No More Free Lunches

At Print Buyers Online.com, there are certain Quick Poll questions that we ask once a year to see if there are significant sea changes among our members. One of these polls is “Would you go to lunch with a sales rep from a printing company that you have not yet given work?”

This year, 70% of our major print buyers said, “No, I’m generally not comfortable with that.” This caught our attention because for the previous three years, the numbers had remained steady at around 60%. What’s with the drop? Do print buyers just not “do lunch” anymore? Let’s delve into some of their responses to discover why this might be.

“It’s inappropriate to have lunch with a vendor when there is no existing business relationship,” commented Hal Garstein, Director, Manufacturing and Distribution, The Deal LLC. “It puts an implicit obligation on the client to provide work to that vendor.”

“I prefer to establish a relationship based on quality of service and pricing,” said Bill Thomas, VP Operations at Abrams & Company Publishers, Inc. “If a vendor turns out to be a valued partner, then it’s time to share a meal and some personal time.”

“I generally don’t go to lunch with any of our reps. This helps keep the relationship more professional.”

“Generally, I don’t. I’ve seen too many people take advantage of the “free lunches” and it bothers me.”

Jim, a purchasing manager, said, “First a vendor needs to earn some of my business and let me know it is worthwhile building a relationship with their company.”

Pat Harding, Purchasing Manager at Flynn Wright concurred. “In general, I refrain from lunch meetings. I don’t see any value in them.”

However, BannerDirect, Inc. Production Director Stephana West, has a different viewpoint. “Since our office is in an out-of-the-way location, I sometimes go to lunch with new sales reps when they make the trip to visit our office,” she said. “It gives me more time to get to know them and their knowledge and experience levels, as well as to find out more about the vendor to help determine if they may be a good fit for our company. It also offers time for each of the print buyers to meet and assess the new sales rep and printing company.”