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Have you ever had a salesperson suddenly start calling you after two years of silence? No. You know they want their business back. You know they're eager, they're persistent. But the relationship that they're trying to revive, well, they're forgetting one small detail. They're the ones that walked away. First. Today I want to talk about vendor relationships, boundaries and reading the room when it comes to sales. Because sometimes the fastest ways to lose a sale is a try too hard to force one.
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Today's episode is brought to you by Yardbook, the all in one CRM for your lawn care business. And as an exclusive partner of this podcast, you can get started today and begin simplifying your business and maximizing your profits. Sign up now@yardbook.com the link is in. The show notes Time now for Profits with Paycheck, an essential podcast for you in the green industry who are looking to unlock the full potential of your business. Hosted by John Pajak, your certified financial coach, the show features in depth discussions with successful entrepreneurs, thought leaders and industry experts. Providing practical advice and proven strategies on financial planning, operations, marketing and sales. Profits with Paycheck has valuable insights and action steps that you can implement today for creating long term success. Now here's John Pajak.
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Welcome to Profits with Paycheck, the podcast where we talk about business strategies and financial insights for the green industry. I'm your host, John Pajak and today we're going to talk about something that every contractor, operator and business owner deals with and that's suppliers and sales relationships. More specifically, what happens when a supplier disappears on you and then suddenly wants the relationship back. So let me tell you a story that happened to me about two years ago. I had a rep for one of my suppliers that I worked with pretty regularly. And then one day he was gone. He got fired. And listen, that stuff happens and companies change people all the time. But here's the problem. Nobody replaced him. No new rep, no phone call, no follow up. So for two years, I really didn't have contact with that company. Now, when you run a business like ours, with fertilization, weed control, you can't sit around waiting for vendors to figure themselves out. So I did what any business owner would do. I built relationship with other suppliers. I already had other suppliers that were kind of like waiting in the wings. Matter of fact, that company was taking over from some of the suppliers that I had for a long time. But you know, they disappeared. So I went back to the suppliers that would answer their phone and they would deliver the product and they wouldn't disappear, you know, so let's. Let's bring it to today, to right now where we're at. You know, a couple of weeks ago, the new sales rep from this company reaches out and they asked me to lunch, and I'm like, sure, you know, I like their products. So let's. Let's rekindle this thing. You know, it's a really nice guy, good conversation. You know, he wants to rebuild the relationship, and I respect that. But this is where things start to get a little complicated, because we're already deep into preseason planning. You know, I still don't. I mentioned to him that I don't have everything in house yet, but, you know, we're getting. We're just a couple of weeks away from getting started. You know, I've already got some stuff that has been ordered, and my budget is set, you know, and, you know, a lot of the inventory decisions already made. I mean, there's a few things that there's an opportunity for them to be my supplier in, but, you know, I'm looking at some of the pricing and the shipping costs that they're offering, you know, and I'm. They are competitive, but they're not competitive because I could just go down to the local vendor and just pick up the stuff and not pay the shipping on it. Yes, I know I'm investing my time to go get it and whatnot, but, you know, for what it costs me to. To go do this and then still, you know, nurture that relationship, a little bit of FaceTime never hurts. You know, the other company, their pricing and everything doesn't match, and it's still going to be more affordable for me to deal with who's already existing with me. The thing is, you know, the new rep keeps calling, and every time the phone rings, I keep find myself thinking, man, I'm. Is this. This is starting to feel a little pushy now. Understand, I know that the sales reps are doing their job. They're trying to make sales, they're trying to build their territory. But there's a fine line between persistence and pressure. And that's kind of what I want to talk about today. You know, especially for those of us that are in fertilization. We control currently because of the conflict, war with Iran. I don't know what you want to call it, but there are. The transport ships are basically stopped right now. You know, a lot of the. We don't. This happened when the Ukraine and Russian war