We have recently had a few competitors and reps stop by and look through our company files and sift through our papers.  It pisses me off.  I have now had to come up with a way to put all our files under wraps.

Anyone have this problem and what do you do about it?

how did they get your paperwork?

Our paperwork was sitting on the desk. I had to leave the office to talk with a customer. I was gone for one minute and when I came back, the person was looking through them.

Huge lesson learned.

It has also happened in the past.

When a sales rep goes to his/her car and sits there awhile writing notes, there is a good chance they are writing down what they say and heard in your shop or office.

I had sales reps tell me they count the jobs on a job board, make notes on any commercial jobs (maybe they can change the spec), one even commented on what was showing on Quickbooks on my computer. 

Can't be too careful.  They are just doing their job.

Posted By Andy on 27 Sep 2009 03:32 PM
Our paperwork was sitting on the desk. I had to leave the office to talk with a customer. I was gone for one minute and when I came back, the person was looking through them.

Huge lesson learned.

It has also happened in the past.

Andy, if they go behind a desk, wall, door or any type of barrier to look... call the cops... that is trespassing!   Been there done that.  I was with a customer once in my shop  when I just happened to start heading for the door to the hallway where my office is to get a new price list. Well i walked in on someone looking  in my file drawer.  They were together. One got charged with criminal trespass, the other complicity to criminal trespass.  I think they were looking for money, valuables or guns though.


Who needs reps like that anyway.... and if a competitor did it, what better person to put in jail.

Normally when a rep shows up it is unannounced and I dont care for that. I rarley stay in the office, so if I dont have anything I wish to talk with them about I take them out in the shop where it loud and dusty. This gives them no place to set there papers down and no place for them to sit so they dont stay long. I'm not being rude I'm just working and if I need something from them I will call them.

We have one rep with a wandering eye. He's never touched any paperwork though. When we see him pull up we just flip everything over.

If I walked in an someone was leafing through paperwork I would get rid of them ASAP. If it's a company that you still want to do business with I would call the manager and tell them to send someone else next time. If it's a company that you don't care too much about I would call the manager and let them know that you're not doing business with them any more because of the sales rep.

IF you can't change the layout of your office to better prevent wandering eyes from seeing
"stuff" - here's a couple of things that work pretty well -

1. CHANGE the names of the jobs you have on your "Job Board" to coded entries that only
YOU know what the code is - I'm not advocating that you go out and buy a German "Enigma" machine from one of those old Nazi U-Boats, but a simple letter & number code
works miracles in confusing those who DEFINITELY DO NOT have a NEED TO KNOW about
the inner workings of YOUR operation. This has worked really well for me in the past.

2. "BAIT" the guy who you suspect may be taking the intel he gathers from your shop and gives it to another... Then, when it comes back to you - you'll KNOW who the "rat" is....

3. IF you already know who the "rat" is - give him some "decon" - in the form of a nice big
juicy false piece of intel, that, when he starts to spread it around - will only make HIM (or HER) look like a complete idiot.... good for a laugh - crude, but effective....

4. Phony P.O.'s for massive amounts of product that you never ordered - placed "strategically" in your office so that the suspected "rat" sees them - will usually bring a comment like "How come you don't order this much stuff from me?" questions that will be a tip off that the "rat" took the bait.....

All in all - it's a shame that things come to this, but use it to your advantage - If you haven't already - read up on the writings of Sun Tzu  - there's TONS of good stuff that works for business as well as in war.......

just my .02 cents worth

hope that helps

kevin

Have some complimentary chocolates ready too,  the exlax type.


I can't beleive someone would actualy go through a file,  I would have to call the glass door repair man if that happened.

A call to the company they rep would be a good start and weekly visits to that compeditor's show room wearing the new Burly hunter hat.

Several years back we had an A/C guy come in on a saturday to do some work to our A/C unit. I left the office for a bit and when I came back I walked in on him going thru a desk and our company check book !!

I was VERY upset !

Now after reading this I feel better,,not that some rep was snooping..but I dont get why reps come to your shop? if I need suntin I'll call and buy it...I mean dont get me wrong I like seeing Chris hyatt my avonit rep..but all in all...if they aint bring samples or brochures????..well they can send them

My wood supplier shows up announced and he thinks Im arrogant cause i 'SHOO" him away....it like a form of panhandling..what do you want to see..do I not plan ahead and have the materials I need for the job listed on the purchase order?

Its not like my rep has three sheets of plywood in his car ready to buy anyway or SS sheets

and here is the ultimate guys..if a rep gossips to you ..they will gossip about you...sorry youse dont have awesome reps like us Floridians..I guess I call them my friends..i am working on my wood supplier..hes close to friend..maybe a few more visits..hahahaha

My Rep Chris Hyatt we have lunch and discuss innovative ways to show off SS..that is what reps shoiuld be doing...the other materials reps are just showing up with blank shooping lists...scram!!!!!!!!!

On the other side, I was refinishing a top and the customer left his stock market account information in my way. I had to move it and found out he was worth over several million dollars with a glance. Don't leave your stuff out when you call me to work, please. At least I knew he had the money to pay his bill.

 

Joe

I like these ideas. I like the coded file system. We have a small shop and office so that might work nice. The decoy or bogus job might be fun as well.

Thanks for the info.

Andy- E-Mail Sent........ kevin

all of our paper work files and schedule is kept in an up stairs office and NO ONE has access to it but us. a few of us have concealed carry licenses and it would not be good to find some one going through our stuff

Maybe this would be ok to put this here?


Yesterday we went shopping  75 miles away in the nearest large town.   We went into HD to get some light fixtures and minor things,  I walked through the cabinet dept with my daughter and she said,   " hey,  there is so and so"   a friend/ customer sitting at the design desk.       We made eye contact,  he turned red and I continued to move through,   I sure didn't want to feel like a poacher since it's his prerogative to shop prices where ever he likes.   He chased me down and said he was shopping for cabinets and the sales guy wanted to talk to me about concrete and granite tops.   I declined but offered the names and numbers of 2 good resources in both fields since I do neither.  Sure was awkward ..... but I just couldn't go near the man's desk

David,

That is an uncomfortable feeling. We have had others shop around to get better pricing and then will come back to us to ask for a friends discount. I think it is difficult to work with friends unless everything goes perfect.

Andy I had a rule for friends to avoid any problems.  I would sell them the job at cost of all materials and actual cost of labor, no mark up and no shop time but we did the job at our convenience so as not to screw up any schedules.  They would see what we paid for material and wages, the only thing require of them was not to brag about the pricing.

Family can be another problem particularly if you are not close with them.  I would tell family members I would do the job for free, more often then not  they would say that's not right so to work out a fair deal I would tell them I would give them a list of costs and let them decide how much to pay.

Seemed we always made money on family and friends and no complaints.