Separating the Wheat from the Chaff!
When iStill started, and someone wanted to buy a distillery, we simply stated how much that would cost and the customer would pay. As we grew and professionalized, we changed that procedure slightly by adding a written Purchase Agreement to it. The bottom-line remained the same though: we got to an oral agreement first and we would then drew up that agreement in writing, that both parties would sign.
Over the last few years, that has changed. Too often it now happens that we agree on a deal and we send the associated Purchase Agreement, only to not get it back signed. We are not talking about people waiting for a grant or subsidies. No, this is about companies that come to a verbal agreement with us. That tell us in words that cannot be misunderstood that they want to order, but that do not follow up by signing the written agreement that goes with that order. It didn't happen in the past. It does happen now.
And since it is weird and we didn't get it, we did some digging. We are people of our word, we expect future customers to honor their word. If part of them doesn't, that's the part we do not want to do business with. Why? Because we learned that if things start out on the wrong foot, they only get worse from there onwards. Instead, let us keep things simple: if we are bound by our word, so is the future customer. Our word is not an inflationary item.
iStill will also not allow its staff to be misused. How that connects to the weird quotation shit that's happening? Well, if we come to that agreement, as explained above, and when we then formalize it into a written contract, we can only do so after putting in a lot of extra hours. Our staff calls with the crating company. The crating company makes calculations and comes with an offer that is then communicated back to us and that my staff now needs to add to the concept Purchase Agreement. Next step? Our staff reaches out to the transport company and they reach out to their partners in order to draw up a quotation. After that? After that we reach out to the insurance company to provide us with a quote, specific to the order, for transport insurance.
Setting up a Purchase Agreement takes one of my staff no less than a day. It costs the crating company half a day to correctly calculate crating costs. Organizing a transport quote takes more time: about a day. Transport insurance goes a bit quicker. The insurance broker usually takes an hour, maybe two.
Do you start to see that a lot of people are putting in a lot of effort? They do so in the understanding that there is a deal forthcoming. They do so in the understanding that they help provide us with the information for a Purchase Agreement that is already agreed upon, as they know us as a company that is true to its word. If our partners are important to us, why should our word to them become an inflationary item? Especially considering that the people that do not follow up on their part of the agreement, the ones causing the inflation, ruin their chances of becoming a customer by lying about their intentions?
To get to the bottom of this awkward behaviour, we picked up the phone and started calling. Here's what we learned. Apparently, some less ethical entrepreneurs desperately try to get their hands on an iStill Purchase Agreement ... because it helps them force other manufacturers to make them a better (read: cheaper) offer. For a minority of bottom-dwellers, the iStill Purchase Agreement provides huge value, as it helps them "extort" tens of thousands of dollars or Euro's worth of discounts out of other suppliers.
Now, we are all for lower prices. And "the greedy bunch" as I fondly call our traditional still manufacturing "competitors", can use some external pricing pressure, for sure. But not at the expense of the iStill staff. Not at the expense of our partners putting in work for nothing. And most definitely not at the expense of our word.
We have successfully experimented with a solution for some time now. And since that solutions works well, we'll implement it into new company policy. Here it is: Purchase Agreements now cost EUR 1.500,-. For the 80% of craft distillers that simply want to buy an iStill: it is a first downpayment. No more, no less. We'll discount it on your follow up invoice, so it doesn't actually cost you money. What it does do? It separates the wheat from the chaff ...
For the 20% chaff out there, that never intended to purchase, but that was trying to take advantage of our low price strategy: please understand that our services are not for free. And neither is our commitment. So take your business elsewhere and do not bother us, as we have better things to do. With real customers.
Effort costs money. A promise is a debt. A customer-supplier relation starts out correctly or it does not start at all. We are in the luxury position to say that. Or maybe we are in that luxury position of calling the shots, because we don't allow for bull crap to come our way.
Our customers can hold us to the highest standards. But only those that want to hold themselves to equally high standards, not for fake-leads that try to scam a manufacturer of more traditional stills out of his (well-earned or not) money. Not on our watch at least. The bottom-dwellers can take their business elsewhere. They will no longer pollute the population. Or if they try to do so anyway, they will at least pay the price for it.
www.iStill.com
