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Thread: Asking for your competitors quote to quote and better it?

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    Gold Member garthu's Avatar
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    Asking for your competitors quote to quote and better it?

    Hiya guys, Been a while

    So, there is currently a company that suggests that if you give them a copy of all the quotes you have received, they will better, do the same installation cheaper. Now originally this didn't concern me to much but what i have found now, with there exposure and marketing, they are generally one of the companies that end up quoting as well.

    Competition i don't mind, but t have now taken a fair amount of work through this method, but what do you reckon, I don't believe it's ethical (am i wrong) or is this just clever business move.

    Would you favour this if it was offered to you?
    Garth

    Electric fence Installation : www.midrand-electronics.co.za
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    Hi Garth,

    Someone would say "its a dog eats dog world out there". Business is tough these days. Would I favour such method, hell yes.

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    Email problem daveob's Avatar
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    I suppose it depends a lot on if you're the seller or the buyer

    As a buyer, a better price isn't everything to me. Depends a lot on the item / service.

    Is the better price for the same product ?
    Quality ?
    After sales service ?
    supplier reputation ?

    If I am buying a bag of sugar, it doesn't matter where it's from. If it's cheaper from PnP, then I buy it there.

    If it's a new laptop, I will pay a bit more to get it from my local PC shop ( who I trust and have not ripped me off before - always good service ) in preference to an online supplier.
    Watching the ships passing by.

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    Diamond Member wynn's Avatar
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    I would quote at way below cost and when the client says that the other company can't meet or beat the price I would tell them to 'F' off for shopping my price.

    the other way is to quote at dead cost and say you will beat any other written quote by R10.oo and if they present the quote, give them the R10.oo and tell them to buy at the opposition.

    I hate people that shop prices and if I find out I refuse to quote them in the future. unless they bring me the other quotes in a sealed envelope and we open them at the same time and if I win I get the order.
    "Nobody who has succeeded has not failed along the way"
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    Email problem daveob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wynn View Post
    I hate people that shop prices
    OK. Here's a real life example for you.

    We buy a house. The wooden window frames are in need of extensive repair, or replace with aluminium. For convenience, speed, and long term maintenance, we decide to replace with aluminium.

    So I phone around and get 4 local companies out to quote.

    2 of them are in the R20k area, and the other 2 were almost R35k.

    What was the difference ? The 2 higher quotes, I found out, were sub-contracting the manufacture of the frames to another large company who specialise in making frames for installers. The 2 cheaper quotes were manufacturing the frames themselves.

    We asked around for feedback on the suppliers and went with the second best price ( the cheapest was very new and already didn't have a good reputation ).

    However, based on your comment, if I understand it correctly, you would hate me for looking around ? You would be much happier if I just got 1 quote and went with that ? What if that first quote was the R35k+ quote ? Would you be happy spending nearly double just so you don't upset the supplier by getting other quotes ?

    And bringing all the quotes together in a sealed envelope doesn't work either. In my case, the cheapest didn't get the order.

    It's a free world out there, and if you can't compete on price, quality and service with the others in the field, you need to re-evaluate something.

    Please don't take this as a personal attack or anything - it is just the way I see life - one of those things that make each of us unique.

    Also, if by "shop prices" you are talking about bringing another companies quote to you to get a better price, I don't see a problem there either.

    Example : I want to buy a product. Locally, there are 3 suppliers. Costs are (A) R1000, (B) R1100, (C) R1150.
    There is no difference in the product and after sales service is not relevant. Lets say the product is a stainless steel braai, and it is the same make in all 3 stores.

    Firstly, there is no way I am paying 1150, so 'C' is out of the picture.
    However, I know 'B' is a smaller operation, and being a small business myself, understand the hardships faced to keep a small business running.
    So I go to 'B' and say something like : I can get the braai from 'A' for R1000, and your price is R1100. Can you better your price, say to R1050 ? That way I can support you to turn over stock, small profit, and supporting the small guy. I would also offer cash as payment so there are no credit card transaction fees for the store.

    I can tell you from experience that 999 times out of 1000 the smaller supplier has done the deal and been happy for the support.
    Watching the ships passing by.

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    I hate people that shop prices and if I find out I refuse to quote them in the future.
    So the wife shouldn't compare the specials at P&P to the specials at Checkers!


    I second daveob completely.

    As a manufacturer if I don't know what to quote I simply get my wife to phone up a couple of opposition companies with exactly the same requirement to get an idea of the fair prices out there. I don't want to price to high, for fear of pricing myself out of the market, and I don't want to quote to low for fear of buggering up the entire market for everybody.

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    Dave A (01-Nov-11)

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    Diamond Member wynn's Avatar
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    I am talking about an unscrupulous buyer taking a quote that took you hours to process and giving it to your opposition to undercut by a few percent.
    Getting three quotes for a few items and or service is not what I am referring to, but I would not deal with a guy who says to me straight, what are the other guys quoting I will better it.

    You must remember that this is only to your advantage for a while before other tenderers either refuse to give you prices or only go big with you so you loose out in the end because your prices to the client eventually price you out of the market

    Example
    You are building a house you get prices from four building merchants and shop the one quote against the other until you get the best price, that works once.
    You are a builder and build lots of houses a year, you shop your prices as above, eventually three of the tenderers will stop competing or just go big and the guy who always asks for other prices will be able to nail your hide to the walls you are building.

    In the past when I know a guy has shopped my prices, next time he asks for prices I contact the other supplier and tell him I am going big and he must make hay while the sun shines. then after the contractor buys the material from the other guy I phone him and tell him he got screwed because I forgot to tell him about the twenty five percent discount he was entitled to.
    "Nobody who has succeeded has not failed along the way"
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    Read the first 10% of my books "Didymus" and "The BEAST of BIKO BRIDGE" for free
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    Diamond Member wynn's Avatar
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    The other thing to remember is if you tell the supplier the best prices you got he will only shave a few percent here and there.
    But if you just tell him he has to do better, if he can he may take a lot more off.
    "Nobody who has succeeded has not failed along the way"
    Arianna Huffington

    Read the first 10% of my books "Didymus" and "The BEAST of BIKO BRIDGE" for free
    You can also read and download 100% free my short stories "A Real Surprise" and "Pieces of Eight" at
    http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/332256

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    I must be honest, I don't like say to people directly that the competitor has such n such a price if the price is reasonable. The problem is with the customer who does not want to pay a fair price. When I sell a product for R500 and a customer says he can get it for R450 elsewhere I normally tell him to go buy the product there then. My opposition and I pass business to one another all the time so its not really in our interest to udercut one another.

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    this is actually a lot more complicated and varies with products and services...

    i knew about a company which was doing this to me...getting me to do all the dirty work...planning calcualtions etc...then handing over the quote to the compitition...so what i did is made my quote really cheap so they could get the work and pay the price...it is not always that simple...because then the customer wants to know why you charged them xyz for a similar job...and you loose all the work to the other company.

    i dont believe it is ethical...but in tough times who is ethical...the strongest wins...i recall many years ago i was involved in an anual contract which involved millions...there were about 12 companies involved in the same contract...we had a gentlemans agreement amoungst all the contractors...as there was enough work for everyone...so each one of us specialised in what we did...but then as the contract came up for renewal so the work would ease off and the big guys would start fighting amongst each other for work and then start taking my little jobs...which didnt realy affect me because at that stage i had more work than i could handle...and i had my fingers in a variety of projects not only that contract...but my point is bussines is bussiness...nobody will scratch your back when times are tough...so you need to do what you must do to make sure you are at the top of the food chain.

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