How far to push suppliers for deals..

[Little-Miss]

How much is just pushing our luck?

I'm spending quite a chunk of my budget on a company for a server and installation. We are currently looking into purchasing a trolley of netbooks (grr) and we thought we'd try them too. Well i managed to get a bit more money off the netbooks and the guy bought one in for me and my LM to look at. My LM told the guy we wanted to buy 16 and a trolley and get a 17th netbook for free. Ok, it was worth a shot i thought, especially with all the money they'd be getting off us. Guy tells me on the way out he finds it highly unlikey he'd be able to do it. Later that day i get an email saying it only possible if i by another service from them (which is a big fat no cus it cost too much). So passed this info onto my LM but also had a lovely new quote that one of our edugeek suppliers had done for me, thinking that would be the end of it. But oh no, he wants me to try again cus he thinks its daft of them to risk our business for the sake of a few hundred quid. Grrr

My reaction would be to say well stuff you supplier im taking me money elsewhere. Is he right to push and am i being a coward. Or is does it come to a point where you throw in the towel and try elsewhere?

[Sylv3r]

Shy bairns get nowt!

There is no harm in asking; the supplier can only say no, then if he does just buy at the original price or let the company stew for a bit and they may get back to you and say they can do it.

They will obviously be profit margins involved and they will know exactly how low they can go.

[garethedmondson]

I'd push all the way. Keep pushing. I do to our companies. I do it at the butchers, I did it when I bought a car the other way.

Just don't be insulted it they say no. No harm in asking.

GJE

[SYSMAN_MK]

Yep ask, ask and ask again. You might be surprised

[Little-Miss]

Oh im such a wimp! lol!!

See i work my charm, cheeky banter and womanly charm when im after something , im not a very pushy person. I worry about pissing the supplier off! OMG how stoopid is that! lol!!!

[john]

Push, Push, Push, Push and Push some more that is the way forward

[Ignatius]

A Yorkshire saying: "Them 'as ask, get, them 'as don't ask, don't want", and we all know that a Yorkshire man is a Scot without any pockets

[contink]

As someone who is getting more of these "Oh, you can do better than that" calls from people wanting to resell something I build, pack and support myself, I'm slowly finding myself cooling to the "something for nothing" crowd.

There's definitely a point in asking but there's also taking the p*ss. If all you want is cheap sh*t service and find yourself on here complaining about lack of support, constantly changing account managers, etc.. (eBuyer? Scan? anyone remember?) then by all means twist their nuts some more but remember there's a bit more to the scenario than the extra £100 off the price.

Pay peanuts, get monkeys still very much applies... Just a thought...

[K.C.Leblanc]

Try to run your quotes through more then one supplier. We've found suppliers often bend over backwards to get new business and then become less generous. We bought two servers and a SAN, our main supplier was over £2k off, so we went elsewhere. Oddly enough he's now trying much harder for our business.

However, we have issues with the company who supplied the kit in the end. The equipment came in dribs and drabs, and they not only invoiced before it all arrived, they contacted us asking why the invoice hadn't been paid. To compound this they ignored many emails.

[Little-Miss]

Well i do have another quote to threaten them with so will use that against them too...

[EduTech]

Oh yeah.. push push and push some more! (sounds like that song. push it )

You know how much you would be willing to pay for what you are asking for, if it is higher then you are looking for then just keep pushing until it meets that area.

You build up a relationship with suppliers, and depending on what companys you use they tend to look after you and give you the right prices. (sometimes even if it means not making much) they know if they treat you right and keep you happy you will do more business with them.

Suppliers shouldn't get angry/pi&^ed off with a customer at the end of the day your going to try and get items for the best price you can and they should also respect you have a budget and you need to keep with it.

I know any Edugeek Sponsor for starters looks after Edugeek Members, so i would always start with asking them first.

i bet they love the womanly charm! especially Mr Simon hehe

Oh and always get your "3" quotes, as you can use them too... if each supplier keeps beating the price then its good.. obviously you can only do that for so long then if you have a prefered supplier and a new one beats you by a couple of pounds then you would go with the prefered supplier - someone you have built up a relationship with (if it was me anyway)

James.

[Marci]

Having worked both in the trade-supply side and retail side of the IT market, I'd say that giving away 1 netbook with a trolley of 15 will nuke out the entire profit on those 15, meaning the company would be effectively giving you them at cost and making nothing, with no guarantee of a future order.

Profit margins for trade suppliers are in the region of 3% at the most, usually less when dealing with educational sector. They make their money on volume sales across many clients. By all means, shop round for the best quote... but pushing for a freebie is a bit much when it comes to netbooks / laptops / systems unless you're buying 100 of `em.

[Michael]

You can always ask for a better deal from as many different suppliers as you like, but remember profit margins on notebooks/netbooks are small as it is. To get a free one thrown in, you'd have to be ordering considerably more units.

[localzuk]

I'd only be looking for a freebie if I were buying > 50 computers. The margins are terrible on hardware, so you're more likely to get a few quid knocked off each one than a free one.

[Little-Miss]

Yeah, you're pretty much saying what i was thinking about the whole freebie thing. He did tell me how much the make per unit and its pretty much pennies.

Anyway I'd rather support my Edugeek Supplier (Mr WStore Dan in this case) but i imagine my LM will make the final decision.