Ferrari Cheapstakes

The Prancing Horse. A marque of the highest calibre. A culture steeped in the very best.

That's the image.

Yet I discover an alternate lens.

A salesperson I know was selling into them.

Their Stable's retail division.

They won the order. The reason?

"We chose you because you were the cheapest."

Quite an astonishing reveal.

Leaving aside, if you can, the fact that those selling money-no-object luxury penny-pinch when buying themselves, there's a fascinating tale of the proxy metric in this.

I wonder what procurements they order that are not directly related to making the Ferrari cars?

Their office desks, stationery, furnishings, flooring, architectural flourishings, computers, workwear, mops and buckets? The list could go on.

Think too of the business apps and tech they may use. Bespoke or off-the-shelf? Bog standard or niche? Cutting edge or long-standing?

For any company you wish to sell into you can construct such a list.

And somewhere in there, maybe sticking out like a sore thumb, maybe a little hidden, will be a purchase that reveals how truly disposed they'll be to buying from you.

It could be in a related field. It could be a touch removed. It likely does exist.

For me, these are vital types of a proxy metric.

For instance, you want someone to understand value over cost, then it helps no end if they've already demonstrated just such a mindset.

Likewise you want an early adopter mentality, then search for examples of it beyond your scope.

Intriguingly in this Ferrari case, the seller suspected that other bidders had seen the name, salivated, and loaded their quotes. With maybe a touch of 'signalling' too; hoping that their high price tag would mirror the mindset of the buyer's own premium pricing policy. Perhaps putting in artificially inflated bids. The winner did not. And look who's prancing now.