The Early Days....

“In the early days when we all wore many hats Glenn , Phil, and I were working to win business from Bombardier. We secured a proto type order from Bombardier for a tarpaulin for the 2 1/2 ton truck. Money was tight, so even the $1600.00 dollars that was on our receivables list and due in 30 days looked appealing to chase down. Then we could eat the next week. When Glenn and I sat down and discussed it,we concluded that we should let it age as much as possible and we could use this to negotiate better terms on future requirements. So it sat for a few months and we did not chase them for the overdue receivable. Subsequently they gave us another order , which we fabricated and Bombardier required the parts themselves so they could ship completed trucks to the government and get them on their own receivables list.

We also knew that Bombardier had been given a large advance from the Government to kick start the whole project . I think it was $350 million .

Glenn had built a good relationship with the buyer whose name was Luc Goyette, and we did not want to disturb that over money issues. So I played the bad guy and had to put Bombardier on credit hold because the first invoice was long overdue, and I wanted to know if this was going to happen on future large releases.What could they do for us because I was not allowing the shipment to be sent.

Glenn re-negotiated the terms with Mr. Goyette to give them 2% Net 10 days and everyone was happy and we were on the map.

One of our early business lessons on how to use "The Good Guy Bad Guy" approach.” – Al Richard