Playing by the rules
07/06/10 11:05 AM
There have been several instances that have come up over the past several years that has really made me ponder some major questions. The point of many of these articles is to not get a true answer, but to make you think about the issues at hand.
The one that keeps coming to mind is this: Who determines the rules that we must play by, and why do some companies get to play by their own rules, while others are held accountable?
While a truly hypothetical question that no direct answer exists for, I do want to expand a little bit on what I am talking about.
For example: several of our competitors in the spoiler business and chrome accessories business sell their product to whomever, whenever, at whatever price they determine is fair. Sounds good to me, sounds like a typical business practice. They sell spoilers direct to car dealers, direct to body shops, and of course to installers. Nobody cares, nobody complains. It is just what they do and people accept that, for whatever reason. However, if we were to do the same thing - we are held to the fire. We are not allowed to sell to those same customer bases. Why is that? Why can one vendor do as they please and another held to a higher standard?
Example 2: Our outside sales person gets a lead on a small used car dealer looking for chrome accessories and spoilers. We visit him, and he informs us that he is buying stripes and graphics from one of our customers. What should we do? Well the rules we are made to live by tell us to refer that prospect back to our installer for these products. The problem is this: we refer back and our installer buys these spoilers and this chrome from these other sources. That worked out well for us! Again we live by one rule, and our customers live by another. We are to be loyal but they can do as they please?
I am not complaining about the rules we live by. I accept those rules and live by them. The real question is this though: Why are the same rules not applied to all your vendors? And even more importantly: why don’t you expect the same rules from yourself? If you expect a vendor to protect you, are you doing everything to protect your vendor?
It is tough to sit back and live by the rules, when the rest of the world around you does as they please.
Doug Jacobs
The one that keeps coming to mind is this: Who determines the rules that we must play by, and why do some companies get to play by their own rules, while others are held accountable?
While a truly hypothetical question that no direct answer exists for, I do want to expand a little bit on what I am talking about.
For example: several of our competitors in the spoiler business and chrome accessories business sell their product to whomever, whenever, at whatever price they determine is fair. Sounds good to me, sounds like a typical business practice. They sell spoilers direct to car dealers, direct to body shops, and of course to installers. Nobody cares, nobody complains. It is just what they do and people accept that, for whatever reason. However, if we were to do the same thing - we are held to the fire. We are not allowed to sell to those same customer bases. Why is that? Why can one vendor do as they please and another held to a higher standard?
Example 2: Our outside sales person gets a lead on a small used car dealer looking for chrome accessories and spoilers. We visit him, and he informs us that he is buying stripes and graphics from one of our customers. What should we do? Well the rules we are made to live by tell us to refer that prospect back to our installer for these products. The problem is this: we refer back and our installer buys these spoilers and this chrome from these other sources. That worked out well for us! Again we live by one rule, and our customers live by another. We are to be loyal but they can do as they please?
I am not complaining about the rules we live by. I accept those rules and live by them. The real question is this though: Why are the same rules not applied to all your vendors? And even more importantly: why don’t you expect the same rules from yourself? If you expect a vendor to protect you, are you doing everything to protect your vendor?
It is tough to sit back and live by the rules, when the rest of the world around you does as they please.
Doug Jacobs