Skip to main content

The road to success: do we really have to get worse at everything?

Last week I had a conversation with a customer that left me speechless. Our sales department asked me to speak to a customer on the phone who doesn’t buy from us because we supposedly supply end customers.

No problem, I thought. I called and explained that this is exactly what we don’t do, and that this is a key promise to our dealers. There are extremely rare exceptions,  – only if a vendor forces us to, or a retailer explicitly asks us to. But that almost never happens.

Then it turned out that there was a misunderstanding: the customer said that we also supply small retailers. My answer: »Yes, we do and we have to, based on our contracts with the vendors. Our competitors do that too.«

»All correct«, I hear, but then it got exciting: »Your large competitors are not interested in small customers, so they are poorly served. At Jarltech, the small dealers feel comfortable because you provide a great service.«

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry ... A customer doesn’t buy from us because our service is too good? I hadn’t expected that.

But don't worry, contrary to the headline: We will continue to endeavour to offer every customer the best service we can!