New Opportunity, Help Me Assess The Situation.

pinwheel

Little back story on us first. In the last 15 years, since being self employed, we've remained independent. Never being a designated installer for any other flooring retailers. I have no interest in loosing control of our work scheduling.

We've worked incredibly hard to get the reputation we've got & we work equally hard to maintain that reputation. One of our catch phrases I use sometimes in selling the job, "If you're not happy, we're not done working" and we mean it.

We're in a very rural market & service a 70 mile radius, without overlapping onto another reputable sanding guys territory. Negative reputation has a lot of weight in this area.

Now for the current opportunity. We've been approached by the local Carpet One to be their go to site sand & finish guy. We've already got good name recognition in the area & they're wanting to hook their wagon to our reputation. They've got an excellent location & advertise heavily in the area.

What they're offereing is to put our business name on their scrolling Marquee, signage inside the store. Their sales staff will be our sales staff. We'll be putting sample boards & displays in 2 stores, 70 miles apart.

What we bring to the table is our experience, knowledge & reputation. No financial expenditures, beyond the displays & in store signage. Couple hundred bucks tops. No written contracts from either party, just a gentlemens handshake & verbal agreement.

The financial agreement, they sell the wood to the client & collect for their sales, we do the install & collect from the client. They don't collect for our work, we don't collect for their sales. At this point, any compensation for the leads will be at our discretion. They're not asking for any stake in our work beyond making the sale of the wood to the client. His thinking, if they can get them in the store, based on our referal, then they've got the shot at selling them carpet, tile, vinyl,box cabinets ect. They've got an impressive showroom & good sales force.

Here's my concerns, which I've already expressed to the store manager.

We get too busy to serve our clients in the manner we're accustomed to as a result, Hireing extra help is not something we're overly interested in.

That by the store not tacking $/ft onto our labor for their sales staff, they're going to feel cheated somewhere down the line.

We run a very tight schedule. We put a client on the calendar & rarely deviate from the scheduled start date. Concerened about keeping it that way.

We don't currently have a retail area, when I sell a floor, I bring sampleboards, picture books & product literature to make the sale. I've had good success doing it this way. I get the feeling he's feeling me out for us turning over all leads on wood sales directly to their sales staff. I expressed that I don't feel that's right by us, since our own advertising lead to that lead being generated. We were 70 miles from home yesterday & the lettering on our truck, set an on the spot bid for a sizable job. It's not fair to us, that I turn that lead over to them to make the sale IMO.

I'm sure there's other positive & negatives to this partnership I'm not seeing, so I'd like to hear from you guys some of the things to keep an open eye for.

astor

Looks like you have to give up the profit on the flooring sale for exchange of getting more business, but you said that you are in a tight schedule, can you accommodate more business? If you were having hard time getting leads and work than this would be a opportunity.

I don't know the personality and character of the other party or how long you know them, but since you are selling your own and doing well with the business,I would not bother getting involve with a competitor specially without any written agreement. The sales they make is not the same as you can do. I was in similar positions couple times and I decided not go ahead with. And opened my own store(s) where I get more leads and jobs.Then you can add other flooring options,(I had added European tilt and swing windows,travertine, ipe decking etc.).Once you grow enough to be noticed then you can sell the business with client referral books, assets etc if it was your ultimate goal.
In any case it is your decision, it may turn out good or bad and you have to live with that.
Good luck!

__________________
Featuring Click Leather Floors
http://www.designershardwood.com

MALCO.New.York

Time to create a new and dedicated division to your Business.

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE