Long Term Relationships
Mac Productions is all about ltr’s (long term relationships), whether it’s with customers, vendors or staff; building ltr’s is in our DNA. Which lead me to my point, today we had to terminate a four-year relationship with a vendor.
For several weeks I have agonized over this decision, looking for any reason to maintain our relationship, in the end I kept returning to the reason behind the break-up.
Prior to 2007, we had a solid relationship that would only get stronger in 2007.
Sometime in March of 2007, the vendor in question modified our agreement, without informing us, and allowing us to sell services they no longer offered.
We understand things change, but it was how it was done and when we were notified of these changes that put our relationship with them in jeopardy. Basically, we were NOT informed until our customer had a store full of customers wanting to purchase a service that no longer existed.
Our customer was attempting to make a sale, when sale after sale failed, so they contacted us, and we contacted the vendor. At which time we were informed, they no longer carried that service. I was understandably shocked and outraged. I asked our representative, when did this happen, and was told some time ago. Again, I responded asking if they are aware the contracts we are presenting to our customers still have the service listed. The answer was yes. Do they even care how we looked in front of our customer, or how our customer felt having to turn away thousands of dollars in sales? To that I have no answer.
In summation, we lost the customer, so we had no choice but to lose the vendor. With a little thing called “proper notification” all of this could have been prevented.
And life goes on…..
May 11, 2007 at 5:00 pm
A person can only do so much on their own, but if everyone contributes as a group you can do so much. I’m very sorry you feel that way… you know i tried to push it as far as it would go.
May 11, 2007 at 6:11 pm
The apology is not yours to make, although I do accept it. The decision to have us knowingly mirepresent the truth, was that of your superiors. In my eyes you are blameless, you did everything a person in your position could do. You have always been forthright, professional and dedicated to the “nth” degree. I said it before and I’ll say it again, you are your company’s most valued asset.
I trust we’ll remain friends, and I hope you and I can work together in some capacity in the future.
September 17, 2007 at 1:42 pm
It’s been a while…
i stepped out for a while because i felt as if you needed some time to yourself. I don’t know what happenned but i do feel that we need to talk. I hope everything is better now and don’t forget that in me you will always have a friend u can trust, you can count on me… call me and i’ll be there. I miss talking to you. Be safe