How do you limit your time with reps?

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Author Message David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 1259 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - 02:05 pm:    How do you limit your time with product representatives. I find that if you let them, product reps will talk for hours. A colleague of mine is infamous for his marathon gab sessions with reps. It seems like I get sucked into a longer meeting that I was expecting. Any thoughts? Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 1329 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - 02:12 pm:    Be upfront about the time you have when the visit is scheduled. If you know you'll have questions, make sure to bring them into the conversation early. Try really, really hard to not get sidetracked. But, if the conversation and information is valuable, recognize that and either allow it to continue or reschedule for another time. After all, their time is also valuable and they will probably have other visits scheduled before and after you. The visit should be mutually beneficial. J. Peter Jordan (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 10:00 am:    I must confess that I sometimes drag out my meetings with reps by asking too many questions that are not necessarily related to the reason for their call. If you must limit your time, set an agenda, stick to it, and put a time schedule on each agenda item or the meeting as a whole. Unresolved issues may be addressed in another meeting. And it does help to limit attendance in meetings to those directly involved. There are "meeting manager" tips available on line; the ones I mentioned above are only a subset. Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 1210 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 02:55 pm:    when your time is up, you stand up, thank them for coming to you office, and escort them to the elevator lobby (or front door). And at the same time, tell them you will "certainly" call if you have any questions. Dale Hurttgam, NCARB, AIA,LEED AP, CSI Senior Member Username: dwhurttgam Post Number: 89 Registered: 10-2005 Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 03:49 pm:    If it is an unannounced office call, unless there is something that I specifically need at the time, I usually meet them in the lobby, remain standing and do not invite them back into the office. If they call in advance and make an appointment, I usually try to keep the meeting to a half an hour. If I invite them in for a specific project need,may spend more time to cover the needed info and any updates they wish to share. Tip that I once heard shared for any situation - to keep it brief - remain standing and not invite the other party to sit down or to a confernce space. Richard L Matteo, AIA, CSI, CCS Senior Member Username: rlmat Post Number: 454 Registered: 10-2003 Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 04:56 pm:    I totally agree with Dale's response: If it's an unannounced (cold-call) I usually start out by telling them they need to make an appointment with me first and then hold them to 5-10 minutes max. in the Lobby. If they have an appointment, it's normally because I want to discuss their product. If it's of a general nature, I try to hold them to 15 to 30 minutes max. Sometimes, even with an appointment, things come up where I have to cut them short - I apologize and tell them I had a deadline come up and that they should call me to reschedule. If it's a project-related call, then it's whatever time it takes and my time is billed to the project. Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 517 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 05:59 pm:    All good advice. One thing to remember - be polite! There's a good chance you may need to call on them at some time, and you'll get much better response if you weren't the rude jerk that wouldn't talk to them. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1343 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Friday, November 18, 2011 - 10:32 am:    To add to this excellent advice: If the product or material is one that really is not used in our practice, I would always politely inform them that, thanks very much, but we don't use that product. I'd add a plausible reason why, such as "we don't do residential work" even if a bit of a white lie. Most reps appreciate that because they don't have to waste time pursuing leads that are dead end.