Edugeeks new toy

[witch]

There are folk out there that do this all the time without a care for the fact that someone has realistically tried to win some business ... and it has cost them to do it.

 

 

Sorry, are you saying that I should think about the cost to the company of doing a quote for me? What? It is part of their job, surely...

And whilst you say that companies don't like it, most people will give a company an idea of what they have already had, quote-wise - so where is the difference?

Actually, it doesn't always mean that the company looking at someone else's quote gets the business - quite often they will tell me that they can't do it for that price and to take the offer - I appreciate the honesty and will always go back to that supplier for another go next time. Conversely it is sometimes useful to go through the quote to see what is and isn't included - sometimes another supplier will spot something that they are giving me that the original quote isn't and hence their possibly more expensive quote.

I don't just say 'that's it - beat that'!

[GrumbleDook]

Anything that adds a cost to a company gets passed on to the end customer ... so increasing the pointless quote requests can drive up costs. You may be thinking only about a few toners, or a batch of laptops ... but it all adds up. Speaking with two suppliers recently they thought that duplication of quotes with no business can add from 0.5% to 1.5% on the mark up (depending on value and quantity). For some schools that means the difference between going with company B rather than company A.

 

Yes, you can take it as part of the challenges of business and that companies should be prepared to accept it, but in general such practices drive up costs across the board.

 

Some prices for things are in the public view anyway ... things like gas and electricity prices ... and companies can out bid each other as much as they want, but it you want to do it via a bid war then do it properly, create a dutch auction where you stipulate what you want and then companies can bid, getting progressively lower in price in an open and fair manner. It can be done and is a reasonable process and companies can evaluate whether it is worth the effort and investment.

[kevbaz]

I find this whole idea a bit impersonal to be honest, i prefer to build up a rapport with my suppliers, like simon at cpl and others, the idea of just casting requests out into the wilderness really doesnt appeal to me.

 

We wont be using it

 

just my thoughts

[Dos_Box]

I find this whole idea a bit impersonal to be honest, i prefer to build up a rapport with my suppliers, like simon at cpl and others, the idea of just casting requests out into the wilderness really doesnt appeal to me.

 

We wont be using it

 

just my thoughts

 

Quite, but there are also time when tracking down kit and gettign quotes is a horribly time consuming process. Besides, it's not impersonal, the whole point is that you remain anonymous (imagine the follow on calls from some companies once they have your details after a session of phonign around and emails from companies you haven't brought from! With this once you have got a quote you like, you speak to the company direct.

[kevbaz]

I do speak to companies direct, im happy to source the kit im after i then ask my trusted suppliers, yes it can sometimes be time consuming but 9/10 i know what i want and just need a price, a 2 minute email and its done.

 

I dont want to remain annomnous with my suppliers, i like to talk to them by name, build up a rapport and a level of not necessarily trust but an understanding with them, im quite happy to drop suppliers who give me the run around and my suppliers know that, they also know i will go back to them if they keep me happy and they will get alot of buisness through me.

[john]

You do get the contact details for the suppliers through this system, you can send anonymous contact to them, but then reveal yourself, and can do during the contact process. So once you have been there you will start to build up yourself on the system.

 

You may be pleasantly surprised so give it a go you have nothing to loose and your supporting Edugeeks initiatives which is also good for us