"It's been a long time since I've heard from you..."
It was this ominous line that opened my conversation with my CDW-G rep who called me this evening. It felt a bit Godfather-esque for my tastes, especially after a day of talking to sales types. However, I took the bait and let her know that we've been in a budget freeze, so haven't been able to make any significant purchases.
"So you bought some HP equipment a while ago..." I guess I should be glad that she's reading my blog, since I didn't buy the HP equipment from CDW, but I felt a flash of the guilt she intended. "Did you buy directly from HP or from another reseller?" I didn't bother reminding her that the HP Channel Partner (fancy HP-speak for a value-added reseller) from whom we purchased this last round of HP equipment blew them away on a bid almost three years ago, establishing a long-term relationship for purchasing HP hardware. I did tell her, however, that we had a Channel Partner with whom we worked when we were able to make purchases.
She went on, making it clear that she needed to sell more to us, noting that she "wasn't doing very good." Of course, at this point, the only thing she was doing well was irritating me. As she asked me about whether we had any federal or state grants to spend, I started to feel like I was in a cheap used car lot, rather than than acting as the Director of Technology for our school district.
I finally cut her off and let her know that she needn't call me, but that I would call her if I needed anything from CDW-G. As I hung up, I was pretty ticked off: it isn't my responsibility to help her meet her quotas. It's her responsibility to meet my needs when I have them.
CDW-G has always earned my business because they have everything I need in terms of accessories and miscellaneous hardware and they are on the state contract, making procurement fairly easy. Reading this blog to determine my purchasing patterns does not earn my business. Guess who's also on the state contract? GovConnection, among many others. GovConnection, like CDW-G, has a huge selection of a variety of equipment. The usual suspects (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) are all on the contract, too. Later, CDW.