An old employee of mine called me yesterday to buy some parts. Of course once he found out I was out of the business he expected me to give him huge discounts on everything, drop everythign I was doing to email him itemized pricing on what I had so he could pick and choose the best deals, and have it all done before lunch time.
I told him to come by and pick what he wanted and I'd give him good prices on it, but I wasn't going to stop doing what I was doing to do all that when I had other work to do.
Never heard back. LOL. If he had actually come by I'd have probably sold him everything he needed for half what it will cost him to buy retail.
I totally get the correlation. Some what the same as a story I heard many years ago.
==================================================================================== Two plastic surgeons walk into a bar. The one says to the other "So how much do you get for a nose job??" The other replies "I charge $1,500!!" The next day the first doctor raises his price to $1,500.
Two alarm dealers walk into a bar. The one says the other "So how much do you get for an alarm system??" The other replies "I charge $1,500!!" The next day the first dealer lowers his price to $1,500. ===================================================================================
A lot of alarm guys loose sight of the cost of things and the fact they are in business to make money.
So, I take it that you did not include the inventory to the outfit that bought the customer base?? I hope it is not too significant.
I totally get the correlation. Some what the same as a story I heard many years ago.
==================================================================================== Two plastic surgeons walk into a bar. The one says to the other "So how much do you get for a nose job??" The other replies "I charge $1,500!!" The next day the first doctor raises his price to $1,500.
Two alarm dealers walk into a bar. The one says the other "So how much do you get for an alarm system??" The other replies "I charge $1,500!!" The next day the first dealer lowers his price to $1,500. ===================================================================================
A lot of alarm guys loose sight of the cost of things and the fact they are in business to make money.
So, I take it that you did not include the inventory to the outfit that bought the customer base?? I hope it is not too significant.
Have a good weekend.
Les
====================
I've been streamlining inventory for a couple years. December 2015 when I decided I was getting out buyer or no buyer I really started cutting stuff to the bone. I threw away tens of thousands of dollars of equipment and filled my dumpster several times in the last year. I tried to finish up with just what I might use myself in the next couple years, but I do still have several thousand dollars worth of equipment. I've tried to compact it into smaller storage areas with better organization, but I still begrudge the space it takes on the shelves. I've got several projects going. One of which is an upstairs storage area on top of the office in my shop. It will all get moved up there eventually, so that all of the main floor space of the warehouse can be dedicated to the machining business.
I have cameras, DVRs, and NVRs I will use and of course plenty of alarm parts. I don't really care if I sell any of it or not at this point. I'm out. I'd have helped Mario out, but when he wanted me to stop what I was doing (several thousand dollars worth of machine work) to sell him a few hundred dollars worth of parts I put my foot down. Its just not worth it.
Guys like that .... the thought of something for "free" eats at them till t hey can't resist going back for another try.
Probably to a fault now, I hardly ever look at the price of what I'm buying . My prices have reached a point that a few dollars more or less for parts doesn't affect the bottom line that much.
But ....... some people get fixated on reducing the cost of material rather than increasing their profit by asking for more money and risking loss of the job. They buy into the fact that the lowest price always gets the job. Granted.... it's a fine line, and takes a degree of salesmanship, but my r eferrals are so strong at this point, some people don't even ask how much i t's going to cost because they know that they're going to get the best job from me as compared to the poor workmanship of others they have dealt with. They know that what I install is just what they wanted and that I'll back it.
And since I such a nice guy ..... how can they resist ?
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