The problem of the removal of customers by employees of the company
After working for a year as a freelancer, I recently found a job at a medium-sized SEO company. An important factor in choosing a job was proximity to home and work during the second shift. I could not work full time because I still had the chance of turning old customers through freelancing + the possibility of new customers (mostly through friends). In addition, at the time of employment, I had an active phase of work on my own online store, which in the future should become the main source of income. Well, working in a company is rather so, for the soul and for getting experience. Still, it was interesting to try to work in a team and find out what tasks the developer could face in this position. I must say that I liked the work and the team. Interspersed with routine tasks and come across interesting, though not large-scale, but entertaining puzzles.
And such an incident happened. I heard about this kind of things from my friends who had experience in medium-sized companies. My manager, who distributes projects, gave me a client for training. At the end of the training, the client asked how he can ask questions if they arise. I replied that you can by phone. He asked for my business card or give a phone number on a piece of paper. I said that I have no business cards, I took a piece of paper and wrote: "8-915-111-11-11, Vasily Pupkin, website development." I must say that I wrote this without a second thought. The customer is gone. After some time, tete-a-tete Artemy (manager, fictitious name) asks me if I gave him my phone, if I offered my services. I say that he gave (the client himself asked for it), saying that he can consult on his site (no one can consult me ​​except me, because no one works with this software), I didn’t make any specific proposals to him and Services did not offer. Anticipating a further question, I said: “Ask the question directly - will I be tormented by my conscience if a client addresses me with an order as a freelancer. No, it will not. ”At first, I still did not feel the trick, then I began to guess that this piece of paper had somehow reached him. Then he asked what I wrote to him. I said about the phone number and last name. At the end of the conversation, he takes out this piece of paper :) (the provocation was not very skillful and at that time I was expecting it). When asked why the “Website Development” signature was there, it was quite reasonable that among the heaps of phones and unknown names on paper, after 2 days the client no longer remembers who Vasily Pupkin is. Artemy began to run down, like I should have written “Programmer of the company Horns and Hooves” or something like that. “Make me a business card with the text you think is necessary,” but for now I subscribe the way it comes to my mind first.
I do not know how the phrase about conscience was perceived by them, but it literally meant the following: “If a client for some reason refuses the services of the company and addresses me as a freelancer, I will not refuse it (it will still go to the competitors). But I am not going to engage in a focused customer withdrawal. ” I'm not going to make excuses to anyone. Whether I have compromised myself or not, let the leadership decide. The meaning of my post is different.
')
In fact, I’m completely worried about the concerns of managers. The problem of client drift by employees is quite acute. Different companies are struggling with this in different ways. I will not undertake to assert that in this case there was a planned provocation (on my own initiative of the manager or at the suggestion of the management). But there are other cases (not with me) with more pronounced "deception". In the example described, there could be a fake client (maybe it was? :)) or there could be a call allegedly from a client: “Daragoi, let me give you money, you will make a website for me quickly, otherwise these are very expensive”.
In your opinion, in what ways should this problem be solved and do such “events” have a right to exist? In my opinion, the sediment that can remain with the employee and the atmosphere created in the company thereby, will do much more harm than the potential possibility of dropping customers.
There is an opinion (and I share it) that it is necessary to fight it all the same in more civilized ways:
1) Creating a trusting relationship with employees and a comfortable environment for his work. Often, an employee begins to lead customers away from a good life, or because of some conflicts with management.
2) All key clients should be led by proven managers, access for other employees should be limited.
3) Constant contact with customers. Tracking customers who have not called for a long time, finding out the reasons.
Yet the presumption of innocence has not been canceled. A normal employee is only offended by rude checks, and truly unscrupulous employees probably have experience in such matters and will not be caught in such checks.
PS Obviously, the names and company names are fictional. I believe that under this condition I have the full moral right to publish an article. Taking this opportunity, I send my greetings to all the employees who recognized their company in this post. I hope that the incident will only be a misunderstanding, and will be settled without sediment.
If it is not interesting and not in the subject, note: nafig :) If interested, tell me which blog to postpone.
PP.S So far, I moved it to My Business, not quite in the topic, but I did not find the blog “Their Business”.
UPD: Something a lot of comments about the "company policy", about the position of the leadership, etc. And no one thought that this is an initiative of a single manager, about which the management does not know, and if he finds out, he may not approve it? In fact, it turned out in general. In my opinion, there is a lack of professionalism of the manager. What did he achieve by unjustifiably accusing me, as some here expressed it, of ratting? Suspicions crept in, a check was needed - do it neatly and beautifully so that no one would know in case of failure. And now only an unpleasant aftertaste and spoiled relations.
