I'm trying to figure out where the line is drawn of Free Speech (opnions... like this forum) and where conflict of interest comes in...

I'm not going to name names, but i believe everyone on this forum has the right to say whatever they want to say, i mean, hell, we're not in some dictated country ruled by a militant... free speech and opinions are greatly appreciated (and often overlooked)..

but then there comes to the point of business... as a business you try to make ends meet, sell items and make a living... Obviously your business lives or dies on the community's views and thoughts.. whether it be good press or bad, its all about running a business.. Take consumer reports.. they take a product, review it, and publish what they see... i dont see any harm in that do you? they post reviews, and let the consumer decide what is good for themselves....

What if a company of a product you sell calls up and says in a nutshell "cease and decisit your negative comments about us, or we'll drop you from our account".. now where does that line come in for conflict of interest, or opinions.

Obviously you want to sell the best quality/best products to your customer, right? but at the same time, you're limited on what you can say about a modification... because if its not that great, you dont want to lose business or hurt your customers by selling bad things....


what is your take? do you think a company has a right to call up the reseller and complain of opinions expressed, or do you think its the consumer's right to know, and make their own decisions...


help me out.. i wanna know..

 

I'm surprised they haven't dropped you already or you stopped offering their products. To avoid this type of stuff, i think it's better to push a better alternative that you may carry without saying anything negative about the first company. If someone specifically asks about the first company's product, you tell the customer that perhaps this other product offers more for the money.

You do have to draw the line somewhere...sure customer is #1 but how many exhausts, intakes, and headers have been sold to a general public who believes that increases in hp can be added up as a sum (i.e., +5hp for exhaust, +10hp for intake, +10 hp for headers = 25hp in gains).

Business is business and I believe you can offer better alternatives without slamming a company...don't burn those bridges, somewhere down the road they may offer something that works well or is extremely popular but you no longer carry their line.

And that company obviously has to protect its interest and having one of their own resellers slamming them is more hurtful than some random postings by nobodies.

Good Luck.

 

This may be a stupid question, but since someone else brought it up, why cant "increases in hp can be added up as a sum ". I guess I fall in the category of customers that falls for this..?

Thanks,
CF

 

Cheston- First off if you don't believe in a product you probably shouldn't be selling it. If this is a case of a company that makes a quality product, but dealing with the company is a pain in the ***, then I think Jimster hit it on the head. Continue to carry their products and give customers the option to purchase, but if someone asks for your recommendation offer an alternative from a company that the customer may not be aware of.
The reality in the business world is that you really don't have freedom of speech- If you're distributing for a company and slam them they have every right to refuse to use you as a channel.
The end user definitely has the right to say whatever they want about a company and/or their products. Magazines have the same right as they are a third party and not affiliated with or in any way tied to the company. However when you are representing a company they will expect you to be an advocate for their company and their product.

-Jason

 

Yea. this post was a general question for those interested parties.. funny thing is post has nothing to do with the companies that i am currently prototyping/helping out..

its another company that's out here in So Cal...that aren't too partial to some of my opinions. and think i'm related to another company that i am not an employee of.. so yea..

i personally would never ever promote something that i know for a fact is crap, i have a reputation to upkeep and i value a person's trust/well being rather than a few bucks.


thanks for your comments. they're duly noted..

 

A shotty one at best j/k

Seriously though, I've been very impressed with the Z community as a whole and most of the vendors and companies I've dealt with as well. But there is always that bad seed

 

That's a difficult question, and definitely requires a bit of diplomacy.

To me, one very important questions is: Is it worth it in the long run to bow to companies that threaten when their product is sub-par?

I think that as a reseller, you are in a position to provide constructive feedback to the manufacturers regarding the end-user's feelings on their product.

Obviously, if you simply tell customers that one COMPANY is crappy, then the company will not want to deal with you. At the same time, if you pass of a poor product to a customer, then your reputation as a shop will be tarnished.

I think you need to walk a fine line between either extreme, and let people know when a PRODUCT is bad (but try not to let that carry over to the entire company) and also let the COMPANY know how they need to improve to stay competitive.

If a COMPANY is truly run poorly, and threatens to stop using you as a distributor, then you probably haven't lost much in the long run.

In my opinion, there are plenty of companies out there pushing their products, and far less customers who are willing to buy from you. Therefore, your first commitment should be to your customers, and if you are recognized as an honest, informed, shop, then you will have enough business to keep the good companies interested in you due to the loyalty of your customers.

-D'oh!