How Fred Got Back A $48,000 Account

One of Fred's regular customers, ADM Chemical, started ordering fewer and fewer pallets and within two weeks they had stopped ordering completely. He got in his pickup and drove by their plant one day and low and behold there it was - recycled pallets where Fred's pallets used to be.

Fred called the purchasing agent at ADM who told him that they had switched to recycled pallets because they were half the price of the new ones. The purchasing agent also told Fred that his pallets were of far better quality and would like to keep doing business with him, but ADM had to cut costs wherever possible.

Fred remembered an article on recycling that Clarence wrote, and decided to give him a call and talk about how to regain the lost account. Clarence asked if there were any used pallets around. Fred said yes and Clarence suggested that he look into getting a band saw dismantler and a trim saw to reclaim deck boards from the used pallets.

Clarence suggested that Fred could use the reclaimed deck boards and new runners to build a combo pallet. Fred figured that he could sell the combo pallet for two dollars less than a new one, building it on his Bronco, but still two dollars higher than ADM was paying for the recycled pallet.

He went to the purchasing agent who agreed that the quality of the combo pallet was worth the money, and ADM would still be saving two dollars per pallet. Fred regained the account.

For a lease payment expense of about $300 per month, Fred was able to regain a major account that brought in $48,000 per month!