Obviously, all salespeople in any sector would be very
happy to have an order for 100 containers. This number has become a cliché for
purchases, which were also 10 containers a few years ago.
The magic here works like this: as a customer, I go to
a specific factory, collect all the necessary information about production
capacity, production efficiency and give clear signals that I am very
interested in being an exclusive buyer of that brand/factory.
And that is when the magic of buying 100 containers
happens... The factory initially understands that it has the right customer and
starts a price negotiation that goes to the limit of loss, in order to have the
perfect customer. It calls the company's CEO and managers to be able to reach a
price at which the customer will not leave the company without closing the
purchase. At the end of a few exhausting hours of meeting in the factory's
showroom, we arrive at a perfect price. Excellent, the Traders' service has
yielded results after years of partnership, we have secured a large order.
After a few days, the factory obviously asks for
feedback from the customer, and we Traders are already worried, trying to
contact the customer, who is always busy, visiting more factories (buying 100
more containers?!?!), who tells us that he will review the order and get back
to us. Review the order? What do you mean?
After a few weeks (yes, weeks), he returns with the
order for 4 containers, to be loaded every 45 days. Yes, this happens, a lot,
it's a true story! Ok, customer, let's confirm your order with the factory. The
factory says that they expected 100 containers, more than fair. After all,
there were hours of meetings, and the customer described himself as the best
customer in the world. The factory, obviously, increases the price! Absolutely
right, in my opinion! The customer also obviously refuses the price, because he
says that when he was at the factory the price was different. Yes, right, but
the order was also different.
In the end, the customer says that he will do a test
before buying and therefore needs the same price as he had for the 100
containers and that without that price he will not continue buying. Some
factories, kindly, still accept. And I still don't understand who would be
testing who, but the sale continues, and the customer still asks to add extra
labels, reduce the amount of products in the package (this increases the cost)
and asks for an inspection of the products "almost specialized", otherwise
he will not make the final payment for the goods.
This is one of the international negotiation
techniques that I see most nowadays, even with small clients, who we know do
not have the capacity to pay for such a large volume. Large clients forget that
there is mathematics, which anyone can use to know that such a large volume of
goods would not be sold in a certain region, because there would not even be
enough population to buy that quantity. An additional piece of information is
that there are 100 containers of the same product, that is; to really have a
final price for this item, they can test the margin limit that the factory must
set prices.
In the next article we will talk about how factories
manage to sell 100 containers without having the production capacity to do
so... the story continues, until then!
Send us your comments, it would be great to hear from
you!
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