Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Custom Flash Drive Suppliers

Posted by Anonymous on 7/31/2008 at 12:11 PM ET 250 Points
My company is expanding into a new market area and we have been researching the use of a unique flash drive design for a large campaign. A month ago I contacted one of the leading developers of custom flash drive premiums and flash 'widget' software operating out of California, hoping to get detailed information on their customization capability and volume minimums. Since our proposed drive design and campaign are unique, I requested an NDA. Given that this company normally dealt in custom unit designs for national campaigns, this seemed a minor request. There was no objection to this at first, but then their sales representative fell silent, ignoring all email. After a long wait, I called the company to enquire as to what happened and was passed to their president. I could immediately tell something was wrong with this individual as he seemed rather distracted. I again asked about the NDA, to which there was no objection. But then I discovered the fellow had been Googling my company name while I was on the phone with him when he demanded to know why my email had no company domain name and why I had no web site -god forbid there should be such a thing as a company that works exclusively B2B and knows its small base of customers personally... The conversation immediately reverted into something akin to a police interrogation as to the legitimacy of my company. Over the next few days this escalated to the point where I actually had to submit a scan of my articles of incorporation to prove to this man's satisfaction that my company existed. I got an NDA at last -one drafted by them because my simple boilerplate one was unacceptable to their lawyers- but then after submitting my signed copy I was never able to get their signed copy in return. Another couple weeks later I was suddenly contacted again by the original marketing representative asking if I needed more assistance. I posed some more questions about their products and asked about this NDA. Again, silence.

It's now been a month and I'm still at square one. I've been trying to be very patient with these people because they obviously have quality products made in the US and I could find no other companies with comparable software capability. I would like to avoid spending 6 months and a lot of unnecessary expense on having such software custom-developed. But it's clear I've reached a cul-de-sac.

So I would like to pose the following questions to this community;

Is this common behavior for such companies, and if so, how can I tailor my communication to better cope with it and illicit more productive responses? I admit to having limited personal experience with such firms but do have enough business experience to know there are some regions of the country and some industries where the business culture is such that politeness engenders disdain. I've never been one to respond in kind -as much as I would like to sometimes...

Second, since I'm getting nowhere with this particular company, I would greatly appreciate any recommendations of companies that do custom flash drive production with widget software supporting such features as virtual paged catalogs, ROI use metrics tracking, background content updating and RSS content push and might be able to work with Flash platform development on more specialized applications.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

E. Hunting
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 7/31/2008 at 12:17 PM Member
    Wow...I apologize for not having anything useful to help your query along, but I just had to say...what a horrible experience.

    I would rather pay a little more than reward a badly behaving company with my business. I refuse to reward bad behavior.

    Best of luck.

    What a HORRIBLE experience!


    kris
  • Posted by AdsValueBob on 7/31/2008 at 12:32 PM Member
    I agree with Kris. There is something going on in the background that we all probably don't know. Possibly something said that has raised their defenses, or they did some research or heard something about your company.

    At this point, a face-to-face meeting is probably the only possible way to even attempt to clear the gauntlet. Even after the NDA, you still had resistance. Maybe it's time to move on down the road with or without the meeting because, for whatever reason, they just don't want to business with your company - and that feeling will permeate all activities between companies if it gets that far (which it shouldn't).

    Sorry - I don't know of any other similar service companies.

    Bob
  • Posted by Mikee on 7/31/2008 at 1:49 PM Accepted
    Have you tried someone like, custom usb memory, www.customusb.com/preload.html. I have not done a project like this, but have been thing about it. Many companies pop under a search for custom usb memory.

    Mike
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 8/1/2008 at 9:23 AM Accepted
    There's not enough to this story to figure out their side of things. Certainly before contacting the next company you could create a quick website to instill a feeling of Internet legitimacy if you feel that's necessary. You could also contact a past client of this company to see if you can get a business introduction. Finally, contact their sales department and ask about their competition. Since they don't want your order, ask for a referral of another company that might be a better fit for your needs.

    Finally, you could contact other manufacturer of Flash Drives: https://www.globalsources.com/manufacturers/2GB-USB-Flash-Drive.html
  • Posted by steven.alker on 8/6/2008 at 6:45 AM Accepted
    As long as you are certain that you have not caused any substantive reasons for them to be wary of you and to treat you in this apparently cavalier fashion, be prepared to name and shame them, for instance to the 380,000 people who subscribe to this site.

    Before doing so, state your intentions and see if it brings them to the negotiating table or brings their lawyers to issuing a “Cease and Desist”

    Hi tech companies are wary of fishing expeditions from competitors and use a variety of techniques to check out the bona-fides of an enquiry. Checking that you have a website isn’t one of them as any con-man worth his salt can create one which gives the impression that they’ve been around for ever and are respectable. Same goes for references. The honest would-be customer rarely looks as credible as the corporate spy.

    NDA’s are standard in business, so I don’t understand their hang up over this point, unless they have seen an opportunity to profit from your proposal by themselves and by bypassing you. You should raise this as a concern.

    They are also unlikely to be working in a vacuum and memos and emails will have been sent, even to outside parties. This exposes you to reputational damage by innuendo and it should be pointed out to them that you are prepared to protect your reputation. In the EC there is a law based on “Unjust Restraint of Trade” The USA has an equivalent law as the European one was drafted by reference to it.

    Stories like this “Manufacturer makes it impossible to become a customer” spread like wildfire on marketing sites and blogs, so again, if you are sure that your behaviour is impeccable and that you have not given them just cause to doubt you, threaten to go public.

    Do they publish case histories? If they do, contact some of their customers to ask for advice on how to join their ranks and ask them what you’ve done wrong which they, self evidently havn’t! Again let the company know of your intentions.

    Finally, nothing is unique in this sector. With a little diligent search, you could probably source your product in India, China or Taiwan and at a lower cost. State that you will be doing just that and inform the companies local chamber of commerce or board of trade, that these idiots are driving American companies abroad in their efforts to locate a product which is accompanied by civil and civilised service.

    It’s a lot easier in the UK. I’d just get their President black-balled at my club and instruct our gamekeeper to shoot the stupid sods!

    When all else fails, go nuclear!

    Best wishes


    Steve
  • Posted on 8/6/2008 at 7:24 PM Author
    Thank you very much for these responses and suggestions. I greatly appreciate the feedback. I think it's probably best to simply shop elsewhere, though it looks like finding the same package of software features from others may be difficult.
  • Posted on 8/7/2008 at 5:19 PM Member
    Terrible experience! Check out www.edgetechcorp.com. We have used them for a number of custom flash drive deals. Good prices and great service! Their sales office is in Dallas at 972 239 3410.
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