Yes... the sales people do need to understand things a bit better.  I remember a very large client stopping in my office a few years back.  We had just raised our fee for our current owner search by $5, but kept this client at the old fee because we got a very large volume of work from them and they paid in-full and on time every month.

First, he apologized for what he was about to say (never a good sign), then he told me the story about how they were going to get even busier.  Their sales staff had just landed another major client.  Then, he explained that they had to bid it out far below their normal fee and they would potentially lose money on all the searches they sent to me.  He asked if I would lower my fee by $5. 

I explained that I had just raised our prices, and his remained the same, and that I could not lower our fees.  I tried to explain to him that my examiners needed a raise, their health insurance was going up, E&O had gone up, virtually all of my expenses were higher.  He said he understood and he offered me time to think about it before he was forced to find someone else.

He found someone else, of course, and I lost a major client.  There were actually a few that year that we lost to someone else willing to lower their fees. 

My thought was "why the heck would someone bid out work at a loss?"  Didn't they think it would be a wise course of action to see what their costs were before bidding out the job?  Well... apparently in our business that is not necessary because there are always going to be people out there that will lower their fee, or that will do a current owner and call it a doc search.

Sad fact of life, I guess.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
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