work ethics question

[Jeffro]

ok here is my lil story:

i work as a marine electric salesman. i sell electrical to companies involved in shipbuilding and ship repair and some oilfield work. ok long story short. my dad works for this shipyard, starts with a B ends with an ollinger i'm sure some of yall know the name. anyways he is a foreman so he really doesn't buy stuff from me, but his purchasing agent just started giving my company a chance to pick up business and be their supplier. i took over the job of handling their account. the other day the guy calls asking for some circuit breakers, he bought them for $395 each 3 months ago, but now MY cost is $795 each, once again that is my cost, not my sell... so i didn't want to look like a jackass and i quoted him my cost just at a showing of good will. he calls back an hour later and says "ill take 8 of them" so thats a $6,360.00 sale. Buuuuttt i have a super top secret source that offered me these same breakers at $365 each so i bought them from this company and sold them @ $795 to the other company. Therefore i incur a $3440.00 profit.

Ok, let me ask... should i have not jooged him that bad? lol. I mean it is my dad's workplace and he knows my dad also. but at the same time, i feel that its not personal its business and if he woulda called any other distributor he would of probably wound up paying MORE for the item b/c i technically sold them at book cost which nobody will ever sell at b/c they have to make a profit.
any opinions?

i know this was a lil winded but it was on my mind lol.

oh and i also got major kudos from my boss for such a high profit margin

[The_Needle]

No, a sale is a sale. Caveat emptor.

[Jeffro]

ahhh capitalism at its best

[Mobojo]

ahhh capitalism at its best

+1

[BlackArrow]

Jeffro. No issue. That is the way business works. Period.

What would you have done if upon hanging up with him you found out that the price was really $1,000 not $795? Would you have eaten the loss or called him back and asked for the higher price?

[Jeffro]

depends on how good a customer it is. in this case i would of aten the loss.

[ViTO]

The next time they purchase....

Make sure you offer a < small > small discount because of your Dad and their past quantity purchase !!
Your customer will LOVE YOU !!

your boss will understand that your building a GREAT customer relationship.

You have the upper-hand, use it wisely.

Maintain the relationship first. ITS IMPORTANT !!
Then you can treat them like crack whores later....ohhhh did I say that out loud

ViTO

[Apache Warrior]

I am glad I am not one of Vito's customers.
Apache

[Duke{CLR}]

It's a free market Jeffro so iot sound fair to me. I heard on the radio yesterday that 20% of your customers will give you 80% of you revenue so by taking care of them next time you will keep them around.

[Jeffro]

yeah i actually took care of him later on this afternoon he wants some shipboard cable... only put 10% on top of my cost... thats cheap coming from me

[mapes]

Well I think everything is fair...However are those breakers you sold him the same ones....Are you sure. will they be covered by warranty? If they aint then you gouged him. Other wise everything is cool

[33milk33]

that's business i think. if u not making money out of him, some1 will. it's just matter of how much. and this is the fun part. making them pay as much as they can without feeling hurt. hehe

[Jeffro]

Well I think everything is fair...However are those breakers you sold him the same ones....Are you sure. will they be covered by warranty? If they aint then you gouged him. Other wise everything is cool

great question mapes... in this industry you really have to watch who you are buying from, counterfit breakers are a big problem if your not buying direct from the manufacture (cutler hammer). but yes they are the same ones, we have established business with this breaker distributor for bout 5-7 years now and they are on our approved list of certified and warranted breakers.

[-IRC-MIKE]

Boy, they sure as hell are proud of their breakers, aren't they?

[Jeffro]

circuit breaker market is absurdly overpriced. mike thats funny you say that though b/c when i'm on the phone with a client and they are like "man thats high" i'm like "yeah the manufacturer sure does love their product" lol.

Also another reason of being so high, is that they going on ships. everything in this market is expensive as crap just b/c it has to be coast guard approved and all that.