How Important Are Vendor Relationships Anyway?
Chris Mulvaney is the CEO of CMDS. I make things... I’m the creative entrepreneur with passion for (re)making brands and inventing solutions to problems no one knows exist.
To answer the question, very! Ever meet a prospective client and find yourself wishing you never did? This article talks about a true experience and is a great example of what not to do!
In the fall of 2008, my NJ marketing agency was asked to come in and give a capabilities presentation to a commercial printing company in South New Jersey. Before speaking with them in person, the call seemed moderately promising in that they had a decent amount of search engine optimization and ppc management they needed. Since they were in New Jersey and upon their request, we decided to take a drive down there. The trip was a boring hour and a half of parkway in one direction. I remember pulling up to the facility thinking, “This place is kept nice… on the outside anyway… and the landscaping is nice.” I entered the building to find a sweet secretary that was very welcoming. This was good. I thought, “Ok, so this company knows how to hire personable people, and their place is not a dump. This could be legit.” I sat in a chair right in the reception area and waited to be greeted by the prospective client. I remember this quite clearly as it taught me multiple lessons. A guy walked by me while I was sitting there and I said, “Hello” with a smile, thinking that it could be the gentleman I was meeting with. The guy made eye contact, but kept going. I thought to myself, “I guess that’s not him.
I waited for another 5 minutes and guess who came back to get me…? It was him! His name was Frank. He brought be back to the conference room where I met a guy by the name of Charles who was in sales and one of their designers. I introduced myself and desperately tried to strike up conversation as I was setting up my projector and laptop. The crowd was silent and quite unwelcoming. No one asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee or a water, however they all had theirs. Since 1999, I’ve been on hundreds of meetings, and I’ve never remembered my experience being more awkward then this. There was a silence in the room and no effort to be friendly what so ever. I again thought, “well, maybe they’re all business,” giving them the benefit of the doubt. The presentation started and went on for about an hour and a half.
I felt comfortable in my presentation. I brought up several key points that pertained to their company. The presentation was engaging. While giving my presentation, I noticed that Charles kept looking at his Blackberry. I figured, “OK.. he’s in sales and needs to be on the ball. Just let it go.” However the Blackberry never left his hands. He kept scrolling and pressing buttons to the point where it was outright disrespectful. Since I drove and hour and a half, I wanted undivided attention. I stopped the meeting and said to Charles, “Are you done?” He said, “What?” I replied, “Are you done playing around on that Blackberry?” In shock that I called him out, he replied, “Oh yeah.. yeah…” I remember at that point thinking about how I could get out of there without just stopping the presentation and taking down my equipment. I also remember thinking that any marketing I do for this company won’t help anyway. If they treat their clients this way, there’s no marketing in the world that will keep clients buying from them.
The whole situation is pretty interesting because they were genuinely enthused about our services. They complemented us on how our presentation was the best they’ve seen and how they were excited to work with us. Now I do understand that companies bring in agencies to keep their existing ones in check. But we had conversations after speaking about how they wanted us to start working. I’m sorry to say but it didn’t — nor will it — ever work out. I like to surround myself with clients that have the same business morals as I. I think any good business owner will do the same.
Being a business owner, I like to recommend businesses to others that are within my network. What they didn’t know was that I could have had a pretty large account for them. But as they say, “Sorry Charlie!” That isn’t happening.