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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