started back in 22, when, you know, we didn't understand it. At the time, but, you know, started to realize, oh, a lot of our nitrogen, a lot of our raw materials for these fertilizers, they come from overseas. And when that war kicked off, man, that's when the price of everything for related to fertilizer and chemicals went through the roof. And again, this was the year that we had to do multiple price increases. You know, this was the year that I realized, okay, instead of having everything, kind of like, we're going to order it as needed now, it's like in the. We're ordering like years worth of supplies ahead of time to have everything in house. That way we. We fix our prices with the end of. Our prices are locked in. We don't have to worry about it. It's like it doesn't matter if it goes up, you know, $10,000 or whatever it is, you know, our prices can be locked in so that if we made commitments to people, we're good right now, again, we are facing. I don't know, I don't want to say it. It's an embargo, okay? But things are messed up, okay? Let's just put it that way. Let's not put any official terms to these things because this is. This is changing as we speak. But right now, there are tons of cargo ships in the strait just sitting there. They're not moving. You know, this is causing surges. Surge pricing in urea, surge pricing with ammonia. These are the basic building blocks that we have for our fertilizers. So at this point, I could see why he's trying to push more, get the sales in while he can, because prices are going to start changing on a daily basis like they did four years ago. In 2022, if you're ready to get
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free for 30 days when you use promo code. PayJack, let's bring this back in here. You know, when it Comes to these relationships, though, this is where the relationships matter a bit more than pricing at times. Now, in the green industry, we buy a lot of stuff. We buy fertilizers, chemicals, equipment parts. And most of those products are available for multiple, multiple suppliers. So what makes a difference? What makes me want to buy from one than the other? It's the relationship. And again, when a supplier kind of disappears for two years, that relationship weakens. Somebody had to take their place, you know, and that trust takes time to rebuild. You know, you can't expect someone to immediately jump back in just because a new rep shows up. And if you start to think about the way I'm describing this, this is not only business to business for, you know, an operator. Your business is dealing with a vendor or supplier. This also relates to, you know, your. Your clients as well. You know, what happens if you don't, you know, you. You disappear on somebody, and then all of a sudden, you show back up. Maybe a season goes by, two seasons go by, you know, and then you just show back up and you're like, hey, it's great to see you again, Tom. We're gonna. We're starting up this season. And, you know, you're on board, right? Well, it's like, no, what happened to you? You know, you didn't talk to us. You just disappeared. You know, do you expect that client to really just jump on board? It's like, no, they probably already have somebody else. So, you know, you start to look at it through that lens, it's like, oh, yeah, I get it now. You know, and this is where, you know, a lot of times salespeople need to learn to read the room. You know, the big list this is. There's a big lesson for anybody that's in sales. If someone is interested in doing business with you, they will talk to you. But if someone keeps avoiding your calls, that's a signal. You know, maybe the timing isn't right. Maybe they're already committed to another vendor. Maybe they just don't like the cut of your jib. I don't know what it is, okay? But sometimes the best move is to slow down the pressure and build the relationship first. That I understand. You still have to communicate with people, but, you know, the more you push, the more resistance you create. And, you know, I. I'm just kind of dissecting this because, you know, I had a discussion with my guy today, and I was not exactly thrilled to, you know, that he called me at the time. He did. I already had a lot of things on My mind. And obviously that's a personal thing. That's not like he did anything wrong. He didn't do anything wrong. He's just following up. He's doing his job. He's doing his due diligence. But at the same time, I think after a couple, you know, text messages and a couple phone calls and the fact that I did not respond to an email, I would say that, hey, maybe, you know, maybe just chill a little bit. On the other hand, maybe it's on me because, you know, business owners need to be honest too. You know, this is, and this is where I'll take responsibility. As a business owner, as a just a generally good human being, we need to also be direct. You know, we, we, we can't always worry about people's feelings. You know, I'm thinking about it right now, like, instead of letting the phone ring and getting annoyed, something sometimes, you know, maybe the best thing I should have said was like, hey, I appreciate