Dealing with vendors.....at work.

[DWSC_Bob]

Having been on the other side of the table I am ususally very patient and courteous to vendors that call and interrupt me during the workday, even if they interrupt my time on CS. However, since coming to work for a company that relocated from Mass. about two years ago, I have developed a new method of getting off the phone without being rude. See most of these calls are from vendors in the Mass. market area and they don't reaize that we have moved. I let them get started on their speil and then at just the right moment (usually following an invitation to a lunch meeting or a request to visit) I ask them where they think we are located. This almost always ilicits the response of Waltham, Ma to which I answer, calmly and politely, that we have been located in Florida for a little over two years. This is usually met with either apologies or uncomfortable silence. When silence prevails I ask them if they would like take a trip to Florida in order to buy me lunch. That ends the conversation.

I am curious how you deal with vendors calling during the work day without being rude or simply hanging up? After all, these are people just trying to make a living, right?

[colgate]

I deal with unsolicited vendors as I would a person down on their luck, with compassion. I let them introduce themselves and then reply with a simple "I'm sorry I can't help but do wish you good luck finding suitable clients." 99.9% I get a relieved/shocked thanks and a bye.

You never know when that unsolicited vendor turns out to be the guy your boss wanted out of his hair or a pal of the boss outside work. And, like being tough gets results with cold callers. They have a hide a foot thick. Respect does the trick, disarms them and closes the call neatly.

[LasciviousXXX]

Nobody ever solicits where I work...... odd

[kansashat]

Originally Posted by LasciviousXXX

Nobody ever solicits where I work...... odd

Say, any of you Arizona donut munchers wanna buy some good Kansas sense?

[LasciviousXXX]

Originally Posted by kansashat

Say, any of you Arizona donut munchers wanna buy some good Kansas sense?

No thanx, I've already completed the 9th grade once

[steve12553]

I've got a few who are a pain but I generally try to establish a don't call us- we'll call you relationship with most venders.

[cigar no baka]

I am very very busy at work, we have constant demands on our time. So I really resent the constant marketing calls I get at work. I don't let them get 5 seconds into their spiel before I say "We don't accept unsolicited marketing calls" and hang up. And I don't feel bad about it, period. Ever since they got the DNC list, and 100+ million Americans signed up for it (that number is PFA, but you get my point), marketeers have bombarded businesses and now I'm getting multiple times as many as I got before the DNC list.

[Jkbd33]

Originally Posted by colgate

I deal with unsolicited vendors as I would a person down on their luck, with compassion. I let them introduce themselves and then reply with a simple "I'm sorry I can't help but do wish you good luck finding suitable clients." 99.9% I get a relieved/shocked thanks and a bye.

You never know when that unsolicited vendor turns out to be the guy your boss wanted out of his hair or a pal of the boss outside work. And, like being tough gets results with cold callers. They have a hide a foot thick. Respect does the trick, disarms them and closes the call neatly.

I do about the same thing, tell them I not interested but good luck in business and hope you get employee of the month. That normall gets either a hang up or a thanks and bye. If you tell them no thanks goodbye they keep on and on and on. So you have to do something out of the normal.

[bruceolee]

It really depends on the vendor. Working in physical therapy, from time to time you need to stay up with some vendors on advances in electrostimulation and also current bracing techniques. For the most part with the vendors I do not use, I can get away with "Just tell them I'm with a patient and I'll call them back" of course they'd sooner rot than get a call back from me. Some vendors we use are in fact useful to us. Other vendors on the other hand will forever hunt the elusive Jason.

[carbonbased_al]

I get call all the time. A simple no thanks is enough to get them off usually.

[Dogwatch Dale]

I get unsolicited vendor calls all the time. Unless I'm really looking for some service they may have, I tell them that I am very happy with my current providers and I wish them luck on finding other opportunities. If after that, they persist with the "we're the best there is, just give me an hour to prove it to you" spiel, I thank them kindly for the contact and let them know I need to hang up - then I do.

[DWSC_Bob]

The more annoying ones are th ones that continue to push with seemingly helpful questions about your buisiness and such. Now that I work for an organization that uses telemarketing, I understand them all too well.

[Franksmith]

I am very polite and informitive....

THE FIRST TIME

[kansashat]

I am in sales.

If I didn't ask you, how the hell would I know if you would use my services? I try to make my approach, short, sweet, painless & even amusing. If I have to call a guy to set up a possible appointment, I apologize for bothering him/her on the phone & explain that, not being a telemarketer, I prefer to "bother" my victims in person. This is usually good for a laugh.

On the other hand I do sympathize with the irritation caused by too many overzealous sales callers, but anyway.

[LasciviousXXX]

I bet I know what you sell..............


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