PPB December 2020

freight unless they provide their number. Tell them that if they place an order, it will be rebated. I did that quite a bit when I started. Most “real” clients won’t mind. HEATHER KELLY MALONE Account Executive HALO Houston, Texas PPAI 755180, D1 Ship on their UPS or FedEx number. If they ask for more than one, charge for samples if the factory does. RICH PARRITZ Owner Promostuff Boston, Massachusetts PPAI 485734, D2 Q A SUPPLIER ASKS: I received a call from an end user looking to purchase some drinkware. He found us on the internet, and I informed him that he had to go through one of our distributors to place an order. I told him I’d find him a distributor nearby to his location, and sent along the contact information to a distributor we’ve done business with. I contacted the distributor, who thanked me for the lead, but received a call a few days later from the end user, who said he was shown three catalogs, not one of which is mine. How should I go about handling this situation? WRONG! So very wrong. If you are given a lead from a vendor, you use that vendor—unless the client goes in a completely different direction and that vendor does not have something to fit the new direction. I have had vendors refer me in the past and each time I quoted their item. CRYSTAL BARGER Account management Proforma Albrecht & Co. Cincinnati, Ohio I think it is worth a call to the distributor to get their side. That said, I have many supplier partners who sometimes forward me leads and the initial conversation with the client is always, “Hi. Jane Smith fromXYZ Company gave me your name and I understand that you are interested in their widget. I can help you with that.” After we have discussed that order, I would then ask what else I could help themwith and if the referring supplier has those products that is what I would show. SUSAN HYSEN Senior Account Manager Summit Group, LLC Silver Spring, Maryland This is unfortunate. When I was on the supplier side, my company literally gave a distributor an order. She then contacted a competing supplier to get a quote. We found out because she accidentally forwarded the other supplier’s quote to us. This is why there is distrust. No good deed goes unpunished. CANDY CUMMINGS National Account Manager Universal Promotions USA Columbus, Ohio Hemight not have had your catalog and showed themother catalogs just for ideas. I do that all the time, especially now that I have practically no catalogs left. I gave out what I had because the customer wanted themand that’s all I could do. These are for ideas. Then, after I get an idea of what someone wants, I prepare an online presentation with other options showing the vendor I want to use. SARAH BURGERS Owner Clever Promotional Products Lehigh Acres, Florida I would definitely call and get the distributor’s side of the story. There are always three sides. Who knows? Perhaps this end user was just trying to get some deal going direct. I can’t imagine any distributor not showing any product from the referring supplier. That would be simply stupid as it would appear to be an easy sale. The customer already wants to buy at supplier list pricing. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. DEBBIE CINO DENNERLEIN Owner Ideas to Impress, LLC, an affiliate of Kaeser & Blair Incorporated Toms River, New Jersey PPAI 103148, D12 ? A SUPPLIER ASKS | DECEMBER 2020 | 13 INNOVATE