Switching to a competitor

S

sunnysideup

Guest
I started with a new company last year which had a great idea but then lost their way, basically they did not take advice given on how to attract clients. Instead of using a trusted middle man they went straight to the source and were refused point blank. Therefore they have totally given up on the idea and are concentrating on a different area of the industry......to say I am not too happy with them is an understatment as this idea was the reason I joined them.

I have seen this idea being used in another part of the country but they are using the middleman and to my knowledge are having alot better success (going to investigate further). I was thinking of calling them with the option of me sourcing the middlemen in my own area so that they will be in another population centre in the country and I am doing what I want to do.

Does anyone see any issues with this? Or do ye think it would be a wise call on my part to check it out even if nothing comes of it?

Don't want to go into too many specifics for obvious reasons.
 
Would need to understand why the "trusted middle man"is key? is there another such middle man out there?
 
The guy who set up the company and had the idea was totally new to the industry so contacts were at a minimum but the idea was very good. Because of the lack of experience the clients he went after would not go near him as they just saw it as a fly by night idea and an obvious lack of credentials. Now for it to work there is a need for someone who is trusted by the clients in each geographic area and this is where the middlemen come in (they are middlemen for the purposes of the idea but they have worked directly with the clients before).

The advice given was these "middlemen" be used as they have the resources and contacts whereas we have the idea but that was not followed and now I am in limbo with it.

Hope this has made it a bit clearer!
 
That makes perfect sense, and was the answer I was half expecting.

The thing I dont understand is why this company would want to use you (or anybody) to find a middle man.
 
the reason being is that I know the idea inside out and therefore can sell it to middlemen who in turn will use their contacts etc to bring in the clients, also I would be on the ground in my geographic area and therefore a lot more hands on than if they were trying to set it up in my area and going to meet every tom, dick and harry.

In effect I suppose it would be account management and like any good company they have different sales people for different geographic areas hence me for my area!
 
Well best of luck, my only fear is that your middleman would also be in your geographic area and be hands on etc so would be worried about being cut out of the equation.
 
A number of points which you may wish to consider:

1. Is this idea subject to intellectual property right protection?

2. Does the competitor use a different method to sell a similar product/service?

3. Is the market regional or national?

4. Does your contract of employment contain a non-compete clause? If so, what are its terms (needs to be reasonable in terms of duration and scope - including geographic scope) - there are a number of good threads on AAM about this.

5. Have you access to proprietary/confidential information of your employer and would you use if you joined the competitor? Does your contract of employment address this?

Your employer is entitled to have such info protected. There is a fair amount of UK caselaw on this and the employer can possibly seek injunction to prevent the 'springboard' effect of you using such information when joining a competitor. One particular case I recall is a team from a financial organisation joining a competing organisation and being prevented from using client sensitive information in the competing firm.
 
jack2009 said:
Well best of luck, my only fear is that your middleman would also be in your geographic area and be hands on etc so would be worried about being cut out of the equation.
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I hear you but the thing is there would be a high volume of middlemen so this where the account management side would come in.....of course if there were only a few middlemen then that is where the worry would lie
 
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