We have a family friend who is very successful in the electronics industry, however despite his success he is not the most efficient person and buys all his raw materials at quite high prices as he does not bargain with his suppliers.
At the same time - he is always complaining that does not know how to lower his costs even though it is obvious that he just has to find a supplier with lower prices for his raw materials.
We know many suppliers for the raw materials he requires and believe that we could supply him with raw materials via our suppliers and thus save him money as well as creating a profit for us.
So what I want to know is should I approach his son who is around my age and works in his fathers business with this proposition?
I ask because my father has hinted this prospect to his father in the past but his father has not bothered to take it further therefore I do not know if by me asking his son will make any difference and get them to try our supplier and also because I dont know if it is wise or not to mix business with friendship incase something goes wrong.
On the flip side though - nothing should go wrong and if all goes well we could both stand to make alot of money out of this (500,000 USD and more).
What should I do? Ask him if he would like to do this? Or would I risk ruining our friendship because I am bringing business into it?
Thanks in advance
At the same time - he is always complaining that does not know how to lower his costs even though it is obvious that he just has to find a supplier with lower prices for his raw materials.
We know many suppliers for the raw materials he requires and believe that we could supply him with raw materials via our suppliers and thus save him money as well as creating a profit for us.
So what I want to know is should I approach his son who is around my age and works in his fathers business with this proposition?
I ask because my father has hinted this prospect to his father in the past but his father has not bothered to take it further therefore I do not know if by me asking his son will make any difference and get them to try our supplier and also because I dont know if it is wise or not to mix business with friendship incase something goes wrong.
On the flip side though - nothing should go wrong and if all goes well we could both stand to make alot of money out of this (500,000 USD and more).
What should I do? Ask him if he would like to do this? Or would I risk ruining our friendship because I am bringing business into it?
Thanks in advance