you reaching out, but, you know, right now we already have our suppliers locked in for the season. That doesn't burn a bridge. It actually keeps the relationship professional and it tells the salesperson exactly where they stand. It's like, hey, you guys need to get a hold of me earlier. You can't call me three weeks before the season starts and expect me to give you all my business. Maybe now that you're back on the map and I know that I have a contact with you now, it's like, okay, well, maybe going into next season, if you keep me up to date on like, pricing and the materials that you offer, you know, then, then, then maybe we could do business. You know, it's kind of hard when you, when you also, you. You know, like, for our company, we, we have our fertilizers custom made for us. You know, they're, they're blended for us. Very specific. Nobody else in my area has what, what, what? Nobody else has what I have because I had it specially made. So it's kind of hard for that rep to even try to offer me something because, you know, they're offering me pretty standard things like, oh, it's a 2804 mix. Okay, well, that's great. What about this? Does it have this in it? Does it have this? Oh, no, that's because it's a standard mix. I have mine custom told for us. But, you know, the thing is, the reality of the situation is I'm not against doing business with this company again. But, you know, trust and consistency, they do matter. When my, my previous rep was Fired, the company left a two year gap in the relationship. And that matters, you know, because just because there's a new salesperson now doesn't mean that I'm going to jump over the vendors who've been showing up for me consistently. Business relationships work both ways. So if you take anything from this episode, remember these three things. You know, loyalty is earned through consistency. Suppliers who show up every year, year after year, were will almost always win the business. Two, sales pressure can backfire on you. You know, persistence is good, but desperation pushes people away. And three, having clear communication solves a lot of problems because sometimes a simple honest conversation will prevent frustration on both sides. And that's where I got to get better at. I'm going to give this guy a call back and just let him know that I'm going to send in a very small order with them. But for the bulk of our vendor, excuse me, for the bulk of our materials that we need for this season, we are going to continue to use the vendors that have been there the past couple years. So anyway, just to kind of close this out, you know, if you look at this vendor, you know, the relationships that you have with your vendors are a lot like customer relationships. You know, again, these are built on trust, consistency and respect for each other's time. And if a supplier disappears for years, they shouldn't expect the relationship to instantly pick up where it left off. And if you're a business owner dealing with a pushy sales rep or, you know, a lot of times the best move is to simply just be honest about where things stand. Because good business relationships aren't forced, they're built. This is the same thing with your customers. You know, you got to make sure that you're communicating with them on a regular basis. If you do have a gap or a failure to communicate, you, I don't know, I don't think you should expect everybody to be so gung ho when like say the next season starts. Like let's say the previous season, you flaked off in the, at the end of the year and they didn't see you or didn't hear from you, didn't hear from you over the off season. And then it's springtime and you're ready to go and you're like, hey, by the way, we're going to get started. They're like, well, where were you? What happened? I haven't heard from you in like six months. So, you know, we didn't know, so we went with somebody else. You know, that could happen. But Anyway, I just want you to understand that, you know, this is something that I'm just walking through and talking to. But consistency goes a long way. Dependability goes a long way. So just keep those things in mind. But as always, I thank you for listening. God Bless. Keep pushing through and we'll catch you on the next one. Thank you once again for listening. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave a review and share it with fellow business owners. Your support means the world to me and helps keep the show going strong. I want to give a special shout out to our friends at Yardbook. Their continued support has been instrumental in bringing this podcast to you week after week. If you haven't checked them out yet, visit yardbook.com and see how they can give you the dream tools to streamline and manage your lawn care business. Also, don't forget to explore the resources and upcoming events that I've collected just for you in the show Notes. These are curated to help you stay ahead in your business with the latest tips, tools and networking opportunities. Whether it's a new tool, an insightful article, or an event you don't want to miss, I've got you covered. Until next time, keep pushing through and God bless.