[HN Gopher] We don't have unprofitable customers, just unhappy a...
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       We don't have unprofitable customers, just unhappy accidents (2019)
        
       Author : mostlyghostly
       Score  : 36 points
       Date   : 2021-07-03 16:52 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (jansanity.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (jansanity.com)
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Discussed at the time:
       | 
       |  _We don't have unprofitable customers, just unhappy accidents_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20069301 - June 2019 (16
       | comments)
        
         | adt2bt wrote:
         | Curious, do you look these up manually or have a script
         | generate these comments for you? Thanks for all you do dang.
        
       | asdfasgasdgasdg wrote:
       | Am I wrong to think, "It's hard to put lipstick on a pig?" Sales
       | can do something, but there's no substitute for actually
       | _bringing_ some unique value. Many companies _are_ middle tier
       | suppliers and are replaceable. No amount of sweet talking is
       | going to change that. Maybe this advice is only for those
       | companies that are in that top echelon.
        
         | vladmk wrote:
         | Not entirely, however if sales does a good enough job they can
         | give you a lay of the land so you know how to become unique.
        
       | edgeform wrote:
       | Interesting to apply this to the logistics industry, specifically
       | with freight movement costs. A company might use Joe's Trucking
       | for 80% of their shipping needs, but Joe doesn't have trucks that
       | can take a last second shipment to an important customer. So the
       | company calls Hank's Trucking, who specializes in those last
       | second fulfillment.
       | 
       | Both Joe and Hank enjoy the account because both fall into the
       | upper-right quadrant in the article: they're tuned to keep the
       | company's account high margin, and the "drop size" (volume of
       | shipments in this instance) works fine for both outfits. Joe
       | wouldn't want to only do two moves a week for the company, and
       | Hank wouldn't want to do 50.
        
         | tonyedgecombe wrote:
         | Distribution is a low margin business. I suspect the attitudes
         | and practices that help you thrive in that environment would
         | push people like Hank away.
        
           | huggybear wrote:
           | Interestingly there're actually decent margins in some areas
           | for vendors that provide extra value like in the example. For
           | instance, FedEx provides logistics services for manufacturers
           | and will manage inventory across various regions to make sure
           | your UK warehouse doesn't end up with a stockpile of unsold
           | goods while your US warehouse has a shortage. No idea how
           | good a job they do but I know it's a service they will
           | provide on top of distribution for a significant fee.
        
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       (page generated 2021-07-03 23:01 UTC)