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Anyone ever experience this type of behavior?

Topics relating to managing people and relationships
D

Deleted85763

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Recently a company that I know emailed me saying they had a sale on some inventory and if I knew of anyone who would be interested. I emailed another company and the owner said he would definitely buy it at a certain amount and would pay me a commission that would be part of this amount. He didn't know what percentage of the total ($12 per unit) my commission would be at that point. He said "I'm a man of my word.". I told him I would email him what we discussed, along with my exact commission amount, which I would disclose as $2 per unit, and he agreed. The next day he emails me back and says "I'm not doing this transaction. You're commission is outrageous."

So this person agreed to buy the inventory at a definite amount but then when it's in writing and he know what the amount of my commission is he changes his mind. Has anyone experienced this kind of behavior? I'm sure he would have gladly went ahead and paid the full amount without issue, $12 per unit, but because he knows I'm making $2 that's a deal breaker for him. What a dishonest, jealous jerk. Anyone else agree?
 
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Johnny boy

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Don't tell people how much money you're making if they are the ones you are profiting from.

I tell my customers.

"We will do XYZ service for your lawn every other week and it will cost $140 a month plus tax for 12 months"

I don't tell them

"If you calculate the 140x12 and divide that over the 20 scheduled visits we will be getting paid $84 a visit and we will be here for 20 minutes, which comes out to an effective rate of $252 an hour to mow your lawn, and we pay our employees each around $19 an hour. I will be getting a haircut and going shopping today and then sitting out on my dock at my lake house drinking mojitos while my employees work and I get all the profit, sign here nerd".

There is 0 reason to tell him anything other than the sale price. Now you have learned a lesson. Optics matter. Disclose what is necessary and ignore what is not. You may even want to tell them a different commission percentage to disarm their imagination.
 

hexelbyte

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I have seen this alot:

A) Person makes $1, everyone else makes $0.
B) Person makes $10, everyone else makes $2.

Your guy would rather go with option A rather than B.

That's how stingy and selfish they are.
Take note of that kind of personality.
 

steve schweitzer

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Hello, I agree with JohnnyBoy, you approached this totally wrong. You NEVER tell the customer anything but the price they are going to have to pay. It is absolutely none of the customers business what your profit percentages are. If they do not see the value in your product or service, at the price you set, then either you have done a very poor job in presenting the sale and asking for the order or they are just not you customer anyway.
 
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Jon L

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I've seen this but in a situation where the guy knew what I was going to get because he was a partner in the company. The situation:

The guy: developer of a piece of software
His partner: along for the ride, essentially
Me: Re-developer of software so it would work on the web and would look like professional software instead of the 'it works but is ugly as hell' version The Guy wrote.
Money guy / CEO: leader of the group.

Money guy was going to get 51% of the company
The Guy was going to split 40% with his partner
I was to get 10% + development fees

The guy refused to do the deal because he thought it was outrageous that I was to get 10% of the company + development fees. The 10% was so that I would be more dedicated to the project than if I were just the developer.
So, instead of getting 20% of a company for doing not much more work than he'd already done, he ended up with 100% of nothing.

Some people let their emotions get in the way of good business.
 
D

Deleted85763

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Don't tell people how much money you're making if they are the ones you are profiting from.

I tell my customers.

"We will do XYZ service for your lawn every other week and it will cost $140 a month plus tax for 12 months"

I don't tell them

"If you calculate the 140x12 and divide that over the 20 scheduled visits we will be getting paid $84 a visit and we will be here for 20 minutes, which comes out to an effective rate of $252 an hour to mow your lawn, and we pay our employees each around $19 an hour. I will be getting a haircut and going shopping today and then sitting out on my dock at my lake house drinking mojitos while my employees work and I get all the profit, sign here nerd".

There is 0 reason to tell him anything other than the sale price. Now you have learned a lesson. Optics matter. Disclose what is necessary and ignore what is not. You may even want to tell them a different commission percentage to disarm their imagination.
Thanks. Well, I'm glad others understand and have experienced such behavior. I was really mad. Or rather really hurt because the guy was very likable, said the right things and had owned the company for many years. I'll never trust anyone when they say "I'm a man of my word" or anything like that.


Don't tell people how much money you're making if they are the ones you are profiting from.

I tell my customers.

"We will do XYZ service for your lawn every other week and it will cost $140 a month plus tax for 12 months"

I don't tell them

"If you calculate the 140x12 and divide that over the 20 scheduled visits we will be getting paid $84 a visit and we will be here for 20 minutes, which comes out to an effective rate of $252 an hour to mow your lawn, and we pay our employees each around $19 an hour. I will be getting a haircut and going shopping today and then sitting out on my dock at my lake house drinking mojitos while my employees work and I get all the profit, sign here nerd".

There is 0 reason to tell him anything other than the sale price. Now you have learned a lesson. Optics matter. Disclose what is necessary and ignore what is not. You may even want to tell them a different commission percentage to disarm their imagination.
 

Johnny boy

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Thanks. Well, I'm glad others understand and have experienced such behavior. I was really mad. Or rather really hurt because the guy was very likable, said the right things and had owned the company for many years. I'll never trust anyone when they say "I'm a man of my word" or anything like that.
pro tip

people that tell you anything about their personality are the opposite 80% of the time

"I am a very honest person"

"I'm a man of my word"

"I am low maintenance"

"I hate drama"

Also, people that appeal to sympathy or religion are almost always full of shit.

"God bless. Thank you for the opportunity"

"Nobody gives me a chance and I am trying to turn things around"

You are not caption save-a-ho. Let them be someone else's headache. Business is hard enough, don't make it harder by dealing with awful people who will slow you down at best and at worst pull you backwards.
 
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Kak

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pro tip

people that tell you anything about their personality are the opposite 80% of the time

"I am a very honest person"

"I'm a man of my word"

"I am low maintenance"

"I hate drama"

Also, people that appeal to sympathy or religion are almost always full of shit.

"God bless. Thank you for the opportunity"

"Nobody gives me a chance and I am trying to turn things around"

You are not caption save-a-ho. Let them be someone else's headache. Business is hard enough, don't make it harder by dealing with awful people who will slow you down at best and at worst pull you backwards.
Dude, you are absolutely killing it lately.
 

steve schweitzer

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pro tip

people that tell you anything about their personality are the opposite 80% of the time

"I am a very honest person"

"I'm a man of my word"

"I am low maintenance"

"I hate drama"

Also, people that appeal to sympathy or religion are almost always full of shit.

"God bless. Thank you for the opportunity"

"Nobody gives me a chance and I am trying to turn things around"

You are not caption save-a-ho. Let them be someone else's headache. Business is hard enough, don't make it harder by dealing with awful people who will slow you down at best and at worst pull you backwards.
how true
 

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