2 ms·

Why do you think it's "clear" that the business owns the contacts and relationships? Contacts and relationships form the basis of a salesman's job, much as lan

by sk5t 15y ago

Why do you think it's "clear" that the business owns the contacts and relationships? Contacts and relationships form the basis of a salesman's job, much as language and API expertise are the basis of a programmer's job. You may invest considerably in a programmer's training, only to watch him leave for a competitor, but you will have a difficult time claiming ownership of his knowledge and experience. I think the lesson is that, from a business perspective, you need to guard access to key contacts and companies where possible, if the likely departure of an employee who knows them will cause the business undue hardship. How else would you propose to structure a job where the employee forfeits relationships upon separation? (And how would you get any decent salesperson to accept such a job?)

lukejduncan 15y ago
IMHO: relationships are personally unless explicitly called out in a contract. If I met someone, I met them, you can't take that back. If a relationship is that vital to the company then safe guards of some sort need to be in place.
algoshift 15y ago
Your analogy is incomplete. Imagine that you spent $250K having a programmer write code for you only to see him take the code with him to a competitor and actually use it. Opportunity acquisition isn't free. If a company invests hundreds of thousands of dollars developing contacts and relationships they belong to the business, not the employee. I gave the example of the trade show. Think of it this way: you spend $120K at a trade show in four days. At the end of four days you have, say, 2,000 prospects and 50 great quality VIPs. Now imagine that your sales guy goes to work for your direct competitor and hands over the list. Sorry, non-compete agreements are not legal in California. And, yes, we used Salesforce extensively. It doesn't fix the problem.

by sk5t 15y ago

lukejduncan 15y ago

IMHO: relationships are personally unless explicitly called out in a contract. If I met someone, I met them, you can't take that back. If a relationship is that vital to the company then safe guards of some sort need to be in place.

algoshift 15y ago

Your analogy is incomplete. Imagine that you spent $250K having a programmer write code for you only to see him take the code with him to a competitor and actually use it. Opportunity acquisition isn't free. If a company invests hundreds of thousands of dollars developing contacts and relationships they belong to the business, not the employee. I gave the example of the trade show. Think of it this way: you spend $120K at a trade show in four days. At the end of four days you have, say, 2,000 prospects and 50 great quality VIPs. Now imagine that your sales guy goes to work for your direct competitor and hands over the list. Sorry, non-compete agreements are not legal in California. And, yes, we used Salesforce extensively. It doesn't fix the problem.