What would you do???....

[tattoo.dan]

I was contacted by a local "competitor" to print some vinyl for them for a large account that they do all of the cut vinyl for....

Sign co "x" is outsourcing through me since they don't have a large printer....

I have printed a couple runs for them....

Then yesterday I received a call directly from their account to place my bid on the very same job..they said sign co "x" is weeks behind on these jobs.....

Do I bid the job and not say anything to sign co "x"?

Bid the job and give sign co "x" a heads up?

Or any other thoughts?

Oh and they are not behind because of me..I am printing their stuff ahead of my own jobs and getting it to them in a 1-2 day turnaround....thanks!

 

[CentralSigns]

You know what the bidder/other guy is paying cause he is subing out to you. I would bid what your charging the other guy to sub for him. You may be able to go a bit higher cause he has markup on your product and is still making money. I think the company coming to you direct gives you the rights to scoop the client, as they are asking what you would charge and business is business

 

[Fanaticus]

Does the other company sub jobs out to you for other jobs other than this one?

If it's just this one, I'd go for it.

If he brings you a lot of other work and you'll lose out in the long run, might want to consider the long term affects.

 

[Gino]

No matter how you handle it, you're going to look bad.


I would answer the customer and tell them it is a conflict of interests. You understand their problem and will get back to them shortly.

Call your competitor and tell them exactly what happened. Explain that they have approached you on their own and in everyone's best interest, you will probably have to bid the job, but you did not go after them.

Remember, if this was reversed, you'd want everyone to be on the up and up. This possible new customer will appreciate your honesty and integrity of you are straight up about everything. If you handle this properly, you just might land a very good customer who thinks high of your business ethics.

As for what your competition thinks.... who cares ?? He's the competition..... and lost.

 

[Billct2]

What Gino said, if you don't handle it they will go somewhere else.

 

[tattoo.dan]

Thanks guys, that is kind of what I was thinking..the competition doesn't send a lot of work my way...mainly just this one. I want to make sure I handle it right, and I will have to tell the other company that I have been contacted and didn't go after it myself..they contacted me due to slow turnaround on their end...

ultimately, this could lead to us doing all of the work eventually hopefully...screen print, embroidery, and vehicle graphics...they only have to deal with one place then

but, no matter what I do, in sign co "x"s eyes, I will be an *** and they will bad mouth me...

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

We go through this a lot.Most of our Wholesale clients are great clients, so when faced with this we bid higher than what our Clients bid. It has happened that there were other circumstances and they went with us directly, our wholesale clients get informed the second we bid and I always tell them what our bid was so when they hear that they come to us direct most of the time they don't care because the end client pays more in the end.

Business is Business and you always have to remember a good wholesale client will typically bring you much more business (albeit at a lower margin) than the typical end client.

 

[ProWraps]

customer is going to leave them anyways due to poor service. thats not your fault its theirs.

if they are leaving anyways, they might as well go to you..

we were in the same situation with a client. they ROYALLY screwed up a massive job. we bailed them out. multiple times.

their client came up to us and said, what do we need them for. we want to hire you direct.

i went to my client, told them what was going on, and they said, take em. we dont want them (aka, we have no clue what we are doing).

so we took them. massive client too

 

[John Butto]

As for what your competition thinks.... who cares ?? He's the competition..... and lost.
Exactly the right advice!

(note: the color red type is for Mosh)

 

[Pat Whatley]

As for what your competition thinks.... who cares ?? He's the competition..... and lost.
Exactly the right advice!

(note: the color red type is for Mosh)

Not exactly that black and white.

Personally I think you should call the other shop and just tell them that you're glad to keep doing their printing for them and you value their orders but that if one of their customers comes to you have to bid on it because you're in business to make you a profit first. Explain that you're not going out to take their customers but if they come to you they'll be treated like anyone else who comes in.

There's no need to mention specific orders or why the company came to you for a bid. Leave that out, you don't want to get in the middle of the excuse trail.

 

[Mosh]

Call the comp and tell them the truth, then bid the job. Honesty is the best policy.

 

[2B]

+1 For what Gino said

 

[artbot]

that is their client. you have to respect the rules if you are going to get big over time. i'd call them and tell them you were approached. then let this other shop discuss what is best to do. they may give your their blessing. they may ask for a commission. whatever happens, doing the switcharoo will get you slammed in every trade circle possible by the competition. you'll lose more future business than what's gained on the single invoice.

 

[round man]

+1 for what Gino said,...It will show both the end client and the competition that they both can trust you and that in itself can only lead to better customer relations and referrals to your own benifit,...

edited to ad,.. I would call my competition first explaining how you intend to respond to their clients request so they have a heads up and aren't blind sided by the client,...they came to you with the job first

 

[tattoo.dan]

that is their client. you have to respect the rules if you are going to get big over time. i'd call them and tell them you were approached. then let this other shop discuss what is best to do. they may give your their blessing. they may ask for a commission. whatever happens, doing the switcharoo will get you slammed in every trade circle possible by the competition. you'll lose more future business than what's gained on the single invoice.

I called them and told them I was approached and I bid the job...Thought about turning them down, but they were calling for quotes for a reason and they probably called other people too....

I mainly just wanted them to know that I didn't approach the customer since I was doing their printing for them.

We are a larger company and offer more services. They have been in area longer so I think I handled this situation the right way with the advice received here...

As far as looking for their blessing or even considering paying them commission artbot, no way. I can't pay every sign shop commission that loses customers and they come to me!

 

[tattoo.dan]

Who knows, they could just be checking to see if they can get it cheaper too. I bid it higher than normal in hopes that I would not be lower than the other sign company just in case they were only price checking. I told the other company that as well...

we have a pretty good relationship so I feel this was handled correctly...I guess we will find out if they come back for me to print more! lol