Make the Rep Tell You What Your Account Is Worth

The problem in one breath

You've bought off the same branch for nine years. You've never once asked what all that buying is worth to them, and you have no idea whether the shop across town pays less for the same bundle off the same rack.

Why it happens

The rep is a good guy. He picks up, he finds you two pallets on a Friday, and asking him about money feels like questioning a friend. So the price stays whatever it's always been, drifting up a little at a time, and nobody in your shop can say what your buying is actually worth.

The play

1. Walk in knowing one number: what you spent with that supplier last year. Add up last year's statements from that branch — twelve pages, one number. A man who knows his own number has a different conversation than a man who says "a lot."

2. Sit him down once a year and ask the list — the whole list, out loud. How is my price set, and what moves it. What does delivery include, whether you will put it on the roof, and what that costs. What comes back and what a return costs me. When my statement cuts and when it is due. What my account already has that I am not using. And the last one: what would it take to buy better than I do today. We give you the questions. The answers are his — every program, tier, rebate, delivery service and return term is set by that supplier and by the agreement your account sits on, so write down what he tells you instead of trusting what somebody heard.

3. Write his answers where you'll find them next year, then ask the same list somewhere else. One answer is a price. Two answers are a market. You can't tell whether your number is good until a second branch has answered the same question.

4. Price the spread instead of assuming it. Spreading your buying across suppliers is leverage — that's settled in Module 6, Play 12. What nobody has ever done is put a dollar on it. This season, take one real order you're actually placing and get a real second quote on it. Same products, same counts, same delivery day. Write down the gap. Now you know what one branch costs you, and so does he.

5. Keep the two supplier conversations in their own boxes. One is the credit side — your line, your terms, reading each statement to zero once a month. This sitting is the buying side: what you pay, on what program, with what service behind it. Same rep, two different conversations, and mixing them is how an owner ends up grateful for credit and quiet about price.

6. A rebate or a credit is money only when it lands. Whatever he promises you at that sitting, check that it actually showed up when you read the statement you already read every month. Don't start a second paperwork routine to chase it — it either shows up on that page or it didn't happen.

7. Then say the other half out loud, because it's true. The branch that finds you two pallets after a storm is worth more than the last dollar off a bundle. It works the same way as paying a sub crew on the day you said (Module 12, Play 5): you are buying first call, and first call after a hailstorm is worth real money. Push on price. Don't burn the man.

Do this this week

Pull last year's statements from your biggest supplier and add them up. One number, twenty minutes, and you're ready to book the sitting.

The tool

The rep questions is a printable card: the questions down the page, a full blank line under each one for his answer. Take it in, write on it, and file it where you'll find it a year from now. Fill the year's spend in before you walk in. Use the same card at the second supplier so the two pages sit side by side and answer each other. If you want a slot for it, add a line to the slow-month list (Module 14, Play 6) — the phone is quiet and so is his.

THE REP QUESTIONS — one sitting a year, and you write down his answers

Supplier / branch: _______________________  Rep: ________________
Date: __________   What I bought here last year: $ ______________

MY PRICE
  How is my price set today?
  ______________________________________________________________
  What moves it, up or down?
  ______________________________________________________________
  What decides which price a shop gets here?
  ______________________________________________________________

DELIVERY
  What is included, what costs extra?
  ______________________________________________________________
  Will you put it on the roof, and what does that cost?
  ______________________________________________________________
  How much notice do you need for a delivery day and window?
  ______________________________________________________________

WHAT COMES BACK
  What can I return, and how long do I have?
  ______________________________________________________________
  What does a return cost me?
  ______________________________________________________________

THE PAPER
  When does my statement cut, and when is it due?
  ______________________________________________________________
  How do I see what I bought, by job?
  ______________________________________________________________

THE ONE THAT PAYS
  What does my account already have that I am not using?
  ______________________________________________________________
  What would it take to buy better than I do today?
  ______________________________________________________________

Second supplier, same questions, asked on: _____________________
The gap between the two, on one real order: $ __________________

If your crew is 1099

If his crews buy their own material, your volume is smaller than you think — some of that spend is on his account, not yours, and the rep is pricing you off what he actually sees. Know which jobs those are before you quote him a year's number. What that split costs or saves you belongs on the crew-model sheet (Module 12, Play 1), not here.

One more thing: this play is how we run a shop — it's not legal advice. Rules change by state and by contract, so before you act on the legal-sounding parts, run them past your own attorney or accountant. It's your business, and what you do with any of this is your call and your responsibility.