As we’re repeatedly reminded, the UK is finally heading out of recession, albeit slowly. As cashflow becomes more readily available, businesses everywhere have new considerations, particularly when deciding upon cost. Where to spend these new budgets? Everyone knows that paying the absolute cheapest price for something is usually an unwise idea, in the ‘too good to be true’ scenario we were all told as children. Consequently, alarm bells started when I first started my working life and heard the small business mantra of negotiating very hard on everything, from raw materials, uniforms, name badges, right through to tissue paper and water coolers. You might argue that if SMEs didn’t treat their limited funds in this way, they’d get ripped off at every corner, but alternatively, could you cause yourself business relationship problems by squeezing margins so hard?
I‘ve seen many instances of people driving a very hard bargain, only to decide that actually, the company in question couldn’t provide the product cheaply enough and decide to shop elsewhere. A good business decision perhaps? On the surface, it can certainly look that way. I distinctly remember colleagues bounding up to their directors exclaiming how much money they’d saved on a deal they’d done; it goes without saying that we all love to bask in our own glories. But did this devotion to negotiating a cheaper price pay off? Ultimately, were the goods purchased of a lower quality and will this be an issue to haunt the buyer?
Consider the aforementioned scenario but for name badges, and fast forward a paltry four months. How has our name badge fared in its life as a retail name tag? It’s gone from pristine beauty, loving finishing and careful handling, to being abused daily, thrown on the floor, and shoved in the washing machine (to name but a few)…
- It gets ripped off the staff uniform and thrown on the floor
- It doesn’t get ripped off the staff uniform, and instead becomes acquainted with the washing machine on a regular basis
- It gets played with on a daily basis simply due to boredom, and scribbled on in pen
- It has its insert rudely removed and re-inserted week in, week out (in the case of a reusable event name badge!)
- It gets covered in coffee or food during breaks
- It gets left in the car on the dashboard, with the sun blazing down on it for days on end
- Out of boredom, the wearer starts putting his or her cigarettes out using the back (or front) of the name badge
So after these four months, how has the name badge fared in light of this mistreatment? The chances are, not very well. There are marks all over it, the colour is distorted due to the elements, and the glue holding the fastener to the badge is failing. In short, it looks a mess, and most definitely is not something that would give a good impression to a customer. How good will our employee in question look now when they have to go back to their manager and say that of the 200 staff name badges that were purchased at an admittedly amazing price, 75 of them have already broken and need replacing or fixing. The rock bottom price deal doesn’t look like such a clever move now...
This is unfortunately a story that is all too frequent. At BIG we pride ourselves on our manufacturing processes and quality control. When name badges are introduced at BIG, they are subjected to a rigorous 5 day testing process to ensure a high quality name badge is being introduced:
- Frozen to -20 C
- Heated to 65 C
- Exposed to days of direct sunlight
- Daily wear and tear (including being given to children, supervised of course!)
- Suspended in water, just because we can.
What can we learn from this? For your own job (and mental) security, consider the real cost of procurement on items which are handled repeatedly and often mistreated daily!
Gilbert
BIG BADGES
http://www.big.co.uk