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screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: brandon on September 16, 2015, 09:34:51 PM

Title: Reps and Times
Post by: brandon on September 16, 2015, 09:34:51 PM
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.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: ebscreen on September 16, 2015, 09:47:30 PM
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.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: ericheartsu on September 16, 2015, 11:48:02 PM
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.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: tonypep on September 17, 2015, 05:41:41 AM
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.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: T Shirt Farmer on September 17, 2015, 10:07:14 AM
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
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: bimmridder on September 17, 2015, 10:24:31 AM
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.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: tonypep on September 17, 2015, 10:36:22 AM
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?
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: royster13 on September 17, 2015, 11:18:11 AM
I always find it amusing when folks in the "sales" business treat "sales folks" the way they do.....
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: ebscreen on September 17, 2015, 11:32:43 AM
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.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: Catnhat on September 17, 2015, 11:41:22 AM
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"
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: Colin on September 17, 2015, 02:43:15 PM
Must have been Midwest......
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: ZooCity on September 17, 2015, 05:01:47 PM
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. 
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: jvieira on September 17, 2015, 05:21:21 PM
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?
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: Jwcontractscreen on September 17, 2015, 07:36:45 PM
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.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: jvieira on September 17, 2015, 07:50:12 PM
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.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: pwalsh on September 17, 2015, 08:10:58 PM
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.

JW:  Please drop me a PM or an email at pwalsh@nazdar.com with your contact info and a good time for me to reach out to you.  I'm confident that I can get you the account coverage that you are seeking.

Peter
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: Dottonedan on September 18, 2015, 01:28:51 PM
Probably the most common reason for showing up unannounced to you, is that lets say they have a call to show up at one customers shop near you. So they try to kill a few birds in one trip and stop by any and all shops in your area.

As you can imagine, that's just good business (for them or their Co) because they save in travel. It's not as efficient or cost effective if they were to head back home after their visit to the customers they were scheduled to see....and then get a call from you tomorrow asking them to stop by (when they were just in your town yesterday).
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: bimmridder on September 18, 2015, 01:31:47 PM
Valid points Dan, but they could still at least call in advance. It's not a surprise that they are in the area. They know where they are going to be. So a simple "I will be in the area, and if you have time, could I pop in around "X" o'clock" Just my take.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: Sbrem on September 18, 2015, 01:47:25 PM
I always find it amusing when folks in the "sales" business treat "sales folks" the way they do.....

Ha Ha, me too. I was just thinking the other day, "Friggin' salesmen..." then, "Wait, I'm one of those!"

Steve
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: brandon on September 19, 2015, 01:42:34 PM
I should have also stated the reason I posted this is because I highly value a lot, if not most (but not all), sales reps that come to see me. A lot I would consider friends. And again a lot of them have very good input and experience so when they do show up un-announced the main reason I get all huffy puffy is because I want to learn whatever I can and talk shop. I can name several reps right now that have helped me over the years with everything from EOM to cure temps to just all around experience being in the industry before I was born. And that being said why can't a friend just shoot a text or call at least a few days before? Most of the reps I deal with know I take them out for beers and lunch/dinner. It was just a post venting really.
Title: Re: Reps and Times
Post by: GraphicDisorder on September 25, 2015, 10:09:29 AM
We call it Thursdays here, I swear nobody comes here unless its a Thursday. We see nothing, nobody almost never.... then Thursday hits. We see clothing reps, ink reps, printer salesmen, local people, whatever its like a party.