I have an opportunity to bid on a real nice chemical order against Zep. Problem is this is a car rental agency and they use a lot of items other than soap. Things like windshiels washer fluid with antifreeze, deororizer, general protectant, and glass cleaner. Anyone know of a general supplier that carries these items? Most carwash soap manufacturers don't carry these. Thanks in advance.
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competing with Zep
- Thread starter mac
- Start date
rph9168
Carwashguy
Mac, I am familiar dealing with rental car agencies. They use a lot of product but want to pay very little. I doubt that it would be worth your while to buy from another supplier and resell to an agency and come out all right. Zep is a manufacturer so they can deal in smaller margins. I would bet that if you came in lower, Zep would come back and match or beat your price.
This is a very good point. When I started in this industry I worked for a large "local" chemical company. When I would get underbid by price matching or cutting to beat my quote after the competitors initial quote I would remind the customer that price matching is not always in their best interest. I gave them the best price I could in the beginning the other company did not. Was this still their best price? Are they giving the best price on other products without competition? If the customer buys from best initial price it creates a more competitive market as they only get one shot! Unless the arrangement/deal is restructered to lower costs to the vender allowing them to lower their price.
This is assuming that quality, delivery, service and such variables are the same. If all things are the same and price is where the customer is basing their decision.
Good luck Mac!
Is there any chance you could work with the buyer and have them issues two bid requests instead of one? One bid would be for the items you carry, the other bid for ones that you don't.
This approach works best when you are working with the account prior to the bid being put out on the street. However, even if you don't win it this time around if you build a relationship with this account you might have a better shot when it comes up for renewal using the two-bid structure.
Then, you get to focus on what you are best at, and don't get dragged into side-show products and business.
This approach works best when you are working with the account prior to the bid being put out on the street. However, even if you don't win it this time around if you build a relationship with this account you might have a better shot when it comes up for renewal using the two-bid structure.
Then, you get to focus on what you are best at, and don't get dragged into side-show products and business.
Thanks for the replys. This is a shot for some serious chemical sales, and we have a good shot at it. The customer is not requesting Zep to rebid it, just for us to see what we can do. Zep has had the business without any competiton for several years and has just got sloppy and lazy. Should be fun.
rph9168
Carwashguy
Mac, Good luck but be ready for Zep to come in and low ball even with out a request for a bid. They are notorious for that. If this is a national rental car chain you might also find out if the local guy can make that decision. In many cases they have a national supply contract or a list of approved vendors.
There are some serious changes afoot in business in general. For instance every Hertz location in the world is now managed by CB RichardEllis. ExxonMobil is now mnanaged by a company called IPT. Local decisions, which could be quite arbitrary, are not local anymore. Could be good or not. At least the changes have opened up the bidding process.