marketing, sales, employees, non-disclosure-agreementThere is a certain company that I want to try to sell my product to, but this company has somewhat of a monopolistic position in my market. Therefore I want to make sure I approach this in the right way, but I’m not entirely sure how that company works internally, and how to approach.
For this reason, I’m considering contacting an ex-employee of the company on Linkedin.
I’m not trying to solicit any kind of confidential pricing information or something like that. I would just like to ask him a bit about how best to approach the company, and make sure I talk to the right people in the right way.
But I really want to make sure I don’t accidentally do something unethical, or something that would look bad. I don’t want to come across as if I’m trying to be sneaky.
Is what I’m thinking of doing (contacting an ex-employee and ask for general advice), considered unethical or sneaky? Will the company consider it unethical or sneaky?
More generally, where is the line with this kind of thing? Obviously you can’t ask about specific confidential pricing information, but can you ask an ex employee e.g. about how his former employer generally negotiates?
This is not unethical and not sneaky, and it is a great way to better understand how a company operates.
You’ll need to be careful in approaching the former employee because they might find it weird that a stranger is contacting them, but if you do it right, you should be able to get them to talk to you.
As long as you are not asking them to divulge confidential information, you are fine. Asking how the employer negotiates does not strike me as being confidential.
I agree with Jeff’s answer, although you could request a consultation offer from this former employee, and this is legal and works fine for both of you.
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