal was for $70K of product w/ 5% off for cash terms for the whole lot. They changed the contract by not following through on the $30k balance; they voided the contract so it’s their fault if you pull the sale and offer the lot elsewhere. Explain it to them that it given that they didn’t follow through, the deal floated into the radar and you had to move the direction you did; if you hadn’t you may have affected your career. Explain it in a way that their renege on the contract put your job in jeopardy but you still want to work with them on what they need in the future.

That should make you solid across the board leaving that customer owing you one for almost costing you a job. If that doesn’t phase them then kick them to the corner and focus on the core accounts that work with you better.

Or you could just shoot a hooker and plant the gun in the buyer’s car then call the crime stoppers!