What do you think about distributors selling your repalcment

[Out of Character - 0]

I've lost a several accounts because a local sales rep sold our replacement (machine) while doing door to door sales. My opinion is that cleaning product distributors should target and sell to cleaning companies or retail customers who are actively seeking equipment.

Today I may have lost a $36,000 per year, 2x per month job. The rep, from the primary company I get janitorial supplies, sold them a Kaivac for $1700 + $1k per year worth of juice if he's lucky enough to get them to stay with his product.

I've had to compete for business with 4 local suppliers and for that reason I will no longer support any supplier from my market. The $500-$1000 in profit this supplier will make is going to be offset by the -$30,000 per year loss of my business.


Anyone else NOT support local suppliers?

 

[Gnu]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

nope never. I spend buttloads in alot of places both business and personal. They try to sell you crap on the way in the door and all the way out the door but will they pony up for your services??? nope unless it beyond cleaning then they want HALF OFF since they sold you that spark plug set for the tm back in 1982.

 

[TimP]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

I don't have anyone real local as far as a supplier goes. However the first interlink guy where I bought my TM from has lost my business because I find them to be sleazy greedy sales people. I buy from a different Interlink dealer and with no questions asked I get great pricing and fast shipping. Just bought a hydroforce sprayer from him for 160. Beats 169 on the Interlink web site. And some other stuff all below list on the internet pricing. The way I see it. If you want my business be competitive and don't tell me lies to push stuff out the door cause I'm gonna figure it out and not trust you.

Funny thing is I last time I went to the first dealer they were complaining how nobody local buys from them and how slow things are. I only bought a belt for my TM and had a credit. That tells you something right there, I was willing to buy elsewhere even with them owing me money...oh and they owed me money cause they over charged and wouldn't credit my card. Oh and I asked them to get me some pricing on a part for my vacuum.....they never called.

 

[John Olson]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

Sorry to hear that. Our business statement is "Our only business is your business" and we take it very serious. I don't sell to the general public and I do not actively pursue Jan-San accounts. Now with that said I'm a supplier to the professional textile cleaner not a Jan-San. If your buying from a Jan-San then you would need to expect that and I see nothing wrong as that is thier job unless they knew it was your account then it wasn't wrong but very very short sighted and stupid. Oh and I pay .35 and 3.50 a stair to have my carpets cleaned which is always more then what they would have charged me

 

[Ryan]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

From my experiences with suppliers, those of your caliber are very rare John. The last moron I talked too was trying to tell me that the "1.5" on a Jet meant GPM at any PSI and looked at me like I was from mars when I tried explaining to him that was only true at 40 psi and your pumps ability also had a lot to do with it.

 

[John Olson]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

Thanks Ryan. I have worked hard my whole life. When me and Lora became business owners we didn't know what kind of owners we wanted to be but we damn sure knew what we didn't want to be. Sometimes this works to our favor and sometimes it doesn't but at the end of the day we feel good about how we treated everyone

 

[Dolly Llama]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

The last moron I talked too was trying to tell me that the "1.5" on a Jet meant GPM at any PSI and looked at me like I was from mars when I tried explaining to him that was only true at 40 psi .

just for clarity purposes ...

the flow rate is in "tenths" at 40psi
example, an 01 flow jet, flows 1/10 gpm @40 psi
That's how they're rated


..L.T.A.

 

[Ryan]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

The last moron I talked too was trying to tell me that the "1.5" on a Jet meant GPM at any PSI and looked at me like I was from mars when I tried explaining to him that was only true at 40 psi .

just for clarity purposes ...

the flow rate is in "tenths" at 40psi
example, an 01 flow jet, flows 1/10 gpm @40 psi
That's how they're rated


..L.T.A.

Thanks Larry. I have a chart that explains it all saved somewhere, I should look that up again. I don't pretend to be an expert on technical matters when it comes to the industry, but what he was trying to tell me was just plain nuts.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

but what he was trying to tell me was just plain nuts.

I'm hip to that, Ryan.
it's not uncommon

I'd say MOST distys don't know more than CC'ers.
But that's not true either, cause most CC'ers don't know diddly either.

The CC'ers that read the boards regularly (and know how to separate the wheat from the chaff) are better educated and more knowledgeable than 92.38% of the distys and 97.43% of the CC'ers out there


..L.T.A.

 

[MicahR]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

sold them a Kaivac for $1700

That had to be a used Kaivac.

Did you buy the juice from him?


If not I would of tried to sell you on the Kaivac juice (which is pretty good stuff).

Would of paid a lot more in the long run than the little bit off the machine.

 

[randy]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your replac

I ran into a rather bizarre first today.
A high end apartment complex (2 bedroom rents for $4,800 a month) requires professional carpet cleaning on the move outs, but the caller mentioned that security will do it for $90. She was shocked that we were "so much more for just two small bedrooms, everything else is hardwood". Three hours latter she calls and asks me to fit her in whenever possible. Security showed up with a " Ghetto looking rug doctor , smelling of alcohol and worse then that the idiot (she was really pissed, LOL) had no soap just an old Windex bottle filled with ammonia". Suddenly the $175 we were charging to clean two rooms on the 11Th floor seemed reasonable and I fit her in immediately after finishing another job a few miles away, since she was waiting in an empty apartment. The funny thing is she actually tipped me $10 and commented on how good it looked. Her parting comment was, "you know there is more to cleaning carpet then you would ever think ". That made my day.

I also figured out why security has always been so hostile , LOL. They make you park on one side of the building and wheel your equipment around the building (most of the time I misunderstand them and grab a visitor spot near the freight elevator and just get yelled at upon my exit). From now on I'm taking the unlettered van on all jobs there, covering up the uniform with a windbreaker, putting a pump up sprayer on the front seat and: " I'm with xyz exterminators here to spray unit #314 for bugs".

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

I remember telling my supplier about RON L using 24 flow. He said he was using 24 gallons per minute. I said that can't be right. That would be like 300 gallons per room. :shock:

He looked it up and said oh it's a lot less than I thought.

 

[Ryan]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

I remember telling my supplier about RON L using 24 flow. He said he was using 24 gallons per minute. I said that can't be right. That would be like 300 gallons per room. :shock:

He looked it up and said oh it's a lot less than I thought.

If he doesn't understand the GPM rating on TM's whats he doing selling them lol. These guys crack me up.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

Re: What do you think about distributors selling your repalc

sold them a Kaivac for $1700

That had to be a used Kaivac.

Did you buy the juice from him?

I was just guessing the price. I think I paid about $1700-$1800 for ours about 4 years ago, maybe it was more.
Yes I do buy our Kaivac stuff from them.

They were simply trying to make a sale, it wasn't personal, just stupid.

I still don't think suppliers should do door to door retail sales, even the jansan guys. Maybe I'm wrong but I would assume that no matter what type of cleaning product supplier you are your best customers are probably cleaning companies. I don't buy from competitors and I assume that most don't. Why compete