Quote:
Originally Posted by Jackiem1961
I understand why someone might think that way, but I worked most of my career in technology sales. When someone is selling a high ticket item it is not uncommon for a company to "wine and dine" so to speak in order to get in front of a potential customer. That being said, if I had ever behaved like the gentleman in my home today, I would have been fired. A company"s reputation is everything regardless of the industry.
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Hi jackiem: The gentleman's demeanor says it all. I do understand the "wine and dine" offer. It does present a dilemma. If you accept is there a quid pro quo expectation? If you decline do you risk being viewed as not being social and offend people who work at the fringes of your business.
As a manager I refused offers of lunch/dinner, gift, tickets for professional sporting events golf outings, etc because I believe it was a conflict of interests and I did not want anyone in or outside my company to question my decision. Unfortunately it was not the case company wide and it was finally resolved by instructing employees to complete a form explaining the nature of the requests its costs and its benefits to the company and the customers it served .
So events such as you describe are a turn off to me and as I use to tell those companies eager to business with us I can't eat and talk at the same time. so if you want to do business with us set up an appointment with my secretary and we can retire to a quiet conference room