Thursday, November 27, 2014

Vendor Relation Phone Calls

Vendor phone calls are something that can be a real pain at the best of times. Vendors call and all they have is either just a phone number or a phone number and a name. They know nothing about the business that they are calling and that is very frustrating. It is important that if you are going to be phoning potential clients that you know a little bit about who you are calling.

One time I received a call from a large vendor and they were rather upset that I had attended a specific conference that he insisted we were too small for and he couldn't understand that I go to these conferences to find out information for our clients. In a number of cases we are the trusted advisers for our clients and that means we need to know the various options that are out there for each of our clients.

I did receive one really nice call and I know that the individual that was calling has checked out our website because of the questions she was asking. She knew that our business was basically just the two of us and we supported clients that were larger than us. This meant that I felt like the person had taken the time to look into our business so yes I gave her the time and answered the questions that she needed answering.

Now what is really upsetting is when you receive a vendor relations phone call on a statutory holiday. This happened to us on Thanksgiving Day in Canada which was Columbus Day in the United States. The phone rang at 9:15am and it was a vendor wanting to ask questions about what we did, etc but after a couple of seconds and being informed that the call really wasn't welcome on a holiday the person then said they would send information via email instead. Now if you are a vendor and need to make this type of call remember to make sure that you aren't calling on a holiday or a weekend.

Vendors need to respect the companies and individuals that they are calling because we all do need a bit of down time. If you are going to be phoning a company make sure you know the size of the company before you start asking all the questions and listen to what the answers are and don't get upset when they don't meet your expectations. They don't meet your expectations because it is probably the wrong size business that you are calling.

Vendor relation phone calls can be a great way to make contact with a business but they can also be a great way to lose business.

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