Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Stop Asking For Personal Information And Just Give us Your Quote

I was doing some research for my boss today regarding on-site shredding for some very old files that had to be discarded securely. To that end, research and phone calls were made in an effort to secure quotes for the job. Most of the phone calls when as you would expect.

"Hello is this... Can you tell me your pricing structure for... Thank you for you time."

One phone call when much differently. Instead of giving me a simple answer, this man kept asking me for information about the small company I work for. These were not questions that you would need for a quote. Where is the job, how big is is, when is it; these are all valid necessary questions. They were extraneous questions that had no bearing on what their costs and consequently rates would compute to. It is not that they were necessary inappropriate question, I just did not see the need to tell him such information.

If he has my number, why does he need another to the office? Why does he need to know where the office is located if the job is not at the office, but at a storage facility some distance from here? Why does he need to know the name of the company I work for. Admittedly, there was no reason why I should not have told him the answer to these question (especially the last one). Why however, should I have to? There were many phone calls to be made and on a very truncated schedule.

Figuring we were at an impasse, with him wanting more company info and I just wanting a quote to put into the chart for my boss, I told him politely to have a nice day and ended the call. He called back a few minutes later trying once again to get the information which he was not going to get. The request was made once again, "Sir, I am not going to give you that information, but you know more than enough to give me a quote. Would you like to give me a quote for the job?" He responded that he had never had anyone refuse to give him this information, and that was not how he does business. Then he said, "How do I know you are not working for one of my competitors trying learn what my rates are?"

Seriously, he really said that. It was all I could do to not laugh out loud, but their was no containing the massive smirk across my face. My response was to say, "Excuse me sir, did you just accuse me of industrial espionage?" He did not like the word choice of accused, but seemed fine enough with the industrial espionage label. It goes almost without saying, but he never got the information and never gave me a quote.

Who knew that the professional shredding industry was so cut throat. In all seriousness, its inconceivable that this man really thought that asking for this information would prevent his competition from finding out what his prices were. He could have thought that the call was some sort of prank, but that is unlikely given the specificity of the job the quote was for. Plus, if it was a prank you would think the goal would be to waist as little time as possible. He certainly spent more time in this back and forth than if had just given a quote and hung up the phone.

Were his prices cheaper than the rest? Your guess is as good as mine. When I tried to call back it would not let me through; and I tried a few times. The thought on my part was not to punish the company for this one man's actions. Also, my job was to find the best deal for my boss. If it turned out to be this company then that is the one we would have used. Did they block my number or were they having phone issues? I do not know, what I do know is that they lost potential business.

I would think that the company would be eager to give us a bid. This is what they do, and no one is going to hire them without knowing the approximate cost. What difference does it make to them to have all this information, unless and until they get the job and need it for billing purposes? Companies are supposed to satisfy the customer. Especially in an industry such as professional shredding, the real money is in repeat customers and referrals.

Should I have given him the info? Maybe, but if I had any resistance to giving the info was it worth the loss of a potential client to insist one it?

I am getting tired of giving out personal information to get answers to questions which you would think the company would want to give you anyway. When you go to a company and ask for a quote you are doing half of their job for them. They usually have to find clients before they can get a job. You found yourself for them, why would they not jump at the chance to get a client without being forced to expend the energy of finding someone?

Should you be forced to give out massive amounts of personal information to get a quote? Should you be forced to give out any information more than what is absolutely necessary to get an accurate quote? I do not believe you should. Maybe its just me, but I think a lot of people agree with me.

As always, feel free to sound off below with a story of your own or what you think on the matter.

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