The samples finally arrived on Thursday this week which will finally let me be able to visit the prospective new clients next week. I have 4 lined up which has taken about three months to get to this point and this is when things tend to pick up in pace.
I would expect to have 3 of the 4 new clients on board by the end of November and possibly all 4. Getting to this point has taken time to negotiate pricing and to understand the various company needs and requirements. One of the 4 contacted us upfront and the savings are huge being around $5K monthly so there should be no problem here even though this is the one that I do not see as a banker and sure thing.
$5K monthly as a saving is massive for one item and experience tells me someone is on the take from this company. I may be wrong and I hope I am wrong so I will be paying careful attention to body language when I visit this company this week. This will not be the buyer because she was the one that reached out so it is someone above her head in the company chain and guess whoever is her direct manager would be the obvious candidate. This one account is worth for my company about $2K monthly so it is business I would like to acquire.
The other 3 companies i have no problem as I already know our quotes were the cheapest and all that needs to happen is to past the quality control test. Getting your foot through the door again takes considerable time and the quoting stage before being asked for a sample stage can take 2 months which is the normal and kind of expected. Very few deals are straight forward and have one of those this week as we deal with their other branch in another province and have been asked to drop in. We know the owner and even thought they are not a huge user of our product they are still worth a good $300 profit in my pocket.
The aim is to try and keep adding to the customer base and growing by adding one or two each month. The 4 or 5 added this week will help grow the business and at least give us a solid foundation for next year. This is why businesses in general take so many years to become established and will only feel comfortable once we pass the 50 customer base mark. This should happen by June next year and only then can I add someone else to my team in Johannesburg which will probably be my son.
This packaging business is regarded as a cash cow and their is no limit to your earning potential and this is what will fund the Portugal move. Thankfully I have been in this business long enough even though we took a sabbatical during covid and only recently started back up again. The Durban branch added the Toyota assembly line to their client list last month after Toyota contacted the factory directly. That one account could retire most of us on the volumes they consume and why I find this industry so enjoyable as you never know what will happen next week.