Ride the Lightning

WHAT READERS SAID ABOUT AN EDD VENDOR CODE OF COMPETITION

March 16, 2009

As promised, here are some of the replies to my last posting:

Sharon,

Thank you for yesterday’s post (Vendor Code of Competition) – and the team at Orange Legal Technologies fully agrees with the synopsis thoughts in the post.

We absolutely ascribe to fair and legal competition and work to do our very best to follow the laws, statutes, rules, and best practices in this area  – so please keep us posted on your responses – as we would certainly be interested any developments in this area.

We also believe that if vendors have issues with other vendors – it is certainly beneficial to discuss those issues prior to any “threats” (to use the vernacular of your post) – as many differences might be able to be worked out in an amicable manner.

We enjoy your posts – and appreciate your voice in the industry.

On behalf of the team at OrangeLT,

Highest Regards,

Rob Robinson
Vice President of Marketing
Orange Legal Technologies

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Dear Sharon,

I am doing some late night reading and saw your question on vendor competition. I do not think large firms will give competitive intel to their smaller competitors. What advantage would there be for them in doing this? None.

Your justification for a vendor conduct code is because small vendors are bullied by large vendors. Doesn't this view strike you as biased? I've worked for three large vendors in my career and none of them have any extra time or special desire to go after small competitors unless forced to do so in cases of trademark, libel, or non-compete violations.

Your reader sounds frustrated and I can understand because I work for a small vendor too. I have been a marketing executive for more years than I care to admit and I've learned from trial and error that resources are only as limited as the imagination to use them. Instead of attacking competitors by name, think positive marketing strategies and talk about real customer problems and the solutions.

Any marketing professional worth their salt should be capable of defining competitive advantages no matter what size their company or their competitors. This is marketing 101. Having the most resources is no guarantee of success. How resources are used is much more important.

Comparative bashing of competitors is only looks like an act of desperation. Your reader needs to do more thinking out of the box. A Google search will find many free resources on the internet with good tips on creative and positive marketing styles.

Best of luck,

John Smith

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Sharon,

First off, thanks for the comments and thoughts shared on your blog.  I have enjoyed reading them ever since I found your site. This recent one troubles me …

"There are firms today that threaten other competitive firms for any type of competitive marketing comparisons. Many times these threatening efforts stop smaller firms from competitively marketing, not because they are doing anything wrong – but because the smaller firms have neither the desire, time, or resources to contest the request of the threat."

On the surface, this seems like standard schoolyard bullying, and the smaller players find it easier to acquiesce than to stand up and fight or report the behaviour.  Of course, reporting the behaviour comes with its own problems – finding someone interested enough to take on your cause, having enough evidence to actually prove criminal or civil wrongdoing, and being able to weather the storm of activity if anyone does "take up the cause".

The other side of the coin relates to what you are trying to accomplish when you make comparative claims.  Are you comparing like products, services or costs?  How do you know?  Without having an insider in the firm you are comparing against, or without having current accurate knowledge of what you are comparing, don't you run the risk of unintentionally misrepresenting the comparison?  Is this what the threats are about – making sure smaller firms don't disadvantage larger firms because of inaccurate comparisons?

My experience is that the larger firms usually have more resources, and can offer a broader range of services while smaller firms can usually bring a more personal touch AND a clearer focus with possibly better expertise in a limited number of specific services.  The trade-off is that the larger firms can't really provide adequate one-on-one interaction with their clients.  This leaves potential clients with a clear choice – do they want a relatively adequate impersonal big name general service provider, or do they need specific expertise from a firm that will give them more personalized service?  Every situation has its own answer to that question.

As for an agreement to abide by existing laws and codes – give me a break!  The rules are already there, with mechanisms in place to enforce them.  What makes you think that the bullies will be willing to agree on giving up their perceived power as long as the victims scatter in front of them?

Posted anonymously by request

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Sharon,

I embrace the concept but wonder about the execution because of the difficulty in comparing vendor capabilities in a real apples to apples description of services.

Much of the confusion surrounds the semantics of this industry and the abuse of those words to either embellish or distinguish a particular capability to meet the every pressing marketing department agenda to sell, sell, sell.

I don't know if you saw a recent posting by John Martin advocating a program of testing each vendors code to exhibit a standard similar to the UL code of approval.

I think many of us would like to see the end to the hype and a return to solid litigation support practices, but I doubt that is possible with the "magic" of technology changing every day and the entrepreneurial drive of finding ways to make things better for a bigger buck.

Timothy Westcott

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Thanks for taking the time to thoughtfully consider the suggestion from one of RTL's readers.

Timothy's reply struck a huge chord with John and I because we think it is well nigh impossible, at the moment, to get a true apples to apples comparison between vendors. But, as Rob points out, it is helpful simply to have the conversation.

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