Reps and Times

[brandon]

Hey,

This is a general fun post, but a little bit of seriousness involved. Not attacking any Rep or company here so please don't take anything personal involving you or the company or whatever. So with that said .........

How does every rep on the planet all want to stop by during the same week if not on the same day?!?!?!?!

If I ever became a Rep I swear I would pick the off weeks. It seems there is some sales person calendar out there that they all follow.

Again, just a fun post but it would be best for all parties if Reps would start emailing and calling at least one week in advance. I'm sorry but the "What are you doing in 30 min?" phone call I just flat out say no now due to lack of consideration to my time.

[ebscreen]

First week after the end of a quarter, that's when we see them all.
Either thanking us or wondering who we're buying from now.

[ericheartsu]

our rep for our local company is the worst. Always stops in at the worst time, and talks about the same things over and over again. Usually not really listening to what we have to say, and just telling us that no one is doing waterbased or discharge printing.

[tonypep]

If they don't call for an appointment they must leave a card at the front desk even if I have the time. You have to learn them.

[T Shirt Farmer]

If they don't call for an appointment they must leave a card at the front desk even if I have the time. You have to learn them.

Spot on Tony..I  do not get the unannounced office visits from reps, sends a message there time is more valuable than mine. I bounced a guy out the front door unannounced representing Brother last week, then I  find him in the back rollup of the shop trying to leave literature at the shipping station.. No Bueno

[bimmridder]

Tony X 2. If you don't have an appointment, I very well may not have time. Now, if it's near quitting time and they have a 12 pack, well that's a different story.

[tonypep]

Terri, our Nazdar rep calls a week in advance when she's passing through. ICC likes to show up unannounced. Guess how much of our business they get?

[royster13]

I always find it amusing when folks in the "sales" business treat "sales folks" the way they do.....

[ebscreen]

I always find it amusing when folks in the "sales" business treat "sales folks" the way they do.....

You may show up at folks doors unannounced, but I sure don't.

[Catnhat]

Most of our reps are pretty good about calling or emailing a few days in advance.  Had our primary ink rep stop by last week. 
Me: "What's the latest & greatest that everybody is using on sublimated performance wear?"
Him:  (without hesitation) "Silicone"
Me:  "Get me some of that in black, white, maroon and athletic gold"
Him:  "We're currently not stocking it in Seattle or Portland.  Let me check where we have it"
he runs off to make a phone call.  Comes back a few minutes later.
Him:  "Black & white should be available sometime mid to late October.  No word on colors yet"
Me:  "Now you know why I have 7 different brands on the shelf and only 2 of them our yours"

[Colin]

Must have been Midwest......

[ZooCity]

The few reps we get visits from are pretty great and always head's up in advance....but that's probably just our location.  I'd be bit non-plussed at having people drop in willy nilly.  If you have an actual reason to be here and talk with us than you probably would have hit us up in advance.

This might sound silly but I actually don't like the uninvited product samples.  We're set pretty hard on most of our product and aren't really interested in wasting someones quart or gallon or whatever of plastisol white just to have it sit on the shelf for eternity.  Ironically, it can be difficult to get samps of the product we are truly interested in testing and many times just end up purchasing a gallon. 

We fly a little lower on the radar despite being one of the larger volume shops in the immediate area so it's always a hoot when a garment or supply rep stumbles upon us and sees what we have going on.  You can see those dollar signs light up in the eyes, ha.  And it typically results in a great relationship as most work hard to provide us with anything they can. 

[jvieira]

We don't usually have reps coming in unannounced but when we do, he/she never gets through the door. Our biggest issue with reps is them always showing up late, actually.

A couple years ago a rep called me and set up a meeting early in the morning. He ended up showing mid-afternoon and not even a proper apology.

Just today I had a meeting with a shipping company (they were the ones after our business) scheduled at 3pm. She showed up past 6pm. She was lucky someone was still there. Not even a phone call, really?

[Jwcontractscreen]

My complaint is that my Nazdar rep doesn't show up often enough. I like to see someone once a month at least. If It's not a regular rep then I'm not typically interested.

[jvieira]

TBH, unless there's something new out there or they come in with good news regarding offers/milestones, I'm not that interested in having them coming over. Waste of time most of the time.