Accounts departments

steveve

Might not be the right place for this so move if its not.

This is just something iv been wondering. Over the years iv done a bit of freelance work for utility companies, Airtricity, Pure Telecom etc.

Wile i was doing it a lot of the time you would have to deal with the accounts department and most of the time one person was put in charge of looking at the utility's. Most of them were happy for you to send a price etc to look at to compare to what they had and maybe they did join maybe not. But quite a few times the person would just say ''not interested''

Now of course not everyone is going to be interested or join but if its a persons job to look at things like this should they not a least hear whats on offer? Just in my view there not really doing there job are they?

Another thing that i heard a lot was ''there's not enough savings there at all'' or ''sure its only who ever much'' People complain that things cost too much etc so should any savings you get be enough? Now i know with the electric more over theres not huge savings but savings none the less. Why do people think they should be saving huge amounts?

Im just interested to here what people think about this?

listermint

Literally have no idea what you are talking about.

your post isnt very clear and doesnt really ask a defined question tbh.

steveve

listermint wrote: »

Literally have no idea what you are talking about.

your post isnt very clear and doesnt really ask a defined question tbh.

Seems pretty clear to me but ok. The question is people who work in accounts departments whos job it is to deal with the costs of bills not looking at offers from other companys to compare to what they have. Are they not doing there job?

Also if you dont understand the question why bother posting?

listermint

steveve wrote: »

Seems pretty clear to me but ok. The question is people who work in accounts departments whos job it is to deal with the costs of bills not looking at offers from other companys to compare to what they have. Are they not doing there job?

Also if you dont understand the question why bother posting?

I asked you to clarify the question because you were meandering, which is why i posted.

If this is the attitude you have when trying to make a business to business sale then there is no wonder you are not receiving a response.

steveve

listermint wrote: »

I asked you to clarify the question because you were meandering, which is why i posted.

If this is the attitude you have when trying to make a business to business sale then there is no wonder you are not receiving a response.

Seemed pretty clear to me what i wasasking.

joeguevara

Alot of times if there is not huge savings, firms like to stay with a company that they have built up a good relationship with, can change direct debit dates easily etc. rather than switching to a new company where you wouldn't know their processess and procedures.

A good example of this is with my car insurance. I have always been with Axa and while back in the day Quinn might have been 30 euro cheaper (Axa would always come down to close to quotes) I stuck with Axa as I knew what I was getting, had claimed a few times hassle free etc. My point being it is not always about cash. Also anyone who has come to my door trying to sell electricity have always been incredibly rude. One even said 'Are you stupid that you don't want to save money'.

steveve

joeguevara wrote: »

Alot of times if there is not huge savings, firms like to stay with a company that they have built up a good relationship with, can change direct debit dates easily etc. rather than switching to a new company where you wouldn't know their processess and procedures.

A good example of this is with my car insurance. I have always been with Axa and while back in the day Quinn might have been 30 euro cheaper (Axa would always come down to close to quotes) I stuck with Axa as I knew what I was getting, had claimed a few times hassle free etc. My point being it is not always about cash. Also anyone who has come to my door trying to sell electricity have always been incredibly rude. One even said 'Are you stupid that you don't want to save money'.

As i say its not the fact there not joining but should they not be seeing to be looking at cheaper suppers. I have found a lot of the people who deal with this to be very rude. Had a man once tell me they were with 3 different companys for there electricity in the space of 5 minutes, he said ''we're already with ye'' this was before i even said who it was

joeguevara

steveve wrote: »

Another thing that i heard a lot was ''there's not enough savings there at all'' or ''sure its only who ever much'' People complain that things cost too much etc so should any savings you get be enough? Now i know with the electric more over theres not huge savings but savings none the less. Why do people think they should be saving huge amounts?

Im just interested to here what people think about this?

I was replying to this section of your OP.

Also, this would only be a very tiny portion of this person's role. There is no job dedicated to getting cheaper elecricity. While it may seem important to you, most people have much more important cost savings to make rather than a hundred euro a year. Cold-calling sales will always get a no from me. If I wanted cheaper electricity, I know who to call and get a quote.

Mickiemcfist

I suppose it depends on the industry, I work in a multi plant manufacturing company and get calls from phone line suppliers at least once a week. I got a couple of them to send me there billing structure and after ages of mind-numbing maths I figured out it would save between 1 & 4% on our bill, which would be the equivolent to our business as a person getting an offer at the tesco checkouts to fill out multiple page forms to save 1-4% of the cost of toilet roll in their weeks shopping. I know I wouldnt be bothered.

