NICE!

As for equipment bought elsewhere, we are working on just how to tell the client one of two things, depending on the circumstances:
a)the installation rate will be higher if they have bought the product elsewhere, because sale of product is part of what keeps us in business; if we sell only the installation, we know we cannot guarantee that we will be around when they need service or expansion;
b)if they bought a brand we don't carry somewhere else, we will have to T&M (Time & Material) the installation because we guarantee that we know the pruduct we sell forward and backward, but we cannot make any such guarantee about a product we have never used, that they have only because of selling price.

It is somewhat sad, but I get a sort of irritated satisfaction when they squirm as we gently explain that we do indeed make profit on the products that we sell, but that profit, and the choices of brands that we sell, puts us in a position to know the equipment, so we can design the system and install it more quickly, AND we can guarantee how the system will perform. If we use the product that they have bought, any problem with the components will be handled by them dealing with their source. We will need to charge for the time it takes us to investigate how this product works (since most product has some unique features or quirks). If the system does not perform to their expectations, we cannot do anything about that except at an hourly rate.


McNasty sez: <>

Yup. Hopefully we will all learn to smell the cheese ahead of time so we don't waste a lot of time with such a client. We have been taken by a couple of customers like that, and have avoided a few whopper mistakes by declining to respond.