Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1402657
24 I PSAI Association Insight, July 7, 2021 Does it make sense to cold call? Should you visit job sites and events where a competitor has established business? These and related topics are often raised by portable sanitation operators at PSAI events and in social media discussions. Questions along the lines of, "Can they do that and still be in compliance with the PSAI Code of Excellence?" roll into the PSAI office too. Few things make portable sanitation operators' blood boil more than competitor behavior that seems underhanded. Some reported actions are so blatantly deceitful it seems hard to fathom anyone could justify it as ethical or good for the industry. For example: • Going to established job sites and making untrue statements about the existing portable sanitation provider. Operators have reported instances in which customers have been told their current portable restroom company has been sold or that the owner has died, among other unflattering allegations regarding the existing provider. • Competitors claiming the job site is in "my territory" and the current provider should not be there. • Competitors claiming to be the preferred provider for the city when that is not true. • Competitors entering a job site, putting their own decals over the decals of the real owner, and then implying that they have been the provider all along. When things like this happen, they are clearly a violation of the Code of Excellence which states, We engage only in fair business practices with our competitors. • We observe all laws and adhere to the spirit of fair competition in all our business dealings. • In the marketplace, we focus on our company's features and benefits rather than detracting from our competitors. All PSAI member companies agree to follow the Code of Excellence when they join or renew their membership. So if competitive actions like this are occurring and a member company is involved, it is worthwhile to review the process for filing a Code of Excellence complaint here. But what if the competitor's actions are not quite as blatant? What if they are simply calling or visiting customers on established job sites, or they are reaching out to long-standing event Calling on Competitors' Customers: A Hot Idea that Leaves Some Cold By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director planners to try to win their business? Is that ever acceptable? Legally, the answer is an unqualified "yes." In the capitalist system in which we do business, it is completely permissible to approach a competitor's customers. Sometimes that occurs passively (e.g., advertising the customer may or may not see) and sometimes it occurs actively (e.g., cold calling, making competitive bids – including low-balling prices or offering "free" toilets to switch providers). Just because something is legal, though, doesn't necessarily make it the best idea. Whether it is good strategy for your company depends on a lot of factors. Even if you are not philosophically opposed to doing it, there are pros and cons to approaching your competitors' established customers. Many of these were expressed in a Facebook exchange on the subject and in conversations I have had with operators. Here is a represen- tative sample of the points of view expressed. (continued on page 25)