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Patrysha
03-19-2009, 06:52 PM
Is it appropriate for a former employee to inquire about contact information for a former client?

In this case, the former employee did all the legwork to acquire the client for the employer and that the employee has something completely separate for the client that is not related to the employers primary business.

or should the former employee just retrace her steps and gather the contact information again without involving the employer?

vangogh
03-19-2009, 07:09 PM
The only reason I can think why a former employee would want that information would be to land the client. If I were the employer I probably wouldn't give it out. If I were the former employee I wouldn't ask for it straight away. I'd either try to get it from someone still with the company who I felt I could trust or use a bit of social engineering to gather the information.

Otherwise I would retrace steps like you say. I would think much of the information would be available online if you search for it. At the very least you might be able to gather information to take you closer to the contact info.

Evan
03-19-2009, 08:27 PM
I would also ignore the e-mail. While they got the client, they are now a client of the BUSINESS and not themselves. Who knows what other potential damage they could do to you as well.

They should be able to trace their own footsteps to get the contact information for this client. If it is completely unrelated, and there is some type of relationship between this contact and the former employee, there won't be many issues. Clearly they didn't have a very good working relationship, so be careful.

billbenson
03-19-2009, 09:58 PM
Let me ask the question a different way as well. In many industries sales people are hired away from their employer for their book of business (client contacts). They go to work for their competitor and try to drag their clients with them.When this happens, it probably tends to be industry wide.

The only time I really encountered this is around 2000 selling network equipment and T1's etc to IT departments. It was real cut throat sales. At that time the only way to do well was to somehow get a job - entry level or whatever. I didn't do it, but I had a few job interviews. At the time it was harder to get an appointment with the IT manager than the president.

orion_joel
03-20-2009, 01:46 AM
While i can see that maybe in some rare cases there may be a reason that they might need this information. I do not think that it is in the past employers interests, to give the information out.

For the first part, no matter who got the client, it is a client of that business, and if someone wants to take the client away then they need to do or redo the work for that. Which leads to the next point, the privacy policies of most companies, should disallow this. Most clients buy from a company under the expected impression their information will not be shared. So i would definitely say no to giving out the information.

nighthawk
03-20-2009, 05:28 AM
Which leads to the next point, the privacy policies of most companies, should disallow this. Most clients buy from a company under the expected impression their information will not be shared. So i would definitely say no to giving out the information.

Within the UK it would also be a breach of the Data Protection Act. You cannot pass contact details on to a third party unless the client specifically grants you permission to do so, hence why most online forms have a tick box at the bottom for you to grant permission/deny permission for your details to be shared.

In such a case, I think you need to establish exactly why the former employee wishes to contact the client, and if it is a legitimate reason, pass on the message and act as a go between so there is no direct contact between them.

greenoak
03-20-2009, 10:06 AM
just say no..and dont waste company time on it...unless the boss says to do it....

..it sounds way out of line....
ann

Patrysha
03-20-2009, 10:26 AM
Interesting replies...

In this case, I'm the ex-employee in question.

In the weeks leading up to my leaving the radio station I got caught up in training my so-called replacement (who left the company within two weeks of my leaving after I spent six weeks training him on how to deal with my customers) and in covering for the other sales person who quit without notice in right in the middle of my six week transition. So with all that going on, I forgot my flash drive with all my client contact information when I did finally pack up on the final day.

With most of my clients it's no big deal because I can just walk in the store. But there was one who I wanted to get in touch with from a head office down east. I had promised to get in touch when I was settled so I could connect with them about some public relations stuff.

So last night I was going through the paper and saw an ad and remembered.

And so I was thinking...hmmm do I contact the person who took over the position and has the info at her fingertips or do I go up to the local location and pick up their business card again...

In the end it was neither because I found the email address I needed when I looked in my archive folders...because there was one time when I serviced the client from my home computer...

vangogh
03-20-2009, 11:50 AM
I had a feeling you might be the former employee in the story and I'm glad you were able to find the email address on your own. Bummer about the flash drive, but it sounds like you're able to get by with it's loss.

There probably would have been ways to get the info back without having to go directly to the company. At this point most every company will have some contact info online somewhere if you can search it out. You probably still have some contacts at your old company who would have helped too.

Patrysha
03-20-2009, 01:39 PM
Yeah, many of my former clients followed me...without affecting their radio relationship :-) I'm still a big proponent of radio and have helped some of my clients with their radio buys (making bigger sales for the station than the new girls were likely to get) -- but I fell flat on my face when I tried to sell the management on hiring me to deal with their marketing (at least so far, I haven't given up) --

Of course, things are further complicated by the fact that I am now one of their clients and the service has been absolutely abysmal in certain areas.