[QUOTE=WaterBoy747;2156677]Couldn't agree more on the first part. If you know the person bringing birds to the market, you've hit the jackpot right there. Over time, I've come to know two SPs in Chennai where one works under the other. It seems that the main SP puts word out into the market and let's the people directly under him to keep a 2 k margin and 1 k to people under them and so on. Looks like a classic MLM scheme. If everyone could directly get the main SP on hold, we can start getting Delhi prices. It's the people under the mains that we are aware of and come to know easily which results in them not wanting to go down on rates as they only survive on the 1 or 2 k they make on each bird.
If the main SP is known well, I always ask when the bird is leaving town and always fix up a meeting before the day she leaves as the SP would have already made his money on her and will give a considerable price (because he pings every one of his customers stating that a new bird is available on the day of her arrival; people rush to her and she is forced into attending back to back appointments resulting in her being tired and frustrated hence not being very accommodating to the customer) or is so desperate at the end of the day to make some money before she leaves that he will accept what you offer..[/QUOTE]That's true but the problem is, it's very hard to identify the parent SP of all of these. Birds are given strict instructions and obviously the SP you're in touch won't disclose either. And it kinda seems like there are not many main SPs around here AFAIK. Unlike Delhi, this city doesn't have as many key players as the number of middle men.
I've seen a few SPs marketing with their own margins on top of known SP. It was quite honestly funny when this middle man I had come across was praising and marketing the car like it's some top notch right out of the showroom product with a hefty price tag while the well known SP showed casually and quoted usual damages which was way below the middle mans quote (More than what you could negotiate to with the middleman). But yeah, finding these kinda SPs are hard. No blueprint. Got to keep hunting I guess.
As for your strategy, it kinda makes sense and sounds good. Also, the biggest problem of going first is that you don't know what you're getting due to no prior FRs and you either hit or miss. Had a few past experiences like those. Going later gives you enough idea based on various FRs. But at the same time, there were experiences where the car is too exhausted already post so many races and just wants to get done with things. But maybe it's not always the case. Will have to retry these things.
Cheers.
