Auditel Consultant:
Simon Beechinor

You wouldn’t read about it Guv’nor!

05 Mar 2010 | Filed under: Poor Service

I have just had a perplexing phone call with a potential supplier’s head of sales. If what she has just told me reflects the firms policy, then I’m stunned – but it may just be that the CEO has a problem he should know about.

I have a client who is a manufacturer based nearby. They have just asked me to put their packaging requirements for the next 12-24 months out to tender. Accordingly I have just approached a potential bidder to see if they would like to consider this tender and to take the matter forward…so far so good…

When the head of sales learned that my client was not one of their existing customers and that I was from a procurement organization (Auditel) she expressed some reluctance to consider our approach. She was reluctant to talk to me because “we’ve done this sort of thing before and never got any business out of it….” – eh?

For good order, I checked if she was really telling me that she didn’t want the chance to bid for new business, because that was how it sounded to me. She sighed and then told me that she “will take a look at it”. I expressed some concern at her reluctance and I was told “…it is twenty to five and it’s been a very stressful day…”. The lady did however offer again to “take a look”. However, I said that I wasn’t filled with confidence in her firm and declined to pursue the matter further with her.

Now, I’ve just written to the CEO in case he’s not aware of his policy of not tendering for business because he might not get it. I’ll let you know if I get a response!