Every spring our neighborhood is flooded with handyman trucks, lawn care trailers and HVAC vans. And every year I think I can call “my guy” and he’ll be right over to work on a never ending list of “too big to fail” projects. Every year I am shocked to find out how hard it is to get a hold of him and how long it takes for him to respond. Then it dawned on me – supply and demand. In the spring, we are outside around our houses and we see the winter damage better. We also have to compete with all the new home sellers who need a lot of work done quickly. I find the same is true in business and have 3 suggestions to reduce your summer stress.
1. Regular customers (more profitable) get more attention in the busy season
We both know the beautiful house in the neighborhood that always looks amazing. Do you also know that the landscapers and other service people show up there as soon as snow starts melting. My bet is they schedule a year in advance, they pay quickly and they ask for the same help every year. In our business, these are the “bread & butter” customers that help keep most of your employees working and your overhead covered. We treat these customers like gold. How can you be a regular customer to your suppliers so you get consistent service every time? Some customers place blanket orders, other reserve capacity in advance. What gives you an unfair advantage?
2. Big customers (more profitable) get more attention in the busy season
Every once in a while we are waiting at our house the requisite 3 – 4 hours for the service person, only to get the call that our tech has been delayed on a big job and they need to reschedule. Odds are you’ll take a day or two delay with them rather than a 2 week date from another unknown supplier. And they know they will make a lot more money on that big job, so it was worth making the call to push you out. Is there a big order you can give (or at least offer) to get more attention on your existing projects? If not, has there been a big sheet metal project in the past you can leverage?
3. All things being equal, they like to work for people who are easy to work with
You might have the biggest house on the block (or the biggest spend in the area), but if you are hard to deal with, you might miss the best suppliers. My father-in-law always likes to pay cash and boy does he get great service. When there is no interest on checking, why not pay in cash to get better service? Similarly, when a commercial customer pays net10, everyone in our company knows. If we have open capacity, they get it first because that extra cash can help us add capacity first. Similarly, when a customer has lots of special requests, we will happily do the work, but it also slows down how quickly the cash comes in. Try an experiment and see if it pays off for you.
As with everything in life, there are no guarantees, but you can stack the deck in your favor. Sometimes you can leverage your buying capacity to get the service you need. Other times, you are competing with other OEMs for the same capacity at your shared suppliers. Then these approaches might give you the edge. Good luck this spring!
from ETM Manufacturing http://etmmfg.com/3686
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