Big Balls or ????

[chiller mekanik]

Do you work for a contractor or are you OEM?

[Edited by chiller mekanik on 02-26-2006 at 11:34 PM]

[drivewizard]

OEM, but it shouldn't matter. It was another service contractor that is asking not the customer. If they hadn't lowballed the contract and were asking about a different chiller I probably would have called him.

[MadeinUSA]

Call the guy on the phone, then inhale a lung full of helium and ask him, “Now tell me whoooo’s your daddy, come on tell me whooooo’s your daddy”

[MadeinUSA]

Ok seriously. I would have the salesman drop by and reiterate to them the professional service your company performed for 8 years, and flat out ask them if the little money they saved is worth having unqualified people working on their large capital equipment being they are calling you for help.

They low balled your company and took money you guys spent to keep a customer for 8 years. I would pull out every stop to get them right back, and you may not get a better opportune time than this.

Business is business, and if they want to play games like low balling, then they should be ready to face the consequences. If your salesman can not handle closing this deal when it is being handed to him on a silver platter, then send someone in who can.

[chiller mekanik]

If you are OEM, this man is not just your competitor but he is also your customer.
As an OEM tech you wear alot of different hats.
If you handle this wrong, he could become indifferent to your organization.
You may not think that is a big deal, but, he may decide to do everything in his power not to do business with your company by buying parts through other outlets or suggesting another brand of chiller to another customer.
I wouldn't do his job for him, but I would atleast call him & listen to his questions, depending on what its about, thats what I would base my decision on.
If the decision is not to help, let him down easy.
While you don't want to aid your competitor remember, you don't want to piss off your customer.
Most guys in your situation figure its not their problem, when he is a customer, he is dealing with a different dept.
Here in my part of the country there is one OEM that I refuse to do business with unless its an emergency & I have no other options.
On a corporate level, who's problem is that?
Should the parts dept be concerned about it?
Or should the service dept worry about it?
Maybe the equip sales folks should spend some time pondering issues such as this.
Who knows...
But remember this, every dollar that is spent somewhere else is a dollar thats not spent with you.
Does that help your stock?
Just another opinion, I'm not trying to pick on you, just suggesting a look at the big picture.

[The Penguin]

Don't loose sight of the "big picture" chiller mekanik its not his customer anymore its his compeditiors customer now.

there's a limit on how neighbourly you should be particulary wqhen an account was "won" using lowball tactics.

[alpha480v]

I had this happen to me when I was in business for myself.The way I handled it then is the same as the way I would have handled it now.I'm in business to make money.I'm not a charity.Business is business.Contracts come,and contracts go.As soon as you start giving away free service advice, your not in business to make money anymore.It then becomes just a hobby.

[chiller mekanik]

Lets define "lowball".

If you read my response carefully, you will see that my main point is to handle it carefully.

[Edited by chiller mekanik on 02-27-2006 at 06:49 AM]

[ozone drone]

Helping this company diagnose and fix the problem with free advice would be the same as losing an installation bid to a guy working out of the trunk of his car and then helping him install the system. In service our product is our knowledge and experience and it doesn't make sense to give away free product. The dollars from this contract used to help put food on your table ...

Your company is not the Salvation Army.... It has to compete to survive and you can't survive by giving product away. Sharing advice and knowledge with peers is one thing ...it's a two way street.... This is different. Company B tried to run with the big dogs and is obviously over their head..... they're not peers.

[Green Mountain]

It never costs anything to talk. Call him back and size him up. You can have a pleasant chat without really telling him anything. If he corners you and asks you a specific question-- all you have to say is that you'll have to look it up and get back to him.

From your conversation you might be able to find out what his company's position is and how much they bid etc.

Fore warned is fore armed.

