Competitive Points List
Differentiator / Yuletide Office Plus / Staples /Years in business current ownership / 30 years / 21 years
Overall financial strength / Strong – low-risk D&B; good credit- locally owned / Good – med-risk D&B; good credit- publicly traded
Customers served / Average 1500 including national accounts / Unknown – 18.2 billion for 2006- by giving the best pricing?
Key customer segment / Small/Med./large businesses / Fortune 500
Training/
certification / Combined office supply experience of staff over 100 years in business / Primary business is on line, utilize many contracted or pass thru companies- prefer this method over relationship building
Experience/
expertise / Strong customer service, relationship with clients, consistent growth, locally owned, no sub of product unless desired by customer. We want you to call us and ask us questions. / Outsourced customer service, orders mainly thru e-commerce, sub of their branded products where they want. They prefer that everything be handled on line.
Evaluation/trial opportunity / Trial available- Any agreement can be terminated by giving written 30 day notice / Signed purchasing agreement for 3 years with average orders of $150 per order- and term of contract may be extended up to 2 additional years
Warranty/return policy / 90 day no-charge – support free for defective supplies and furniture / Charge for furniture protection plan, some restrictions apply- manufacturers warranty applies for all products sold
Key product/
service difference
/ Guaranteed pricing, any price changes customer is notified at least 30 days in advance. Yuletide is part of the largest buying group in the world. / Cost of goods can increase at any time at the discretion of the supplier without notification. Usually Front door delivery by third party. Pricing on products can change on a daily basis.
It doesn’t surprise me that you’ve talked with STAPLES . They’ve done some good work, but let me tell you how we’d approach your company a bit differently. We specialize in developing office solutions for rapidly growing small, medium and large businesses like yours, while STAPLES focuses more on BIG business. On average they’re working with three or four times as many clients as we are. This means that they have to rely on outsourced customer service and delivery services, which can be less-desirable solutions. They also rely on Staples branded products which may not be the same quality as well known branded products we provide. They discount core items with paper and paper related items pricing only guaranteed for 120 days. They do not discount B and C items of which most companies use. Staples will not provide you with a usage report and evaluation to see where they can save you money on your purchasing- Yuletide will do this report for you to save you money. On contracts, Staples requires an Average size order of $150 per order over a 3-month period and reserves the right to raise pricing if you do not meet the amount. Orders placed by phone to their customer service department do not count toward this order amount. Yuletide wants your business whether its $10 or $5000 per order whether you call, fax, email, or enter on line. Any order for less than $25.00 will not be processed – the customer will be notified that they consolidate the order with another to reduce Staples internal cost. Staples states that they are not obligated to notify you if your order is on backorder or delayed for any reason.
Yuletide realizes that a situation like yours requires more personal attention, for which we’re very willing to work with you. I’d be happy to prepare a detailed analysis of how our service compares to our major competitors on a project such as yours.