Critical Chain - Eliyahu M. Goldratt [73]
He thinks about it, and then declines. "A lot can happen in ten days."
"Suppose they give you notice ten days before they plan to ship it. Then, three days before. And then a day before. That way you could comfortably plan your work."
"I don't know," he says.
"What about another six percent for this service. It would triple your profit on this job. Why won't you add this option to your proposal? One of the major criteria to choose a winner is vendor responsiveness. Be more responsive, for a price of course."
"Fine, I'll add it." He turns to Roger. "When do you want the modified proposal?"
"Wait," I interrupt. "There is one more thing."
"What is it?" he manages not to snarl.
"You want to know, in advance, what is coming your way."
"Without it, forget it."
"Forget what?" Roger aggressively asks.
"If you don't give me the notices, as we discussed, forget it. I'm not going to give first priority to the small mold. No matter how much you want to pay."
Before Roger has the opportunity to mess it all up, I step in. "You are right," I pacify the coat-man. "To run your business properly, you must have a clear idea of what's coming your way. So does Roger."
"What do you mean?"
"When you deliver the coated molds," I explain, "that's not the end of the story. There is a lot of work that depends on them. Roger's company needs to get advance notice from you when to expect each mold back."
"Four weeks. I told you."
"A lot can happen in four weeks," I flatly repeat his phrase. "Besides, on the small mold, we do expect to get it in less than four weeks."
"I see." He thinks it over. "Once a week. That's all I can do. I'm not going to turn my place into a paper nightmare. Once a week is all I can do." He turns back to Roger. "When do you want the modified proposal?"
"I don't want it," Roger flatly says. "Why waste my time. Let's finalize this deal now."
Less than ten minutes later, a happy salesman walks out.
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it," Roger says. "A vendor who doesn't insist on dates? What a dummy."
A teacher is supposed to like his students. But with some students it's mission impossible. "Why call him a dummy?" I'm impatient with him. "Do you think that he should care, now, in January, if the work will be at the beginning of March or at the end?" Then I add, "At this stage, negotiation is on lead time. Not on date. That's always the case. Your problem is that once you agree on lead time, in those rare cases you bother to argue about it, then you yourself force the date. It's not the vendor, it's you."
I cannot stop myself from adding, "And as you noticed, if you talk the vendor's language, there is no problem. The vendor is willing to commit to much shorter lead times, for money."
"One swallow doesn't yet mean it's spring," he plays it down. Then he grins. "But I must admit, just for you I picked the most conservative vendor I know."
I control my desire to punch him and instead remark, "He can't be so conservative if they use the latest technology."
"They don't. But they have some real experts, some real meisters."
I want to leave, but I have a problem. I know Roger just wanted to humiliate me, to show that I'm full of hot air. I won, but Roger will never admit it to the class. That's why we agreed that if I succeeded in moving the vendor to modify his proposal, I would get copies of the original and modified proposals. That way I could show the class a real case demonstrating that a vendor can be persuaded to trade lead time for money, and that a vendor does not insist on exact starting times, and definitely not on a delivery date.
But now there will be no modified proposal.
"Tell me, Roger, how come you actually agreed to pay more? Where are you going to get the additional budget?"
He shrugs. "I've been in this business for a long time. I have my cushions."
"And top management? Will they agree?" I try to