[The Penguin]

A selection of what drive wizzard posted

Contract goes out to bid, low bid company comes in low balls it, now last week we get a call from a service tech from that company that would like us to call him


Drivewizard uses the phrase lowball so that is what I was reffering to. Chillermekanik feel free to reread the original post to re orient yourself to the original question being asked instead of getting all high and mighty

[razorback]

If he's having trouble or has technical questions, I would only meet him at the jobsite so the customer could see who the true professional is. Have a PO from his company for a set amount-enough to cover your time and expenses- and let the maint dept know your there to help. No hard feelings. Even though you lost the contract for a year- or however long- if you take the high road you will get the customer back. Business is too hard and customers too few to burn any bridges.

[razorback]

We've had similar situations where we took hard line stances and never did anymore business with companies. Then later you see they're remodoling, adding on or replacing equip and you know you have no shot. But when you can regain an old customer they usually know they made a mistake and turn out to be some of your best clients. JMO

[Diceman]

I would never give that guy any free advice after that.
Let them learn how to swim or..........sink.

[seaboard]

I remember some of those "Trane" threads where some of the same guys were complaining about the "OEM" local shop stealing accounts when you called about parts! It does make a difference. Here's what should be done.

Your supervisor or someone in your organization should call and ask that the questions be put in writing. It could simply be that they want some service records that the owner has lost or want to know the last time the barrels were rodded, etc. Now if it turns out that the guy is totally lost and has no business messing with the machine your company can go back to the owner and attempt to gain the business back but you don't know anything really yet.

[shaded]

Forget that this cat cant read the copies of meticulous inspection tickets that your wonderful service company left for your previous customer. Pass over the mounds of data that your previous customer had in form of a well kept O&M log. This new service guy is probably in over his head. How in the world did the company you work for lose a client after 8 years? We aren’t talking pennies here… What do you think happened?

This is an honest question, I have worked around a situation like this and didn’t understand it when it happened.

[frozensolid]

I agree customers do not leave for pennies. Even when larger amounts are at hand, an eight-year relationship does not die easy.

That leaves Politics or Poor Service as viable culprits. Poor Service comes from complacency, and the “you need me more than I need you” attitude that some companies and mechanics develop.

If you want the customer back help them.

If company politics is the reason you lost out, it’s hard to fight that.

[vmc1161]

I once lost a long time customer of nine years. The new company under bid me by over three grand on an eight grand service maintenance contract. My material cost was over four grand. When I asked the customer why they said he was less period. When I was sure, they would not change their minds I showed him my cost and our normal hours on the job. He said that means there is no way they can make money, and I said you are correct. Well we will stay with them for a year and then if they raise there price we will call you. Well they charged him for "uncovered items" and only two filter changes instead of four. Seems they should have read his contract a little closer. At the end of the first year, they doubled their price. He called me back and asked if I wanted to bid against them and be "competitive" NO THANKS

[drivewizard]

Originally posted by frozensolid
I agree customers do not leave for pennies. Even when larger amounts are at hand, an eight-year relationship does not die easy.

That leaves Politics or Poor Service as viable culprits. Poor Service comes from complacency, and the “you need me more than I need you” attitude that some companies and mechanics develop.

If you want the customer back help them.

If company politics is the reason you lost out, it’s hard to fight that.

I disagree, customers WILL leave over pennies. We are living in the world of bean counters. Very few purchasing agents listen to their maint. dept when it comes to decisions like this. After all that is how Purch. agents usually make their bonuses, on how much money they save the Company.
We provided exceptional service to this customer, chiller ran 24/7 every day except July 4 and Christmas eve and Christmas day, when we would do our inspections/maint.
Never had an unscheduled shutdown due to a problem with chiller in 8 years. Serves a process facility.
Now, did our salesman neglect to visit customer, and relay the benefits of our service to the people controlling the purse strings? That is highly possible.

I know it wasn't a question about past service, as we keep notepads in control panel of all service completed, dates, start, hours, description of work and why.

Unfortuneatly, bean counters are the way of the future.
Luckily it wasn't a high dollar contract, we only went twice a year, but when you take care of a piece of equip for that long you kind of get attached to it.
Probably a good thing I don't have any daughters!! They would never leave the house. LOL.