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Seriously, is it a full moon in sales land at the moment?

We’re looking at purchasing some new equipment. It is a bit specialized, but nothing that can’t be found at several vendors. So we reached out to one to get a quote. Vendor sent some preliminary numbers and we sorted out how many items we truly needed. Sent the requirements/numbers and asked for pricing. This is a new vendor - we’ve never dealt with them and are trying to feel out what our budget needs to be.

Rather than returning a revised quote, I get a phone call from the sales guy. He wants to know how many other quotes we’ve received and would I be so kind as to forward them (redacted, of course!) so that he can beat the lowest price.

o.O

Is this standard? Do you receive requests like this on a regular basis? I always viewed the quote process as an opportunity to provide me your best price in order to win our business, but if you have to view all competing bids first to give me your “best” pricing, then I’m really not going to want to do business with you going forward. My reasoning is that once you’ve got vendor lock-in, prices are going to rise on a regular basis and you’re hoping I won’t notice.

Maybe I’m just old and out of touch. Admittedly, I’ve played vendors off against each other for very large purchases to try and get the pricing down, but I’ve always been honest about it - “Your quote looks okay, but I’ve received a competing quote that has you beat by a fair amount. Can you do better on the pricing or offer other services to make up the difference?” But I don’t send the competing quotes to each of the vendors and I don’t expect a new vendor to request them.

This Wednesday rant brought to you by the letter “C” (for caffeine) and a lack of sleep.

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It also means that all they have to do is slightly beat the previous best price, rather than give you a good price in the first place.

Leaves a nasty taste.

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It’s called unethical business practices. It has nothing to do with school, age, or anything else: it just leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths.

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when requesting a quote, I will send the vendor an email with a request for their best number.
If I get a request as above, I tell them, I asked for your best number, period, I will not negotiate, nor speak with them again, about that quote.
I guess I can be a bit stubborn.
I will however give them a second chance on another bid, if the same thing happens, they will not get another quote request…

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New vendor, I explain I don’t share quotes sent to me as I am sure that he/she would not want me to share their quote with another vendor. If they want to make their pricing public they can post it on their website.

I will tell a vendor if they ask where they stand on pricing IF they ask or after they have lost and ask why. I do not say Yes vendor “dogawesomejob” was cheaper than you so I went with them.

I don’t go with the cheapest all the time either. If it is between an unknown vendor and a known vendor that is a factor as well. The larger the order the larger the vendor/client relationship weighs in.

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This happens quite a bit actually, especially in specialized equipment or for contractors. They’re trying to gauge the market to see where they should be. They’re usually trying to see how they should be priced to be competitive with other companies. They’re doing what they can to try to get your business as well since most people only want the lowest prices.

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I’d look elsewhere and not even return the vendor’s calls or emails at this point.

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No, they are getting nutty. I posted in another thread that we had a VAR here a day ago…going on and on about being certified as a O365 person (what ever the heck the title is). She had to real “Value Add” as to why I care as she is sales, not technical.

Then, today I got a quote for five large MFP’s at a special rate from a guy I have worked with for years…not only are we NOT shopping for departmental MFP’s, that is not part of my purview…AND, the VAR is about 1500 miles away (worked with them at a former facility, in a former state - but he claims they can support me here).

But, it is almost the 4th quarter so, some are trying to “finish the year off strong”…and, as we all know. Mid 4th QTR they will lay off and hold things to the next calendar year.

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Yes it’s that time of month… they need to close sales to hit numbers…

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Not necessarily, I see it as they want to be the best price therefore you might blindly go with them again possibly without quoting around. Then they can screw you.

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Since their first response to you was a request for you to violate your ethics, I would rule them out, and move on. Next thing you know, they will be sharing your information with other prospective clients.

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Got one of those from a vendor once, ended up blocking his company’s domain at the spam filter because he just wouldn’t stop after I told him I would not give him competitors info with pricing on it.

He even went so far as to try and guilt me into giving him the business because he ‘has spent thousands of dollars gathering experts in the field and putting a quote together.’

Starting to really hate sales people with a passion.

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I think people are forgetting how it pays to just be respectful. I’m a big fan of character and now a days there’s so much pushing and anticipating it’s getting out of hand. Honestly, give me a quote and be professional and respectful about it. If I liked you, I’m going to keep talking to you. I.E. If I get another quote from another vendor that’s lower but I liked you, I’m going to get a hold of you and see if you can beat that price. Stop. Bothering. Us.

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Standard practice. Even in formal RFQs, I specify that your submission must be your best and final price. Then, when they don’t win, they say, “You should have called me and given me a chance to beat the other price.” They never learn and wind up on my personal “no bid” list.

Just this month, I had a 25-minute phone call with a rep from SHI. I explained that she’s not getting orders because she never has the lowest price. She explained that it was my fault, really.

You see, I don’t order in large enough quantities that she can get a discount. Those other guys that sell it to me cheaper are buying large amounts and stocking them, then selling them in small quantities at the big quantity price. But if I buy a large amount from her, she’d be able to match their price.

I pointed out that the quotes she gives me are sometimes higher than the prices on her own company’s website!

So, despite never having been the low bid, it’s my fault because I won’t give her a chance.

Sheesh.

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whats up with sales people???

END OF QUARTER. SALES quotas MUST BE MET!

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Sounds more like if you up your quantity, she would be able to stockpile and then still charge other people the inflated price padding her numbers and looking like a rockstar.

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is she talking about you know…what do they call them…distributors ?

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We have turned down the requests like that we have gotten in the past.

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Heh . . . I got a quote once with a big box stamped in red “Confidential - Special Pricing - May not be shared with anyone except designated recipient”.

The price was not so special and I discarded it.

Got a call from the rep wondering why we did not reply to the offer . . . I told her that I was the designated recipient but my boss determines who gets a contract. Her company warned me that I could not share it with anyone so I couldn’t send it to the boss.

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End of quarter and sale people have quotas to meet.

And like several have said above, send your best quote. I have neither the time nor the inclination to play “let’s make a deal” with you.

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