I do not think this is good behavior from a salesperson, but I’d like to hear you guys’ opinion. First, let me say straight out that I have run a little behind on my food bill. Things were crap for a while, but trying to catch up. I owe my food rep about 5000. I have talked with him and told him I would give him as much as I could every week and I have been doing this. First, they say I have to pay for my order when its delivered, although I understand this, it doesnt make sense not to pay the past beforehand, so anyways, by the time Im done paying every food bill that comes in and trying to catch everything else up, I can only give him about 500 a week. 2 fridays ago I had placed an order for a friday delivery. The truck never showed. As you can imagine, on a Friday this screwed me and Im sure he is aware of that. Fine, so now I have to order from his competitor, who is actually doing a good job and some prices are shockingly lower. So the other day I call my rep to have 2 cases of buns at the marketplace so I can just pick them up. Now, he knew I was expecting to pick them up today, I have no clue that the marketplace is completely closed today and he never bothers to call me back and tell me this. Screwed again. In your opinion, is the guy right in acting this way? What about helping out a little to keep me in business so I can pay him rather that making that harder? I feel so frustrated with the guy right now I feel like not ordering from them once I am caught up. In the meantime who turns down a couple thousand a week for my regular orders which are being paid for when they come in? Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
Kay
The cold hard truth?
Restaurants fail every day. When they do, they often do not pay the bills. The way it starts is they get behind on food invoices. Most that go down this road never make it. Food vendors don’t mess around with the issue because when they do they are the ones that end up loosing. The city, state, feds and your bank all have prior claims when it comes to getting paid.
Additionally, your food rep earns commission. He does not earn commission on bills that are paid late, therefor, he is not getting paid for spending time doing business with you. It really does not suprise me that he does not return calls or do you any favors.
If your business is viable, do business with the new guys and pay your bills on time even if that means borrowing elsewhere. Your vendors are not your bank and forcing them to “loan” you $5000 by paying late is not part of the deal. They have no obligation to “help the little guy” and a $2000 a week account does not really light up their eyes.
Good luck.
i would have to agree with bodegahwy on this i owned a mobile lube co for years the cust. that ran behind and always had me on there pay later list never got there emergency service work done by me… the cust that payed in timely manner i was there 24/7 when we openend our first pizza place we were already to open the doors but were flat broke!!!my supply guy comes and sat down with us figured what we had to have we needed about 2,000 dollars i said can we get some credit for 2 weeks he laughed at us. 
he said you know how many pizza places go belly up the first 3 months .heres what i did i sold my jeep paid the man and paid him every week c.o.d. still doin it this way they have offered me credit but we wont bite on that hook! when were jammed up or run short on something salesman have made special trips to bring us product so it pays to take care of them so they will take care of you !!! my advice would be sell something but get him paid then you can shop around or maybe he will take care of you better if he has a chance to earn a livin .
You owe him $5000. They sure aren’t going to give you more credit (which they haven’t). You haven’t paid for what you’ve ordered under the original terms of your agreement. Honestly, I wouldn’t take a check from you in this situation. You’re a “low volume” store bringing in maybe $300k a year? They already know that $300k leaves room for small profits (if any). You owe that $5k and you need to pay it, but it sounds like the other vendor is offering you better prices. I’m not sure I’d switch back.
The sales guy may not have known the marketplace was closed today or it may not have “clicked” with him. Did you ask him why your friday delivery never came? Have you ever been on a COD basis and not had the funds there to pay when the truck showed? If so, I can sure see why you’re not on his “good” list.
you may be getting better prices, because you are “paying” for your goods…you’d get better prices if you were an honest business person & paid your debts when due…fall behind on the new supplier & see what prices/service you get…how many customers do you give pizza to w/o collecting payment? Sorry, no sympathy here…a sure sign of a failing business…sorry…hope you get-it-2-gether
Reps also have incentives based on % of invoices and sales total outstanding. $5000 in the red is eating away at the guy’s ability to make his living. Not surprised you are not A-1 priority, but no excuse for downright dismissing you. Your past due balance would give me the hives, if it were me . . . another ‘low volume’ store.
