Monday, April 9, 2012

Rubbish Suppliers and blast-from-the-past emails

Digging through some old emails, I found a fantastic one about a poorly performing supplier.
Names have been changed to protect all involved........have a read. Then you decide if you would deal with this supplier?

"Hope you holiday is going well. I thought it was best I gave you an update about the events of yesterday.
As you know Myself,*  had a meeting with *, as a basic training session for the * product in NZ.
Meeting * reminding myself of why I left Australia.  

Talking to the other staff who have dealt with him, needless to say his attitudes are in the wrong place.

But I will simply explain the events that transpired yesterday.
With everyone in the room, it was noticeable that * was not at ease with the people there. It became faily obvious that he was demanding a very high level of support (something that was starting to tire *)
He suggested that we introduce ourselves, to which * was first to volunteer. When * said he was the Automation sales rep, * immediately questioned why he did not have * in he portfolio. Stating - "I will have to have a talk to * later about this" He then continued to dominate the conversation not allowing * to finish speaking about what he hoped to achieve out of the training session. This was not only stupid (as we were all attending a "* Basics" training session) but also completely arrogant to assume that pushing his complaints to *  would some how fix the situation. Eventually I spoke up stating that "As of this point * is not a part of his portfolio, so you can not blame him", to which his reply was "clearly something is wrong if * is not there."
At this point * looked liked he wanted to throw something at *, however he bit his lip and remained quiet. The introductions continued around the table, ending with * introducing himself.

During his presentation, it became obvious that at-least 60% was to stroke his own ego. However when put on the spot about his own business issues, he did not have the substance to back it up. 

(I can elaborate on this more if you require).

If his ego could not be stroked during the presentation, he would then move to downgrade the people in the room or the products you sell

As * said best to me afterward "He always attempts to be right even when he is wrong". There were threats that "* are currently in a partner agreement", with emphasis on current.
Other bold claims were also made, one in particular was "That's bullshit, I came over 18 months ago and trained people here (*)"  to which I questioned "Who was trained?" to which I got no reply.
* was supposed to have known a Japanese protocol. Because according to Steve he should know because he was Asian. (He is Chinese).
He failed to accept our claims that we have to support more than one agency, and would attempt to subvert out existing agencies, often asking "Does anything else you have do this?".
By lunchtime both * looked like they could not be bothered continuing the meeting after lunch, and said thank you and attended emails.
I grabbed * and went to lunch - explaining to him that this is how some people are, and he was free to speak his mind. Needless to say he was not in a good mood and needed to vent.
* took over in the afternoon - which eased things somewhat. This also meant * did not need to attend - which was a good thing as it looked like * had painted a big target on his back.
I found that *'s attitude was not only negative, but wrong. Lord knows how he wants us to promote sales of this product after that episode.  

Very rarely have I had such rubbish in front of a supplier, and  
never have I had it FROM a supplier.

However I would like to congratulate everyone else in the room on the same not. They were polite, and keep their feelings to themselves, I know a lot of the people in the industry would have told * to f-off if they had been put in this position.
I just feel you should be aware about what happened, as I imagine there will be an email from * complaining about how we are not good enough."

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