On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 3:26 AM, John Slee <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 1 January 2013 18:01, Paul English <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Do you receive frequent cold calls from vendors? Offers of lunch at the >> local steak house? (always a tad off-key for a vegetarian) Just checking in >> to see if your IT needs are being met calls? >> >> I've had cold callers I've never spoken with muscle our receptionist into >> forwarding to my desk with the "need to continue a conversation with your >> IT manager.." >> > > If they're dishonest just to get through, I'll ask them to never call me > again, and > will make a note of their business name so that I can never buy from them, > ever. > > I also maintain a vendor blacklist that like other documentation I intend to outlast me at my org. It includes the name of the person, company, date and why they were added to the list. > Where I worked last we made an effort to build a close business > relationship > with our storage supplier, and it really paid off in the long term. Superb > support, > quick responses and they really put the effort in when we were planning new > projects, or had major changes to implement. I believe "the Toyota way"[1] > involves this kind of active/active supplier relationship building as well. > A really honest relationship with a vendor can lead to them making recommendations for other vendors and solutions when they know their products & services aren't a good fit. It is a really amazing thing when that happens! > > Unhealthy supplier relationships are bad for everyone. Starting with lies > is > probably not going to encourage a good supplier relationship. > > If they seem like they're good guys, I'll talk to them, but I'll be honest > with > them too - if I'm very unlikely to need their services I'll tell them so, > politely. > Works both ways, and I like to remember that they're just doing their job > too. > > Just so we're clear - I could not recommend starting a relationship with a vendor, even one as distant as "I know I've never bought anything from you.. how about you sponsor this conference?" with anything less than total honesty. I'd always advocate for letting a vendor know if I don't think it is likely we'll be buying their products/services, or if we already have a vendor for that product/service that we're happy with or if we might buy their product/service but budgets won't permit it in the next X months. This would be good practice at a conference as well, since they paid for their rep to be present and their time is limited.
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