Customers eating the friction: buyers are visibly absorbing cost, delay, or inconvenience to keep this specific company
The model's full reasoning — Q3 2018 call → NOWe need to determine if management describes customers currently putting up with real cost, delay, or inconvenience to keep doing business with CoStar specifically, and presents this as happening now with behavioral evidence. Let's scan the transcript for relevant statements. - Andy Florance discusses LoopNet conversions: "we have worked through approximately a quarter of the initial 100,000 leads we identified and have seen approximately 11,200 conversions." This is about upselling, not friction. - He mentions "clients really expressed dissatisfaction with so many different points of contact" but that's about sales force reorganization, not current friction. - On ForRent integration: "we saw a reduction in net bookings of almost $4 million in the third quarter, which represents net sales erosion upon conversion to the combined contracts." That's about revenue erosion, not customers enduring friction. - Scott Wheeler: "renewal rates on annual contracts was 90.2% in the third quarter of 2018, slightly below the 91% rate in the third quarter of 2017." That's a retention metric, but no mention of friction. - Andy Florance on pricing: "we are under pricing these products" and "renewal rates would instruct any economist that we are under pricing" - that's about pricing power, but not about customers absorbing friction. - There is mention of "clients are willing to step up to that as they recognize that value" regarding price increases, but that's about accepting price increases, which could be friction. However, is it described as current? Scott Wheeler says: "we're starting to take some of the very deepest of the discounts on a combined product basis, and go back to those clients, look at the value proposition. And those that have strong value propositions are now signing up for three years escalations or three-year increases to get up to rate card over a multiyear time frame. And we probably did about 30-or-so of those deals in the last month and a half." That is a specific example of customers accepting price increases (friction) and continuing to do business. But is it presented as a broad pattern? It's 30 deals, which is small. Also, it's about price increases, not necessarily a cost or delay. The question asks for "real cost, delay, or inconvenience" - price increase is a cost.
| Ticker | Company | Call | Date | Call grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PFIE | Profire Energy, Inc. | Q1 2023 | 2023-05-13 | B |
| A | Agilent Technologies, Inc. | Q4 2022 | 2022-11-21 | B+ |
| PLOW | Douglas Dynamics, Inc. | Q3 2022 | 2022-11-01 | B+ |
| CRL | Charles River Laboratories International | Q2 2022 | 2022-08-03 | C |
| ZBRA | Zebra Technologies Corporation | Q2 2022 | 2022-08-02 | C+ |
| ZVIA | Zevia PBC | Q1 2022 | 2022-05-12 | B |
| CLAR | Clarus Corporation | Q1 2022 | 2022-05-09 | B |
| RYAM | Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. | Q1 2022 | 2022-05-04 | D |
| NGVT | Ingevity Corporation | Q4 2021 | 2022-02-25 | B |
| FLUX | Flux Power Holdings, Inc. | Q2 2022 | 2022-02-10 | D |
| GFS | GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. | Q3 2021 | 2021-11-30 | A |
| CROX | Crocs, Inc. | Q3 2021 | 2021-10-21 | B+ |
| DOV | Dover Corporation | Q2 2021 | 2021-07-20 | B+ |
| IRT | Independence Realty Trust, Inc. | Q2 2018 | 2018-08-02 | B |
| FSS | Federal Signal Corporation | Q1 2018 | 2018-05-12 | A |
| JAZZ | Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc | Q1 2018 | 2018-05-08 | B |
| SHEN | Shenandoah Telecommunications Company | Q1 2018 | 2018-05-03 | C+ |
| BPMC | Blueprint Medicines Corporation | Q1 2018 | 2018-05-02 | C+ |
| RACE | Ferrari N.V. | Q3 2017 | 2017-11-02 | C+ |
| LIND | Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. | Q2 2017 | 2017-08-06 | C |
| THG | The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. | Q2 2017 | 2017-08-06 | B |
| ARKR | Ark Restaurants Corp. | Q1 2016 | 2016-05-13 | B |
| LBTYK | Liberty Global's | Q1 2016 | 2016-05-10 | C+ |
NGVT · Q4 2021 → YESThe question is: Does management describe that the company's customers are CURRENTLY PUTTING UP WITH REAL COST, DELAY, OR INCONVENIENCE in order to keep doing business with THIS company specifically —...YES Management describes customers absorbing real friction—price increases averaging over 20% in Performance Chemicals, freight and energy costs up sharply, and supply-chain constraints—while continuing to order and accept terms. They explicitly tie share gains in adhesives to customers enduring the dynamic, stressed environment and choosing Ingevity when others could not deliver, and they note customers are already seeing the benefit of those price increases flowing through in 2022. This is presented as current behavior, not hypothetical or industry-wide only. The answer is therefore YES. No, the tolerance is not chiefly attributed to an industry-wide shortage; the transcript shows customers actively accepting the friction with Ingevity specifically. No, there is no isolated anecdote or future fear; the evidence is behavioral and current. No, customers are not described as defecting or cancelling. No, the friction is not merely feared for the future.
GFS · Q3 2021 → YESThe question is: Does management describe that the company's customers are CURRENTLY PUTTING UP WITH REAL COST, DELAY, OR INCONVENIENCE in order to keep doing business with THIS company specifically —...YES Management describes customers enduring real, current friction—capacity shortages, allocations, and extended lead times for 2022 supply—while still committing to long-term agreements, prepayments, and access fees to secure GF’s capacity. They explicitly note customers accepting rationed access and continuing to order rather than defecting, framing 2022 demand as robust and GF-specific through single-source wins and differentiated platforms. This behavioral evidence (prepayments, LTAs, and continued ordering) is presented as occurring now, not merely asserted as loyalty or industry-wide necessity. The transcript shows customers visibly absorbing these costs to retain access to GF’s offerings.
FLUX · Q2 2022 → YESThe question is: Does management describe that the company's customers are CURRENTLY PUTTING UP WITH REAL COST, DELAY, OR INCONVENIENCE in order to keep doing business with THIS company specifically —...YES Management describes customers enduring real, current friction—production and shipping delays from supply chain disruptions—while continuing to place orders, maintain long-term relationships, and keep orders in place without cancellations or defections. They explicitly note that despite these delays, they did not lose customers or orders, and they are securing inventory specifically to protect customer orders and relationships. The backlog is growing to a record $31.4 million, with new orders of $19.8 million received, and customers are waiting for batteries due to production constraints.