Millgate Points!

[Millgate]

OK Millgate points sound a good idea, but at my school at least, I would still be buying from the best quote... You may be a trusted supplier, but we can't afford not to take up the cheapest quote.

I'd still be the cheapest. These points are me putting prices up at all. Every company like us Misco etc make margin obviously, I'm giving you something back whereas they won't.

Try me

[Millgate]

The points are just a little something to say thanks for the business but the school or business you work for still benefits because you will use the points for equipment or software for the school. Just like club card points at Tesco but for IT in schools

[nephilim]

I know that luke It is a great scheme (hell if enough points were accumulated imagine how the school would feel if someone got a trip to Dubai or something from it?!)...could do wonders on the marketing side of things with this

[Millgate]

Ha, yeah! Could be used in some kind of raffle to make money for the school!

@nephilim I like your thinking!

[nephilim]

Just one question...what if someone switches establishments?

[Millgate]

Ooooooo......tough one. I'd look at that one when it came up but I can't see why I couldn't give the points to the school and to the IT guy at his/ her new place. Everyone's a winner

[elsiegee40]

As far as I'm concerned the point would have to be earned by the school , not me. I could never claim anything myself without prejudicing my position at school... it would be totally against the terms of our Code of Conduct and my contract.

As a school governor, I'd take a very dim view of the school's IT staff benefitting from a relationship with a supplier too... even if it did benefit the school as well.

[dgsmith]

I still don't get what the points would be worth in real-time purchases... Would 20 points buy a hard drive? Memory? A network cable? A printer?? Maybe I have got the concept wrong?

I suppose the way I see it, I have now become a bit more aware of you through this thread so will at least approach you on the next few quotes we get. I guess, if you come in with the best price or pretty well there (bar a few pence), then it's a no-brainer right?
But, if it'd take like 20 average-value orders to acrew enough points for a single audio cable for instance then it's hardly worth it, hence why I ask what the points are worth in real-terms.

[nephilim]

Hence my comment about it being seen as a kick back...in terms for the school, if they banked points and kept them going, sooner or later the school could raffle off a cracking prize like an ipod, a trip to paris/berlin/wherever, or a nice laptop or whatever...the publicity schools can gain from such things would be absolutely amazing

[nephilim]

1 point is worth £1, that is the value, so 50 points will get you a £50 hdd...

however how many points you get per quote is different.

[Millgate]

Every point is worth £1 of real money so if you had eg 100 points you could buy a £100 screen or other things totalling the same value. Depending what you need, you'd be surprised how fast points can mount up

@elsiegee40 I'd have to review that as it is a tough question. The IT staff wouldn't benefit personally as such, the new school or company would get the points as well as the school that the IT person has just left. I try to be fair to everyone

[dgsmith]

Thanks for clarifying. To be honest this actually seems like it could turn out to be pretty good for schools! Would points be decided on value of order (the invoice value) or the amount of profit you're making on the order? Hopefully not the latter as we'd never get any points then with my tendancy to get as close to cost-price as possible (sometimes even less than that)

To an extent, I agree about elsiegee40's comment about the schools needing to benefit although realistically you could never know for sure if a techie buys a printer cartridge from points for the school or for home use... I don't think (m)any schools would take a dim view on this though, especially if they weren't losing out on anything at all, although if this was an issue you could maybe counteract that by sending a statement/zero-value invoice to the school for any goods acquired via the points program (addressed to the bursar/HD so it's all above board).

[Millgate]

Well the points come out of the profit but I bet you'll still be surprised by it! Even if you wanted to give me a target price (though not everyone likes to work this way). Also, don't forget we do installs, maintenance etc so you could get points that way too. You can see reviews of some of our work in the recommended supplies bit on Edugeek

I agree with @dgsmith. It will be good for schools so hopefully it'll be popular

[plexer]

Well I think the whole idea is getting there, it's the same as tesco points the auditors say that staff are not allowed to collect personal points on school purchases.

Ben

[ihaveaproblem]

I like Luke and Millgate.
He is always polite and friendly and even replies to my emails I’ve sent to him late in the evening’s lol. Also quite a few suppliers once they have your email address and phone number they nag you a lot, phoning to ask if you want to buy something ( No I would phone you if I needed something ) and sending email offers.
Of course this isn’t entirely a bad thing. But when these suppliers are sending you 2 or 3 emails a week plus phone calls it does get a little annoying, at least for me.
Luke hasn’t nagged me once and I like that and it makes me want to use Millgate and him for my next orders.
Plus his prices are good and fast delivery and now if we can get points as thanks for being a customer that's even better!