A Personal First

Before today I had not understood the need to openly criticise bad business practice by naming names. I have felt that the best way to approach it is to deal with the people you have cause for complaint with directly - and leave it at that. We all make mistakes, we're here to learn and grow.

I now realise that the reason I held this view was possibly because I had not been sufficiently affected. There must be something hard wired in my head - because I'm still not going to do it - it just doesn't feel right. But I want to describe the surprisingly (to me) powerful effect that a disappointed potential supplier's email had on me today. And how I now get why people do name names.

The company I work for needs a new website, so we asked 3 agencies to respond to a fairly modest RFP - 1 French, 1 UK, 1 US.

The French agency submitted a proposal that was 4 times higher than the mid priced bid. I was reminded of a tweet from an acknowledged digital expert @joshr a few weeks previously where he commented on Twitter that 'web "design" and mobile industries are stuck in the past, profiteering'. It's possible that this empowered me. There's a temptation to think that the highest bidder with the biggest name clients is going to do the best job. Fortunately they included some design examples which were so far off the mark from the light directions towards style that I gave in the brief that the price issue became immediately irrelevant.

So today, having had a genuinely tough time selecting one agency from the other two - because they were so similar in approach and price and both charming people - I wrote to the French agency explaining our decision and on the advice of French colleagues, included the reasons (design fit and price) which I expressed in polite and friendly business terms.

In return I received a ranting email with shouty exclamation marks, copying in a more senior colleague, who has had not been involved in this process at all (although people in his department have). His response questioned my ability to make an accurate decision, implicitly by copying in someone's "boss" and explicitly in the text, stating that I did not understand the relevance of pricing. Even if I were a novice and had not done this sort of thing before, there is no way on earth that I would change my mind and warm to someone who sent me an email like that. Bonkers. There is no other term that fits this behaviour better. Their "win back this piece of business" strategy was a disaster.

And the worst thing is, I felt unhappy, properly upset by it, like I had been bullied. When you're working from home on your own it's not a nice feeling.

I took me ages to summon up the courage to contact the next potential supplier and I included no reasons this time. Fortunately he was charming and asked for some insight as to the reasoning in a very sensitive way and I gave him a call - because it seemed like the right thing to do and a better way of giving feedback. And I am glad that I did; if it doesn't work out with the agency we selected, he is most definitely my plan B.

Interestingly the agency we did select said to me that they don't include design examples in their responses because they don't have enough information usually at that stage. He explained that the client plays the biggest part in terms of directing the look and feel.

I feel like something has been resolved by writing this down. And rather than naming names I am more likely now to have the courage to explain to them the consequences of their type of response to losing business.