Just now a direct competitor of ours called me, because he wishes to buy something from us... that which we have on stock, and that which the manufacturer can only deliver in eight weeks again. My spontaneous answer was: "No". The reasoning behind this was that the same competitor let us down on a similar question not too long ago, and not so much because of strategic thinking.

Several have tried to keep only the top sellers on stock, and to help themselves to the rest from our warehouse. Ok, on the one hand I have enough of the product there. But it could also be the case that the supposed important regular customer (for which my competitor is trying his best to find the goods with us) makes a purchase, thinks Jarltech is really good, and we woo away a good dealer. Or, he cannot find us, the world will come to an end tomorrow, and we will have to sit on our stock forever. Throw into the mix that you undoubtedly meet each other now and again at manufacturers' events, and the colleague ends up spilling his wine on my shoes.

An alternative would have been a sale at "recommended retail price": Jarltech would have earned a great deal on it, and the competition would have paid on top of it. But, tell me, what is the good of gloating versus strategy?