What I’ve Learned from My Several Hundred MILLION Rupiah Deal that Flopped.
“Hi, I’m from (A very big Japanese Company) we wanted to make a game for our Product Promotion.”
-gasp-
“is it true? is this *** that big Japanese Company?”
“Yes, we are.”
and then we have a 30-minute zoom call discussing the concept. it turns out that they contacted a bunch of game developers, not just us. they wanted the best concept for the best price. and then we agreed on July 19th to present our concept in front of their marketing departments.
because this game needs some hardware (it’s sort of like an arcade machine — which I have no expertise in) then I contacted one of my friends who really excels in Arduino, IoT, etc.
“Hey, Sup bro. long time no see. can we meet? I have a very exciting project for you.”
Long Story Short, we prepared the required items, let’s say it’s A, B, and C. but there’s one item that we’re a bit skeptical of. it’s item D.
- “uhh… what about this item?”
- “I think they’ll handle it. it’s a little bit hard for us to source this.”
- “yea.. I think so. let’s just hope and pray that they’ll prepare this item for us.” (you can believe in God but don’t just hope and pray. you’ll see why.)
Lesson #1: Always Prepare Everything.
On the day of the meeting, I presented our concept in front of their marketing teams. it went well until one of them asked about item D.
- “What about item D ? how many of these items we will get from your proposal? how long does it take to get it from china? etc….”
- (damn, I'm dead now)
- “Uhh we haven’t prepared anything about that item, but we can help you find someone who can source it for us. of course it’s from China (since the majority of our things are made in china now) so it’ll take around a couple of weeks to ship it to our country.”
That moment is really embarrassing. I don’t even want to remember it anymore. but instead, I’m sharing it with you guys so you can learn from my mistakes.
Lesson #2: Lower Your Expectation(s)
When I revealed our budget proposal, they’re all silent.
so I asked them “is there any question, guys?” and no one answered. it turns out that the project is over budget. (more on this later) even the other guy’s cheapest proposal is still too expensive for them. (ours is in the 2nd position, there are two more guys that has a higher price than us)
I can’t make any rationale that this very big multinational company can’t handle the kind of price that we gave. we assume that this price is small for the size of their company. I think maybe they’re just don’t want to spend this much on this promotional game project.
or is there any other reason? who knows.
Lesson #3: Be Patient.
Just one day after my presentation, one of my friends asked me: “do we got the project? do we got the project?” I can feel his excitement because this is our first B2B project and we already got a big, Multinational Japanese Company. (but at the end of the day, we didn’t make any deal.)
I can understand why he asked me just one day after my presentation, is because the guy from that Japanese Company said they’ll come up with approval on July 20th. and I asked him, sent him a text message. and in just a couple of minutes, he replied.
“Please be patient, we still have one other guy to present their concept.”
Another embarrassing moment that we need to learn so we’re not doing it again in the future.
Lesson #4: Accept your Fate and Move On.
And around a week after that, He tells me that the project got canceled. and I asked, “Why, what happens?”
- “We decided to hold the project because it’s over budget, even the cheapest offer is still too expensive for us. so we decided to hold the project. or even cancel it perhaps. sorry for the bad news.”
- “It’s okay, it’s not your fault, things happen. uhh… may I know which part is more expensive? the hardware or the software?”
- “It’s the Software.”
I can’t even think. our price is not that expensive for their company size, we’re even thinking about giving a lower price at the beginning. but then we think it’s too cheap therefore it can make them suspicious to us. so we raise the price a little bit.
and just after that, I tell all of my friends that we didn’t get the project.
- “Next time we’ll get a better deal.”
That’s it for today. I hope you learn something. Thanks for Reading.
