Shop your wholesalers

[Andy D]

At my old job, we had a purchasing person & he was pretty bad at it, he would buy stuff from ten different vendors
because "he didn't want to have all his eggs in one basket" which made no sense at all.
When something didn't show up, I had to track him down and wait until he figured out who he bought it from.
When we saw something was screwed up, when we opened the packaging, but it had been a week since
it had been delivered, I had to track him down and wait until he figured out who he bought it from.

When they put me in charge of ordering material, I called around and talked to the vendors, I told them;
- I believe in vendor loyalty if I get great service at a comparable price.
- I'm looking to buy as much material as I can from one vendor (we probably bought 600k-800k a year)
- I'm not going to beat you up over price as long as you're in the ballpark, but if I see you're too high on something, I will let you
know and give you a chance to beat it.
- I don't want to talk to whoever picks up the phone if I have a question, I want one go-to person & not a outside sales person.
- I want someone to watch my orders and make sure to let me know if there is going to be an issue.

I got all that and more through Grimco, it was actually the plant manager who took my orders and answered my questions &
he pulled my butt out of the fire many times.

I personally can't stand customers who shop every single time they need signs, and beat you up over a few dollars.
I go way over and above for my loyal clients who just send me jobs, knowing I will take care of it, it will be right & at a fair price...
& that's what I look for in my vendors. I think if you have great employees and great vendors, the customers will be much more
happy in the long run.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Well, my gripe is about Grimco specifically, although Fellers plays the same games to a lesser extent.

I mostly buy from Glantz because if I check their pricing on something, they are usually in the ballpark of reasonable. Grimco might have good pricing on something, but like in my example very high pricing on something else. Then I call and they lower it significantly which makes me question ALL their pricing. Something about that tactic doesn't sit right with me.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

At my old job, we had a purchasing person & he was pretty bad at it, he would buy stuff from ten different vendors
because "he didn't want to have all his eggs in one basket" which made no sense at all.
When something didn't show up, I had to track him down and wait until he figured out who he bought it from.
When we saw something was screwed up, when we opened the packaging, but it had been a week since
it had been delivered, I had to track him down and wait until he figured out who he bought it from.

When they put me in charge of ordering material, I called around and talked to the vendors, I told them;
- I believe in vendor loyalty if I get great service at a comparable price.
- I'm looking to buy as much material as I can from one vendor (we probably bought 600k-800k a year)
- I'm not going to beat you up over price as long as you're in the ballpark, but if I see you're too high on something, I will let you
know and give you a chance to beat it.
- I don't want to talk to whoever picks up the phone if I have a question, I want one go-to person & not a outside sales person.
- I want someone to watch my orders and make sure to let me know if there is going to be an issue.

I got all that and more through Grimco, it was actually the plant manager who took my orders and answered my questions &
he pulled my butt out of the fire many times.

I personally can't stand customers who shop every single time they need signs, and beat you up over a few dollars.
I go way over and above for my loyal clients who just send me jobs, knowing I will take care of it, it will be right & at a fair price...
& that's what I look for in my vendors. I think if you have great employees and great vendors, the customers will be much more
happy in the long run.

I also prefer a single source and cant stand calling a counter person.
A good sales rep will come to you and offer what you went out looking for. One thing to keep in mind (especially sales reps) is that people aren't always asking for the price to compare it or beat you up. They may be tallying their budgets, getting a PO or its a force of habit. People have a tendency to clam up with pricing and shouldn't, it is just a formality. As a sales rep, I always would dodge the quote and people would forget. Then be fair with the bill and they will be comfortable enough to just order and not ask in the future.

 

[ikarasu]

I was going to say things are likely different in Canada, but someone beat me to it. Grimco is usually the cheapest here - I've had a few reps come and try to get our business... but when they find out what we currently pay, they curse Grimco and say theyre making almost no profit. Over here... in BC at least, theyre cheap and very customer oriented. I can ask for a random need such as a vinyl that sticks great on xx material... And they will either know which one, or research it. Grimco always gives us the best price... other vendors you have to get them to price match or adjust the pricing... I prefer grimco over all else.

However we do buy from a few vendors - For us... it's not about whats cheapest. Yes... If I was ordering 100 sheets of ACM I wouldnt want to pay $5 more a sheet - But if an order costs 5-10% more but comes with good service, it's worth it. We never haggle on price, or try to get someone to price match another supplier unless its a huge job with low margins and we're bringing in 10-20 rolls of vinyl. But we do split our orders between 2 main suppliers, and buy misc stuff from 2-3 others - It's good to spread the wealth, otherwise when one runs out of something... the other wont be too helpful in getting it to you at the right price and you;ll be stuck.

