PPB March 2016

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distributor to choose whether or
not to disclose their contact
information to the supplier. As
you may know, this is a very
common practice among survey
theory in order to ensure the
authenticity of the responses and
to remove any fear of harass-
ment, annoyance or other poten-
tial repercussions. This is partic-
ularly important in an industry
as small and close-knit as ours is.
This is one of many aspects of
the SAGE rating system that
makes it the most respected and
influential rating system in the
industry among distributors.
It is a misconception that
distributors only rate when they
have a negative experience or
that distributors only choose to
not provide their contact infor-
mation when they have some-
thing negative to say. On the
contrary, in the SAGE rating
system, 78 percent of all rated
suppliers have an A or A+ rating.
Among those that chose not to
provide their contact informa-
tion, the average rating is a B.
As mentioned above, ratings
in our system are not anony-
mous. We know who submitted
each rating. If a supplier wishes
to have more information
regarding a particular rating, or
otherwise feels that a rating may
be a mistake or otherwise inap-
propriate, the supplier may
request that SAGE investigate
the rating. In this case, we will
contact the distributor to get
more information. In some cases,
the ratings are determined to be
legitimate and therefore remain
in the system. If no such deter-
mination can be made, we will
remove the rating. In this way,
we ensure the integrity of the
rating system while still protect-
ing the privacy rights of distribu-
tors who choose to not disclose
their contact information to the
supplier.
Last, we encourage suppliers
to take a number of steps to
actively encourage customers to
rate them in our tools. The more
ratings there are, the better for
everyone. You can find tips on
how to improve the number of
ratings you have by visiting
increaseratings.
FEEDBACK
10 • PPB • MARCH 2016 FEEDBACK
“It is a misconception that distributors only rate when they have a negative
experience or that distributors only choose to not provide their contact
information when they have something negative to say.”
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