Damn! Beat me by 3 1/2 hours! Great Sift. This is my life. Ugh.

this is GREAT!
and sadly accurate....

ok.. i'm missing something here.. can somebody give me the sesame street breakdown of this please? i don't get it. whats this about?

>> ^pipp3355:
ok.. i'm missing something here.. can somebody give me the sesame street breakdown of this please? i don't get it. whats this about?


When the customer tries to dictate the price of something, you hear these exact kinds of conversations. This happens alot in manufacturing, not so much at resturaunts and video stores.
If you want the business bad enough, you have to give in to them. Or if the request they made is completely unreasonable, and they know it, they will pay the quoted prices, but bitch about it.

I would like to send this video to all my customers...but I won't:{

>> ^pipp3355:
ok.. i'm missing something here.. can somebody give me the sesame street breakdown of this please? i don't get it. whats this about?


Yeah, it's more understandable when you are a private contractor (or small business) giving quotes to a client. I typically stay hourly when working with clients, because the project scope is always changing, which means I invoice them at the end of the project.

I've submitted invoices with the final hour tally (and dollar amount) and had many clients try to renegotiate the price after the work was already complete. That is just bad form.

Another side to this is when a supplier is making a very hefty profit and you're giving them the option of coming down or you going elsewhere - like cell plans. I've never done it but I've been in the room with a client of mine who can talk suppliers into dropping their price with amazingly little hesitation... make me feel like I've been paying the politeness tax.

>> ^alizarin:
Another side to this is when a supplier is making a very hefty profit and you're giving them the option of coming down or you going elsewhere - like cell plans. I've never done it but I've been in the room with a client of mine who can talk suppliers into dropping their price with amazingly little hesitation... make me feel like I've been paying the politeness tax.


Well that is exactly what happens with some customers. From my point of view, if the customer rightly assumes I'm going to make some profit, then, they want me to cut the margin or they will find somebody else, who will work for cheap.... China comes to mind, or countries that employ children or have little environmental laws, or safety standards, well, then that is not a good customer.

Not all profit is "hefty". Profit is not bad. Profit is good. Gouging is bad. Greed is bad.

I prefer in business that, everybody should profit, A healthy vendor is a good vendor, a healthy customer is a good customer.

ok. so is this 'bad form' only when dealing with small businesses / contract work or should it apply to other buyer-seller relationships (e.g. wallmart & customer)? and what about auctions like ebay? or financial services like loans?

>> ^pipp3355:
ok. so is this 'bad form' only when dealing with small businesses / contract work or should it apply to other buyer-seller relationships (e.g. wallmart & customer)? and what about auctions like ebay? or financial services like loans?


Between Walmart and a customer, you're making a relatively small purchase, whereas Walmart is making large, bulk purchases from a vendor. Even if Walmart employees had the authority, they probably wouldn't give you much of a discount on the $10 toy or shirt you're buying.

As for eBay, it's supply and demand... people bid what an item is worth to them, and whoever is willing to pay more wins the auction. There's no negotiating there.

>> ^pipp3355:
ok. so is this 'bad form' only when dealing with small businesses / contract work or should it apply to other buyer-seller relationships (e.g. wallmart & customer)? and what about auctions like ebay? or financial services like loans?


I think the point of the video is that it is humorously comparing things like simple purchases at WalMart (where the customer doesn't try to haggle the price) to larger client/vender relationships in the corporate world. I wouldn't over analyze it.

Of course the other side is:

The guy hands over $19.99 for the video and then just before the clerk puts it in the bag he says "Here's your Criterion edition... if you just give me $30 I'll give you your movie..."

thanks guys. i get it now..

*promote

Self promoting this video back to the front page; last published Thursday, May 28th, 2009 12:56pm PDT - promote requested by original submitter Skeeve.

HAHAHA..."This is not a challenge, it's an opportunity"! Classic and true

Working for a subcontracting company, we have to work on both sides of the ball. We get shafted by the client, and then we have to turn around and shaft the vendors. This was probably made by product vendors who are at the end of this line of BS. Don't worry though, they'll pull a fast one on you as soon as you've got your guard down. Plus, it's customary to pay them a bit fat, when they've gotten you out of a bind on a previous job.

"The Vendor Client Relationship" video was created by Indianapolis-based video and post-production company, Scofield Editorial. The video that puts a comedic spin on business relationships has been viewed by more than half a million viewers - www.vendorclientvideo.com.