I once had a very difficult customer. He was a chinese fellow who was relentless in his efforts to get a super low price on anything we sold him. All the salesmen in my office referred to him as "Ming the merciless".
Over time however, we learned that this particular poker player had a very definite "tell" that let us know when he was serious about making a purchase. When he needed another system, his level of complaining about the systems he already had would go way, way up. Your systems don't work like they used to, your competition has you beat technically, your service is no good....etc.etc. His strategy was to keep us so off balance that we would be afraid to enforce our normal pricing strategies so we wouldn't loose his business or his company as a major account. Does this sound familiar?
I think we are at a stand-off with TC and its all over price. They are doing their "Ming thing" by saying that the eval went well but your power supply needs to be tweaked for better performance and results.
No order will be placed until then.
I think Gregg has reached the end of his rope. In the shareholders letter, he is basically saying to TC, hey, you guys are a wonderful company and we thank you for all of your help, we love you to death blah, blah, blah, but we are ready to move on at this point if you don't agree to purchase. He has emphasized this point by naming them in the letter. This is a bit of a threat by saying we are not affraid to name you in this letter and if there is no deal we will remove the unit from Kansas and ship it elsewhere. It also kind of says we will no longer be bound to the NDA since there is no deal pending.
Basically its saying, thanks for playing along but now we need a PO or its goodnight and goodbye.
If the AOT gets moved from KS its because Gregg has decided to move it not TC.
These negotiations just got ratcheted up in their intensity and it looks like we are near a conclusion of one kind or another.
