Several years ago I was coaching a team on negotiating skills. Their company manufactured assembly machines and the average ticket was over 600K. One day, one of their key clients called them and asked for the blueprints to one of the machines they were manufacturing. Dave, the sales rep, knew what that meant: They were shopping around and wanted to give the prints to another vendor to look at. Dave didn’t want to give up the prints, but he kept thinking, “The prints are theirs. They have paid for them. I can’t be selfish”. With painful reluctance, he let go of the prints.
The client was indeed shopping and they went with a cheaper vendor to save a few dollars. It turned out to be a poor choice. The new vendor made promises they were not able to keep. This resulted in scheduling delays and equipment failures. Not only was this costly, they also compromised their reputation. I remember the famous quote from John Ruskin:
“The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of the low price is forgotten”
Dave now admits that he should have challenged their decision to have the blueprints. There were many advantages to keeping the blueprints for both the vendor and the client. Dave didn’t challenge them because he felt he would be coming across as manipulative. In reality, he missed the opportunity to create a “win-win”, and ended up with a “lose-lose”.
This story dies have a happy ending: The client came back, sadder but wiser, and the last I heard they were still working together. My message is this: Believe in your product and yourself and be courageous enough to challenge clients when you see them veering the wrong direction. You will gain respect, save the grief, and increase your profit.
