When we got back from vacation last week, we had quite a few emails from our readers. One email caught my eye and I found it quite interesting and thought provoking. The reader told of a situation that he has run into in his sales territory and asked what my opinion was of the situation. After thinking about it for a bit, I thought I would share it with all of you.
(Names, companies, and locations have been left out intentionally, and we are giving you the Readers Digest version of this email.)
The reader says that a little over a year ago a sales rep for one of the major wholesale manufacturers, was hired by a retail supply house. Many of the retail sales reps in the area were concerned that the guy who they had taken into their offices during co-travel days, would now be their competition. Their fears came true as this new retail rep started cold calling on alot of their existing customers, even offering extreme discounts to try and get the business. When confronted at a local dental society meeting, his only response was…it’s business and I have a family to support.
What are your feelings on this situation? I feel that it’s OK to cross over from the wholesale to retail side, but you can’t do it in the territory that you were working as a wholesale rep. Example…if you were a wholesale rep in the Seattle/Tacoma area, then you would have to make a retail territory outside your wholesale territory…like Spokane or Portland…you get the picture.
What do you think?
I know that Dental Insider readers have some opinions on this…let’s hear them. Post a comment or send an email to dentalinsider{at}gmail(.)com
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