The biggest difference between an everyday metal salesperson/ order taker and a top metals salesperson is that they treat their vendors as well as they treat their customers. They know that they have to treat their vendors well because often times, they need to ask for a better price or delivery in order to win a job.

Consider this. You get a phone call from a buyer you've never talked to before. They have a multi-line quote that will take 30 minutes to put together. Next, you get a phone call from a customer you've talked to for years with a similar quote. Whose RFQ gets worked on first? I can almost guarantee its the customer you know.

You've heard of the importance of CRM - Customer Relationship Management. Well I'm here to tell you that SRM - Supplier Relationship Management, is equally important to your success in winning non-stock orders.

So just how do you accomplish SRM? Well, I strongly recommend that you take notes. When you do a search at MSO and get to a list of suppliers, you'll notice that to the right of each supplier is a link that reads "Edit Contact/ Notes". Here, you can add the name of your favorite contact, along with their specific email address as well as notes about the supplier/ company.

You can also make any supplier a Favorite Supplier, which will force them to the top of the list whenever a search results in that company.

So what kind of notes should you add? Well, basically anything that you learn about the company or person in your dealings with them. What's their favorite sports team? Do they have any kids? Pretty much any tidbit of information that would allow you to quickly re-establish rapport in subsequent contacts.

Because there are over 5000 suppliers in the MSO database, there may well be suppliers you only contact once or twice a year. Having a specific person and possibly some inside information about the person will make it far more likely that your RFQ gets responded to quickly and with favorable price and delivery.

In these days, the faster you respond, the better your chances of winning the job.

Making a price easy to swallow is key for a client. Lets say that you have a client looking for 10 bars of 1095 high carbon round bar - 3/16" diameter. There are few suppliers of this and they generally stock it in coil. That said, there will be setup charges on the coiling line, set up charges on the cut to length and bar straighteners.

The total weight of the stock is only 12 lbs and when you add in all the set ups, you may well end up with a cost of $40-50/ lb! Try marking that up and selling the metal per pound. The customer is going to fall out of his chair.....$75.00 per pound for carbon steel???

Instead, take your total cost, marking it up then divide by the total number of bars, or better yet, by the total footage.

The buyer will be far happier to pay $7.50/ foot for the stock instead of $75.00/ lb.

Its all about appearances sometimes.

HOW you price can make all the difference.

Lets say a client wants some 12L14 in a .203" Diameter +/- .0005" tolerance.

If you add your metal cost plus the grinding from .25" and sell it per pound, the client will fall off their chair.....$28/ LB for 12l14?????

BUT IF YOU TAKE ALL COSTS AND DIVIDE BY THE TOTAL FOOTAGE AND QUOTE $3.50/ FOOT....WELL THAT SOUNDS REASONABLE

"There's more than one way to skin a cat”......always wondered who came up with that one, but I do understand its meaning.

Round bar is not round bar and flat bar is not flat bar.

Round bar can be made from a variety of other shapes by lath turning. Similarly, flat bar can be reproduced by cutting from plate, open die forging or cutting from forged block.

Often times, when we do a live presentation, we bring all attendees a can of Play Dough. We ask folks, “okay, make me a square bar”. Then we ask, “okay, now make a round bar” The results are often pretty comical.....

We do this to communicate that in almost every case, the technology exists to make one form of metal into another.

Pacific Metal Cutting in California can take a round bar and from it, saw cut a square, rectangle or even hex bar from it?

Offenhauser in Houston can take flat sheet or plate and produce a pipe or tube size so beautiful you would swear it can right from the mill.

Timken Boring in Texas can take up to a 30 foot long solid bar and bore an ID to make flawless tubulars.

Braeburn Alloy Steel in Pennsylvania makes some of the most gorgeous square and flat bar in the business – the starting stock? Round bar.

Instead of cutting large rings from plate, many suppliers can produce seamless rolled rings – saving a tremendous amount of scrap and yielding a ring with superior strength.

Now all of this is very interesting however, I would only recommend pursuing something like this if and only if:

1.) The client has deep pockets – aka US Government, military, Fortune 500, etc....

2.) The specification allows it. If the client calls out a pipe spec and you're making the product from plate, no go. If the client calls out flat bar AMS 5645 (321 Stainless in Bars Forgings and Rings) and you are cutting flat bar from plate (which meets AMS5510) .....trouble.

So, work and learn just what can and cannot be done. Its an ace up your sleeve and can win you some very profitable business if you know what you're doing.

The MSO website has a great listing of what we call Service Providers....use it often and let us know if we've missed anyone!

Objective:

Quickly and easily quote non-standard sizes and grades of welded pipe and tube.

Methodology:

1.) Contact a custom tube fabrication shop with the grade, size and quantity required. Ask for fabrication cost and delivery, as well as required input stock - sheet or plate depending on wall thickness.
2.) Source the input stock based on the fabricators requirements
3.) Combine fab and stock prices, plus logistical costs, markup and quote the job.

Considerations:

A.) Be very careful about the specification required on the quote. Only certify to the specifications of the sheet or plate being used, unless the fabricator is offering to certify to a pipe or tube spec.
B.) Be completely transparent with you client about exactly how you are providing the material being quoted. NOT mill produced product.
C.) Be extremely careful to pass along any notes regarding tolerances and specifications as spelled out in the fabricators quote. Include all details in your quotation to your client.
D.) Only go after items where the wall thickness is one that can be sourced in sheet and plate.

Recommended Fabricators > 2” OD:

Offenhauser - Houston (800) 228-4811 - Talk to Russ Dillard - russell@offenhauser.com 
Mach Corporation – Houston (800) 231-6823 Talk to Denise - dsewell@machindustrialgroup.com
RAM Industries – (800) 881-1223 - Although they can work most any alloy, they stock and fabricate lots of Grade 2 titanium. 

Recommended Fabricators < 2” OD:
Tech-Weld  - Chicago – (800) 521-8823
Evans Metals- Los Angeles – (714) 373-2515

The Alchemy blog is a collaborative space where we will discuss how to convert one metal form into another, using the resources available in the US market. If you need a metal form or size that does not exist....and you need less than a mill is willing to sell, with a delivery they can't offer, we can help.

If you need an odd sized tube...welded... we'll talk about the shops who can take flat sheet or plate and roll/ weld/ test to the dimensions and specifications required.

If you need an odd sized pipe....seamless...we'll introduce you to trepanning, boring and honing shops who can take a solid round bar and turn it into the most beautiful pipe you've ever seen....up to 40 feet long.

If you need rectangular parts in a size that nobody stocks, we'll introduce you to a shop who can take round bar and cut rectangles...we'll talk about how rectangles can be cut from plate, flat bar and forged billet.

Bottom line, this blog is about solving problems that you're having in sourcing metals. Most importantly, if you can find a way to source a metal and your competition cannot, then you may well find yourself as the sole source, winning a very profitable job.

To me, alchemy has always been about change....transformation. The common definition speaks to a chemical process that would turn basic iron into gold.

In my mind, we in the metals industry are all alchemists, metaphorically speaking.

This blog is intended for distributors, machine, fabrication, welding and stamping shops, as well as OEM's....anyone who turns metal into gold.

I've been an alchemist for over 40 years and I've learned lots of tricks that I want to share....but I know that others have so many ideas of their own and I hope that you'll share with us here.

LETS GO MAKE SOME GOLD!!