This has caused John all sorts of stress with customers, especially when he hasn’t been able to complete their jobs as promised. John’s talked to several hardware suppliers. Unfortunately, even though he buys for several jobs at once, his orders are still too small for the suppliers to give him better service.
Over a game of pool one evening, John mentions his frustration to his mate Steve, a fellow plumber. Steve understands completely because he faces the same problems. If only they could place bigger orders…
That’s it, they’ll combine their orders. Not just theirs, but they’ll invite other plumbers to combine theirs too.
They may be competitors, but they share the same goal of getting good supplies. They combine their order for standard parts so they can order enough of each. They agree on who’ll place the orders, when, and how they’ll pay.