File this under Humanistic Management
My husband is in sales. He was referred to a new customer by
one of his existing accounts. My husband is really wonderful and trustworthy
and honest and people like doing business with him so he does get quite a bit
of referral business. Because, and I know this may come as a shock, but all
things being equal, most of us would prefer to do business with a nice honest
person than a slimy person who is only looking out for themselves.
Anyway – this new customer had placed an order, but then
didn’t have the check on delivery. He
promised to bring it the next day but also wanted to eliminate some things and
get new pricing on others. Needless to say, the next day, still no check, and
further changes to the order. This went on for 5 days. My husband finally told
the guy his money was no good and he would have to buy his product from someone
else, but he was going to pick up all their stuff and that would be the end of
it.
I am relating this story because it isn’t like this customer
was trying to screw my husband and his company over. He was just so concerned
about being taken for a ride himself, he assumed that he was and treated my
husband and the company he worked for accordingly. As a result, he pissed his
vendor, my husband, off and will now have to deal with people who may not be as
courteous or conscientious.
The lesson in all of this is that your vendors are humans
too. And just like any human, you should treat them as the individuals they are
and not as the individuals you assume them to be. Yes, you need to protect
yourself and get the best prices. Yes, you need to do your due diligence in
order to know what it is you are buying and why and whether the prices are
good. But you should do all that BEFORE placing an order and always remember.
Good people HATE being treated as if they are criminals and if you insist on
treating your vendors like disposable trash because you believe they are all
interchangeable, you may just find that the best vendors will refuse to do
business with you at all.
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