It's a balance! if you pay an extra $50 for a roll of vinyl, that costs you an extra 7 cents a sqft... that shouldnt break the bank.


That and our suppliers are also our printer repair people. It works good that way - Printer down for a week? well...thats a week or sales they just lost, so they make sure to rush and get you up and running, its in their best interest. I've heard Grimco doesnt do printer repairs in usa? Maybe I heard wrong.... sounds strange to me! but over here at least, our suppliers who sell us the printers also handle all the repairs - we dont deal with HP or epson or anyone else... all repairs go through them.

 

[WYLDGFI]

I personally can't stand customers who shop every single time they need signs, and beat you up over a few dollars. I go way over and above for my loyal clients who just send me jobs, knowing I will take care of it, it will be right & at a fair price...& that's what I look for in my vendors. I think if you have great employees and great vendors, the customers will be much more
happy in the long run.

Andy, you hit the nail on the head and I am referring to any vendor that is needed in this industry. As a vendor myself, we have strived to build up the relationships with our clients. Loyalty leads to more Personal & first name basis business interaction. Like you state above, jobs are taken care of and done right. Thats how ANY job should be done. Distributing materials, printing or hanging signs should be done right. We are all customers in one way or another.

 

[Sindex Printing]

When I work with vendors I try and keep things as simple as possible. I don't want to water my time calling around, give me a solid price that I can use to be competitive and my business is yours.. the only time I willask for special pricing is when I have to get aggressive on pricing to get certain jobs. I don't do terms or payments with vendors unless they ask if me to. I pay on pickup or prepay if they are a smaller company. I buy everything I can from local suppliers (or as close as I can find) that I can from and want the best for my vendors. I want my vendors to feel like they are partners and not just a vendor.

 

[visual800]

Grimco used to be solid when they first came around. But NEVER as solid as Aluma panel. Alumapanel was hands down my suppier for years. if they didnt have it they could get it. Grimco came in bought them out and let all the good employees go. Dropped all prices and then the issues started. Horrible cuts on aluminum, materials not cut exact, materials not delivered when told and then sending wrong items. I vowed to never do business with them again so I now buy from a local source Farco. Farco is higher on materials but I just figure that into quotes. I despise the corporate mentality, buy out all the little guys and take over. The bigger you are the harder you fall.

 

[Stacey K]

I buy as much as I can from Glantz. I love my delivery driver, same guy for a couple years and he's great. I'm the last delivery of the day and he always calls me to see how late I'll be and if I'm not there that he's setting my order by my door.

If you are a good customer of mine and pay your bills, I will bend over backwards for you. I will do whatever I can to meet tight deadlines. Most of my regular customers do not price shop and if they do (which they should sometimes, keeps everyone honest) they choose me. Many don't even ask what the price will be they just order. Two weeks ago I had a customer who is a price shopper and goes where it's cheapest call for apparel pricing. 5 different tank tops all within a dollar of each other, had to have about 8 different prices to the penny, for orders under 50. And can coozies...a waste of time order in my opinion. How much for 50 regular and 25 slim? Two days later, asks if she can supply them and what is the price. Then she calls Monday that she needs them by Friday. I said not sure I can make that happen. She calls back, no problem, the other company she was talking to said they could. GREAT! Calls back 2 hours later, they can't do it, can you? Nope. She ended up with no can coozies all because she had to price shop for a week over 75 can coozies and 50 shirts. I could have gotten them done but why bust my butt and put another good customer with a high profit margin job to the side for a few can coozies? I'm SURE the other company felt the same way I did.

 

[netsol]

There's no need to play games and send love letters to everybody. It's a business transaction, from both sides. You always need to keep your vendors honest. Chumming up to one will work here or there, but not across the board, forever. Regardless of the vendor, you always need to price them. Heck, why do you think YOUR customers get 3 quotes ??

Sure, we all say, we are doing our darnednessest, to keep our customers coming back, but then why are there so many threads on s101 alone, asking how not to leave money on the table ?? Imagine the many other 1,000s of sign shops in the same fix...... then all of the many many other businesses doing the same, all over the world.​

We all wanna make money, but do your due diligence. Do your homework.

right you are

grimco has 48 locations, and are local to everyone

but they truly are the vendor of last resort

in my consulting business, we have suppliers for computer product who drive me crazy. asking "what did i quote you on that? i always tell them a price that is $50 less than they quoted. when they say that can't be, i tell them, either an item has a price, or it doesn't. if every purchase involves an elaborate dance, i am not interested in playing

i understand column pricing, but not the fact that they can't even guess what they quoted me a few days ago