Also in the comments, the idea was repeatedly expressed that the price for that firm, to which the competition is taken separately by a freelancer and in which the management does not understand that these are different markets, is worthless. I share this thought. I ask you only to note that the leadership in the article was out of the question. The manual is quite adequate.
And such an incident happened. I heard about this kind of things from my friends who had experience in medium-sized companies. My manager, who distributes projects, gave me a client for training. At the end of the training, the client asked how he can ask questions if they arise. I replied that you can by phone. He asked for my business card or give a phone number on a piece of paper. I said that I have no business cards, I took a piece of paper and wrote: "8-915-111-11-11, Vasily Pupkin, website development." I must say that I wrote this without a second thought. The customer is gone. After some time, tete-a-tete Artemy (manager, fictitious name) asks me if I gave him my phone, if I offered my services. I say that he gave (the client himself asked for it), saying that he can consult on his site (no one can consult me ​​except me, because no one works with this software), I didn’t make any specific proposals to him and Services did not offer. Anticipating a further question, I said: “Ask the question directly - will I be tormented by my conscience if a client addresses me with an order as a freelancer. No, it will not. ”At first, I still did not feel the trick, then I began to guess that this piece of paper had somehow reached him. Then he asked what I wrote to him. I said about the phone number and last name. At the end of the conversation, he takes out this piece of paper :) (the provocation was not very skillful and at that time I was expecting it). When asked why the “Website Development” signature was there, it was quite reasonable that among the heaps of phones and unknown names on paper, after 2 days the client no longer remembers who Vasily Pupkin is. Artemy began to run down, like I should have written “Programmer of the company Horns and Hooves” or something like that. “Make me a business card with the text you think is necessary,” but for now I subscribe the way it comes to my mind first.
I do not know how the phrase about conscience was perceived by them, but it literally meant the following: “If a client for some reason refuses the services of the company and addresses me as a freelancer, I will not refuse it (it will still go to the competitors). But I am not going to engage in a focused customer withdrawal. ” I'm not going to make excuses to anyone. Whether I have compromised myself or not, let the leadership decide. The meaning of my post is different.
')
In fact, I’m completely worried about the concerns of managers. The problem of client drift by employees is quite acute. Different companies are struggling with this in different ways. I will not undertake to assert that in this case there was a planned provocation (on my own initiative of the manager or at the suggestion of the management). But there are other cases (not with me) with more pronounced "deception". In the example described, there could be a fake client (maybe it was? :)) or there could be a call allegedly from a client: “Daragoi, let me give you money, you will make a website for me quickly, otherwise these are very expensive”.
In your opinion, in what ways should this problem be solved and do such “events” have a right to exist? In my opinion, the sediment that can remain with the employee and the atmosphere created in the company thereby, will do much more harm than the potential possibility of dropping customers.
There is an opinion (and I share it) that it is necessary to fight it all the same in more civilized ways:
1) Creating a trusting relationship with employees and a comfortable environment for his work. Often, an employee begins to lead customers away from a good life, or because of some conflicts with management.
2) All key clients should be led by proven managers, access for other employees should be limited.
3) Constant contact with customers. Tracking customers who have not called for a long time, finding out the reasons.
Yet the presumption of innocence has not been canceled. A normal employee is only offended by rude checks, and truly unscrupulous employees probably have experience in such matters and will not be caught in such checks.
PS Obviously, the names and company names are fictional. I believe that under this condition I have the full moral right to publish an article. Taking this opportunity, I send my greetings to all the employees who recognized their company in this post. I hope that the incident will only be a misunderstanding, and will be settled without sediment.
If it is not interesting and not in the subject, note: nafig :) If interested, tell me which blog to postpone.
PP.S So far, I moved it to My Business, not quite in the topic, but I did not find the blog “Their Business”.
UPD: Something a lot of comments about the "company policy", about the position of the leadership, etc. And no one thought that this is an initiative of a single manager, about which the management does not know, and if he finds out, he may not approve it? In fact, it turned out in general. In my opinion, there is a lack of professionalism of the manager. What did he achieve by unjustifiably accusing me, as some here expressed it, of ratting? Suspicions crept in, a check was needed - do it neatly and beautifully so that no one would know in case of failure. And now only an unpleasant aftertaste and spoiled relations.
Also in the comments, the idea was repeatedly expressed that the price for that firm, to which the competition is taken separately by a freelancer and in which the management does not understand that these are different markets, is worthless. I share this thought. I ask you only to note that the leadership in the article was out of the question. The manual is quite adequate.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/76304/
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