Comments on: Who Owns Your Contacts?

By: Siddharth

Siddharth — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:56:22 +0000

Plus, The Sales person in most cases was hired by the company because of his previous contacts on most cases. SO They are prepared for them to leave the company with incremental contacts which they make in the company in question.

CRMs are generally true for very large consumer base , in most of the B2C businesses ( as it addresses the need for people to Scale the sale , by telecalling). B2B space has seen pretty less use of CRMs as sales are mostly relationship based.

Thus, Its a standard strategy for companies to buy out the sales person, if they want to clinch a contract , because there have been stories of clients moving with the sales person.

Some company has however an exit clause for not working for competitor or client firm for a period of 24 months from the exit.

By: Owen JJ Stone

Owen JJ Stone — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:59:19 +0000

This is a great write up. This practice has been going on forever. In the age of “Social Media” this now becomes a problem. Companies can no longer let one person be the face or there social brand. In the event that they leave people will follow them with the click of a mouse. Now more then ever there is a better chance of conversion.

By: Axel Schultze

Axel Schultze — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:55:54 +0000

@Zoli – I guess it was too early back then but we revitalized the concept in our new SRM System (Social Relationship Management).

@All
Here is the “Xeequa Contact Share Process” we invented about two years ago:
1) A Person (future, current or former employee) has contacts and those contacts are that persons own social relationships. There is no way – and should not be a way – to force the person to ignore, forget or reject the social relationships they have.
2) As that person joins a business network he/she may bring all the relationships with them. And it would be more than fair to share them with the new employer in a way that the new employer has access to the contacts they “bring with them”.
3) During the employment a lot of company specific business activities are happening and all the business process related data stay with the company once the person leaves.
4) If the person leaves the company he/she may take the contact they brought in plus the new contacts they made. All company related data stay in the company system.

Axel
http://xeesm.com/AxelS
(my social map)

By: Keith Dukes

Keith Dukes — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:57:54 +0000

Companies try to protect their rights to the contact and to the value of the salesperson’s relationship with the client by putting non-compete clauses in place. These non-compete documents try to restrict the salesperson from using that relationship for a period of time.

If using a CRM correctly, the real world is that the company has the contact data. I also have the contact data. I own the relationship, but the company has the right to restrict my use of that relationship for some period of time.

Where many companies fail is when they try to restrict my use of the relationship for too long of a time period.

By: Allen Stern

Allen Stern — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:51:41 +0000

good point about the CRM system management

By: Allen Stern

Allen Stern — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:51:18 +0000

agree about the outgoing training the incoming

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:37:22 +0000

It is both and is treated as such. Most companies have some sort of CRM system that employees and specifically sales folk, have to enter their new/old contact lists. Sales folks are also generally monitored from leadgen to across the entire sales funnel. This is how companies keep their contacts. That the salesperson has a copy as well, is just part of life.

By: Kaizen Print

Kaizen Print — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:40:50 +0000

Technically he contacts are the property of the company as you only made contact with these people during your working routine.

However, many if not all of these people will become friends and associates over time and so the line of contact/relationship is blurred.

By: Zoli Erdos

Zoli Erdos — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:45:52 +0000

It’s not about what’s right, it’s about reality – and the reality is that star salespeople are always treated as if they were freelancers with their own rights…etc.

Btw, a few years ago Xeequa had an interesting concept of a CRM system that recognized that as sales reps move on, they should continue to have access to the contacts, but not the company-specific business data associated with them. Have not followed them, no idea how far they got with it.

By: Curt Grymala

Curt Grymala — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:23:19 +0000

I’d say you both own the contacts. It’s the contacts’ point of view whether to continue their relationships with you as an individual or with the company you formerly represented. A lot of that is going to depend on how your former company handles the relationship.

By: Jon B

Jon B — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:19:50 +0000

There are two sides to “owning” contacts. A – the physical/virtual contact list, and B – the relationship equity.

Smart businesses recognize that good relationship/sales leads have built real relationships and that these cannot be replaced without a fresh investment.

However, smarter businesses will realize that their departing relationship/sales leads have built a valuable bridge they can still utilize by having their outgoing lead introduce and facilitate an introduction to the new relationship lead.

The discussion over who owns the business cards is ridiculous. Getting an email address or phone number is not what wins business. People win business.

Contact info to sales is like maps to a limousine company. You need a driver to make the business happen. (PS – people sell maps, and you can get a lot of them free over the internet)

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:12:28 +0000

I think both/neither. It’s all about access and the relationship itself. That is, there’s no important legal question here but rather a practical one.

If I have your email address, I can (practically) use it to email you. If you don’t know who I am, the address is of no value. So me taking that with me is, well, bupkis. On the other hand, if we have a relationship, and my former employer operates outside that relationship, the email is of no value to him.

By: Darren Herman

Darren Herman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:09:45 +0000

Contact lists are a commodity. So are business cards. You could have every business card in the world but just having them does not mean that the person will pick up the phone or answer an email. The value in this is the relationship. A good sales person “owns” the relationship and her clients trust her. A salesperson shouldn’t worry about leaving her business cards behind (or sharing them) as the company probably doesn’t have as strong a relationship as she does with the person.