When you get that money caught up, you will find a different attitude, I would suspect. Think about a customer who writes a $120 bad check and then never really pays up . . . and the writes another one.
they have you on a “payment plan” = pay for current invoice plus XX amount so you do not get farther behind with them on your account.
As far as not returning your calls =not good on his part = some companies pay sales reps even if the account balance is over due and or inactive
if your new supplier is a lot less money for the same items - call your sales rep to discuss
wow I have NEVER been late on a payment, never been behind, been with the same distributor for 3 years
I average about 2600.00 to 3200.00 a week with them.
I dont even registar on there radar.
I have friday delivery and asked to hold check till mondays so that everything clears…they said
NOPE! they actually get the check and its out of my account at the end of day (think they have automated withdraw)
anyway I think I am going to start price matching every single item for a while and sending my business elsewhere to see if they miss me.
someone should miss a $151,234.00 account that I spent last year
not to mention adding the second store.
There are circumstances, while I do fully agree with everyone that I owe, he owes me no favors. At the same time, I had gone through several break ins, and then wound up having an extremely painful and heartbreaking miscarriage all within a couple of weeks. This was 4 weeks ago. He was fully aware of those situations and when I told him I was going to have to pay him this way it was supposedly fine, no problem, take your time. I have given 2,000 today, plus the 500 that we agreed upon. He is still now telling me that he needs more. My point is, why would you refuse money if somebody owes you? So you wouldn’t deliver to someone that owed you money from a bad check even if they are giving you cash?We had our year end comparison with 2 other franchises in the area. The exact same stores ordering the exact same items, I was charged $2 more a case for garlic butter cups, $5. more for packs of 12" boxes $3. for 16", and the list goes on. These del. are on same days, same order #. Maybe if he was keeping his word about no problem take your time, I would have never had to go to competitor to find out they are cheaper by $13. Bucket of pickles, $1# for bacon, $8. each pack of boxes… I have always paid in a timely fashion also, and I strive to do so now, but there is such a thing as customer service and not trying to “sabotage” when someone is already down.
kahill where are you at? just curiuos
also even if you pay up I would still switch.
no I take that back
I would switch and tell the accounts recievables that you will pay 250.00 a week till the bill is paid off
I would tell him thanks but you have found a BETTER supplier and and will deal with the company accounts to get squared because even if you are in great standing do you really want to get milked like that on the prices?
yeah… i would stop ordering from them immediately. Give them a set amount of money every week.
The savings you get from the new supplier will help.
Could it be that they WANT you to drop them…
I know it sounds crazy but I know salespeople that have purposely tried to push some of their customers away.
Don’t worry about why just do whats best for your biz and pay them back as agreed upon
Good Luck!
you guys fail to understand the bill wasn’t being paid, so the “interest” applied is in higher food prices…
how many of you operators “give” your pies @ a discount, then wait for payment?
I feel little sympathy…as soon as they begin to “stiff” the new supplier, watch the pricing/service level change overnight!
The operator is bringing in $$$ but not paying the bills…a sure sign of business collapse…
I have always paid for my supplies since day one
thats just the way I like it.
when the ship starts sinking its hard to come back
kay I would set up a payment plan and stick to it until you have them payed but do bussiness some where else
Kay, first of all, I’m so sorry to hear about your troubles. I can’t imagine going through that AND trying to run a business. I wish you all the luck in your recovery.
I agree with some of the other posters in that it seems that your current supplier is not looking out for your best interests. The good salespeople are the ones that go the extra mile to build long-lasting relationships; not just all about the numbers. Your loyalty should be based on not only prices, but how much interest your salesperson has in the success of your operation. It’s a Win-Win, but it always amazes me how some salespeople just don’t get it.
Hard times can hit anyone, anywhere. It sounds like at least your not just sweeping it under the rug. Stay on good terms with the new supplier and hopefully they’ll share in your success.