Widget sales

[msafi65]

Hypothetically speaking lets just say you run a business selling and repairing widgets. You purchase these as a dealer from the factory at a discounted price. You spend your own money and time advertising locally and showing at trade shows where people come to see every type of widget available. Then you get a phone call from a potential customer telling you that "I can buy the same widget from your supplier on line for a lot less. But I would be able to bring it to you for warranty issues, right? So you check out the prices and find out they are selling for considerably less than you would pay the factory. Kind of gives you a warm fuzzy feeling about the business practices of your supplier.

[wedge]

This is interesting ?

[amphibious drew]

What would make it more interesting is if the widget dealer hadn't sold any new widgets in years. They were only selling parts for widgets that at this point in time were to new to them customers, not the customers they earned over the years. In fact most business is directed to then through the manufacturers website. They put little to no effort into advertising or selling widgets. On top of that, they won't even service a widget in house no matter who sold it including them had they ever sold one. After all this, is the manufacturer who according to the terms of the dealer agreement terminates selling through them and decides to sell direct to the public for the time being. Is the manufacturer acting unethically by legally terminating the agreement. Should the manufacturer be required to sell through a dealership that is unproductive? Is it ok for them to sell direct to the consumer ever in your opinion?

[Model Citizen]

[amphibious drew]

I would not think that to be the dealers cost. However if the dealer wanted to stay in business, I would think innovating and changing their business model would be appropriate. I always have lots of respect for those who really take the time and put forth the effort to change their business. Let's say for instance by refurbishing that old worn down widget with a crazy new rubber dampener to not only make it good as new, bet create something that truly outperfoms any widget they ever sold from their manufacturer.

[whipper-ag]

:

[Garintheair]

Now let me get this straight. You own a company that builds and sells widgets. And I own a company that makes things you need to build your widgets. When you stop paying me for those parts, how long should I keep supplying you with them? That would make me warm and fuzzy.

Whipper

Being the business analyst that I am I feel compelled to answer this question. If you're not getting paid for the parts you are making for another business's profit then...you should stop supplying those parts immediately! Anything less would be a very bad business decision unless you are able to pay your bills with IOU's!

There's probably a story here but you are either dealing with an unethical customer or one that's doing so poorly that they cannot pay their bills...or both. Did your customer give you a reason why they are unable to meet their obligations? Are they going under or simply suffering a short term cash flow issue? I would be concerned about the former but either situation would prompt me to limit my losses, put them on a COD basis, and concentrate on more viable customers!

[Don]

This thread's really got me thinking. My widget's not what it used to be.

[Garintheair]

This thread's really got me thinking. My widget's not what it used to be.

LMAO I'll bet that there's a "Widget Wonder" pill out there somewhere which can alleviate what ails ya!

[kghills]

Hypothetically speaking lets just say you run a business selling and repairing widgets. You purchase these as a dealer from the factory at a discounted price. You spend your own money and time advertising locally and showing at trade shows where people come to see every type of widget available. Then you get a phone call from a potential customer telling you that "I can buy the same widget from your supplier on line for a lot less. But I would be able to bring it to you for warranty issues, right? So you check out the prices and find out they are selling for considerably less than you would pay the factory. Kind of gives you a warm fuzzy feeling about the business practices of your supplier.

I'm not sure about widgets but every new truck I have ever purchased could be taken to any authorized dealer for warranty work. I'm not privy to the inner workings of any of the dealers I have had work done by but they all seemed happy to do the work. I know the techs get paid less for warranty work but it is part of the deal. A customer that owns a Ford dealership locally told me they make more on service and parts than new car sales and used car sales are far more profitable than new and Ford forced them to spend a lot of money to upgrade their facility or they would loose the dealership rights. The customer did not seem to mention anything about a warm fuzzy feeling.

I have heard there is a Canadian widget manufacturer that sells widgets and the parts for their widgets on a sliding scale based on the number of widgets a dealer sells. So I guess if I was a small dealer of Canadian widgets a neighboring dealer with better sales could sell to my customers for less than I could. That Canadian widget manufacturers parent company sold not to long ago and recently the basic model of Canadian widgets has had a price reduction. Does this mean the Canadian widget manufacturer is being liquidated by the parent company? I mean these Canadian widgets seem to be sort of a "boutique" widget. Wouldn't the facts dictate that this is a sign of certain closure of this widget division by the parent company? I mean there are really very few changes over the years to this Canadian widget.

If enough people in the United States could pull together and by enough Canadian widgets with US dollars even at the expense of US jobs and US widget manufactures could we maybe save the Canadian widget manufacturer and dealer network? I think that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling just like loosing too much blood.

Keith.