If it was a company in customer service/ call centre etc then they would definitely be interested but when your talking about saving 100 odd a month it isnt worth it unless the business is small.

Plus some of these utility suppliers especially phones, pop up and are gone within a year or two.

lala88

If they change what would they complain about then?

Two things i find shocking about people who work in accounts departments is (1) The amount of them that dont know what supplier there with and (2) The amount that will lie to you about who there with. In a sales job i did before you had a list of people who were already customers (so you wouldnt be calling to them) and the amount that would lie and tell you they were with them already was mad. I just wonder do they lie to everyone like that? Dont get me started on what happened if you told them you know it was a lie.

Better still people who lie when you can clearly see and bill etc from who there with and they tell you there with you

MissFlitworth

I'm not in accounts but I am person a lot of sales calls get put through to and have found that often 'in charge of looking after' means 'this call is vaguely related to the area you work in & no one else wants to deal with it & it would be rude to hang up on this guy without letting him speak to *someone* so here you go, enjoy!' I'm not obliged to listen to a sales call, if I'm in any way interested in the product/saving I'll ask for information to be emailed over, if I'm not I'll say I'm not interested. If my boss found out that I'd told a sales person from any company that I wasn't interested he'd say something like 'they're an awful nuisance aren't they?'

As to lying and telling sales people that we're already signed up for something we aren't, wouldn't do that personally because I'm happy saying 'No, thanks' but can't see a problem with it. It's the perils of cold calling, people don't want to talk to you and are often up to their eyes with actual work and need you off the phone without having any sales trickery tried on them

The Big Red Button

lala88 wrote: »

Two things i find shocking about people who work in accounts departments is (1) The amount of them that dont know what supplier there with and (2) The amount that will lie to you about who there with. In a sales job i did before you had a list of people who were already customers (so you wouldnt be calling to them) and the amount that would lie and tell you they were with them already was mad. I just wonder do they lie to everyone like that? Dont get me started on what happened if you told them you know it was a lie.

The people you're cold-calling don't 'owe' you the truth or anything else - if they lie to you that they're already with the company just to get rid of you, it's similar to the way that I lie to chuggers in the street that I'm not eighteen yet - just to get them to p*ss off. Even though it's very clearly untrue.

If I'm unhappy with the rates being charged for a particular service, I'll request quotes from other suppliers.

Mickiemcfist

lala88 wrote: »

If they change what would they complain about then?

Two things i find shocking about people who work in accounts departments is (1) The amount of them that dont know what supplier there with and (2) The amount that will lie to you about who there with. In a sales job i did before you had a list of people who were already customers (so you wouldnt be calling to them) and the amount that would lie and tell you they were with them already was mad. I just wonder do they lie to everyone like that? Dont get me started on what happened if you told them you know it was a lie.

Better still people who lie when you can clearly see and bill etc from who there with and they tell you there with you

Haha, the irony!
A cold-caller finding accounts staff annoying. :rolleyes:

The point was made perfectly above, if the service we are currently receiving isn't acceptable, financially or otherwise, we would look for alternatives. Accountants haven't the time to be listening to every salesman's spiel for hours a week when information is readily available on the internet or on brochures when we actually are interested in switching service providers.

giant_midget

Cold callers are very annoying. I think its fair to say that most people are aware of how to save money on things like this... www.bonkers.ie for instance.

People are a lot more clever nowadays, we can find things online very quickly so no need for sales cold callers (phone chuggers)

lala88

giant_midget wrote: »

Cold callers are very annoying. I think its fair to say that most people are aware of how to save money on things like this... www.bonkers.ie for instance.

People are a lot more clever nowadays, we can find things online very quickly so no need for sales cold callers (phone chuggers)

If they are why do company's need to send out reps? I wouldnt say people are all that clever...

Mickiemcfist

lala88 wrote: »

If they are why do company's need to send out reps? I wouldnt say people are all that clever...

Sales reps in many industries are used not to drum up new sales but as more of a relationship manager, getting to know clients & having a face to face relationship with the customer, therefore creating company loyalty.

This does not include door-to-door salesmen (cold callers), as they are as much of an nuisance. (I used to be one, and hated being there as much as people in there homes hated me being there)

smcgiff

lala88 wrote: »

If they are why do company's need to send out reps? I wouldnt say people are all that clever...

To make money for THEIR particular company.