Living Kindfully

When Your Customer Use You as Bargaining Chip

I sat there fuming, angry, and disappointed by the turn of events. My new customer has cancelled their order. They placed their order about a week ago. As I was busy preparing the order, they were using my order as a bargaining chip with their existing vendor. The vendor relented and agreed to go lower than my price. The procurement manager did not even bother to call me, I have to heard this news from her staff. I receive no compensation, as this is an insurance policy. The policy will only start end of the month.

This is the price of doing business. Sometimes, our effort will go unanswered. On media, we see and celebrate the success of businesspersons. We always read about the someone with nothing who created billion dollars business. This is all survivor bias. The media will never mention those has tried and failed. I am just grateful that this is not a business ending incident. We also never see the tears, sleepless nights and frustrations.

Customers using your quote as a bargaining chip is nothing new and it will happen again. You can only be mindful during the interaction with the client. If you sense something is wrong, it is never too late to pull the plug. I was naive, desperate and too trustworthy.

When it happens to you, give 12 hours to feel sorry for yourself. It is okay to feel sad and angry. After 12 hours, pick yourself up and focus on your business goals and family. The door is closed, there is no need to keep knocking on a door that was never meant to open for you. Pick yourself up, work harder and come back stronger.