Part of my job is to write quotes for custom built office furniture. I do a really good job of making sure that we are accurately quoting what our costs are going to be, so we don’t overcharge our customer. I pride myself on being able to give our customers the best possible price, while protecting company profits.
On some projects the furniture dealer I am working with will ask for a special discount. They do this if we are more expensive than our competition. Our sales department is supposed to look at what they are purchasing, because some lines have more profit built into them than others, and decide if we can give an extra discount, and what that discount should be. More often than not, the product is ignored, and sales instead looks at how they are doing for the month, and decides if they want to pump up the sales or not. They know that on some lines there is as little as a 5% profit margin, so a 5% discount can mean we teeter on losing money selling that product.
Anyway, yesterday I was working on a quote for a very impatient dealer. They sent me a request that did not have enough detail for me to complete it. I e-mailed them back questions. 4 days go by. They e-mail me back answers at noon yesterday and want the quote back at 3. I start working on it. 15 minutes later I get a call from my bosses boss (the VP of sales) asking why the quote was not done. I told them. They were not that surprised. I asked why they were asking. They told me that the dealer called them to both ask why I was not done with the quote (implying that I was incompetent), and to tell the sales VP that they needed at least 10% off the price. I informed the VP that the dealer had no reason to ask for a discount because they did not have the quote, and had not way of knowing what the final number was going to be, because I was not done with the quote, and they had no idea where it was going to be because it was 100% custom, and no where near standard. They are just trying to scam a deal.
I was not happy.
I went about working on the quote. Not 15 minutes later I get an e-mail asking where their quote was. I reply “I asked you for more information 4 days ago. Obviously, this was not a high priority to you, or you would have responded. Despite your lack of care, I am working on it now. Barring any problems it will be complete in approximately 1 hour.”
I finished the costing work and came up with an accurate price. Then, I added another line to the costing worksheet “P.I.T.A. Charge: +15%” and re-totaled. (The costing worksheet gets buried in the internal paperwork, and only the final price gets put on the quote that is sent.) I wrote the quote and sent it to the dealer. I called the VP and informed them that the quote was sent, and that there was a comfortable enough margin for them to offer another 5%, or possibly 8%, but not much more. The VP e-mailed the dealer and BCC’ed me, he informed them that we were willing to extend a 5% discount, and if they wanted more than that, we would discount up to 8%, only if they were to take a matching cut from their commission. The dealer replied that 5% would be fine.
(By the way P.I.T.A. = Pain In The Ass…oh, and the final price of the furniture should have been a little over $22K, so the 15% was about $3300)
Score:
SC: 0
Revenge: $2200
On some projects the furniture dealer I am working with will ask for a special discount. They do this if we are more expensive than our competition. Our sales department is supposed to look at what they are purchasing, because some lines have more profit built into them than others, and decide if we can give an extra discount, and what that discount should be. More often than not, the product is ignored, and sales instead looks at how they are doing for the month, and decides if they want to pump up the sales or not. They know that on some lines there is as little as a 5% profit margin, so a 5% discount can mean we teeter on losing money selling that product.
Anyway, yesterday I was working on a quote for a very impatient dealer. They sent me a request that did not have enough detail for me to complete it. I e-mailed them back questions. 4 days go by. They e-mail me back answers at noon yesterday and want the quote back at 3. I start working on it. 15 minutes later I get a call from my bosses boss (the VP of sales) asking why the quote was not done. I told them. They were not that surprised. I asked why they were asking. They told me that the dealer called them to both ask why I was not done with the quote (implying that I was incompetent), and to tell the sales VP that they needed at least 10% off the price. I informed the VP that the dealer had no reason to ask for a discount because they did not have the quote, and had not way of knowing what the final number was going to be, because I was not done with the quote, and they had no idea where it was going to be because it was 100% custom, and no where near standard. They are just trying to scam a deal.
I was not happy.
I went about working on the quote. Not 15 minutes later I get an e-mail asking where their quote was. I reply “I asked you for more information 4 days ago. Obviously, this was not a high priority to you, or you would have responded. Despite your lack of care, I am working on it now. Barring any problems it will be complete in approximately 1 hour.”
I finished the costing work and came up with an accurate price. Then, I added another line to the costing worksheet “P.I.T.A. Charge: +15%” and re-totaled. (The costing worksheet gets buried in the internal paperwork, and only the final price gets put on the quote that is sent.) I wrote the quote and sent it to the dealer. I called the VP and informed them that the quote was sent, and that there was a comfortable enough margin for them to offer another 5%, or possibly 8%, but not much more. The VP e-mailed the dealer and BCC’ed me, he informed them that we were willing to extend a 5% discount, and if they wanted more than that, we would discount up to 8%, only if they were to take a matching cut from their commission. The dealer replied that 5% would be fine.
(By the way P.I.T.A. = Pain In The Ass…oh, and the final price of the furniture should have been a little over $22K, so the 15% was about $3300)
Score:
SC: 0
Revenge: $2200
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