I spent the last week of February in sunny Phoenix, Arizona at the e-Tail conference. The conference itself was fantastic as usual, full of information, new products and plenty of networking.

While in Phoenix, I decided to drop in on a few 2CO vendors. I did not call in advance because I wanted to surprise them, and being that most of our vendors only get to talk to us by phone or email, I thought it would be nice for them to see that we are, in fact, flesh and blood.

Around 11AM on February 22, I departed the Marriott at Desert Ridge in my rental car, a PT Cruiser, and headed out to meet my first vendor Kachina-Dolls.com. As I navigated the valley’s freeway system listening to long-hair 80’s metal tunes, I found myself looking forward to learning how the dolls were made and how the company was founded. Kachina dolls have always interested me, because of my fascination with Native American history, folklore and art. I had also lived in Phoenix for twelve years, so I had definitely seen my share of dolls.

It took me about twenty minutes to reach my destination but I immediately realized the drop-in strategy might not have been the right solution. That’s right – I pulled up in front of a post office. Now, you might think I would have thought about this possibility, considering the fact that many of our vendors have home businesses. NOPE – I remained stubborn and didn’t call in advance, because I wanted to be the guy delivering the proverbial Publisher’s Clearing House ten million dollar check so I could see their reaction.

Since I only had one option left for reaching with this vendor, I gave in and pulled out my phone to let the cat out of the bag. When the vendor answered, I told her who I was, and that I was sitting outside her office. She said, “excuse me?” So, I repeated my name and explained I was with 2Checkout and that I was sitting outside her post office box. She started laughing and explained she worked out of her house. We shared the laugh and had a very nice conversation about her business. It was nice to hear she was very happy with our e-commerce system and valued her relationship with 2Checkout.

So, onward and upward! With one vendor down and six to go, I was forced to make the decision whether to call the next vendor or take a chance their listing would actually be a physical address. You’re right, I took the chance! The next vendor on my list was SaltCells.com . It’s important to note that traversing Phoenix is no easy task. The Valley of the Sun is spread out like no other city and it took another 20 minutes before I was pulling up in front of the vendor’s house. There is a truck in the driveway and a man standing next to it. I got out, introduced myself and he told me the people next door were with the pool service company. Next door, I am met by a gentleman with long hair much like mine. He told me his mother was inside and that I should go downstairs to meet her.

Finally, I hit pay dirt! As I walk downstairs it opened into a home office. Two people were sitting at computers and one was on the phone. The lady on the phone held up her finger to signal “just a minute.” Once she was off the phone and we exchanged greetings, she said, “I just called you guys yesterday!” I asked if there was anything I could help her with and she told me she was invoicing customers and when doing so, she was unable to mark an order complete. She wanted to know if there was a way she could bypass the shipping and still be able to mark an order as shipped or complete. We talked for approximately 40 minutes. I told her I would take her requests and concerns back with me and that I would be back in contact with her the following week. When I left, I had a sense of accomplishment, I felt good that I had met one of our vendors face-to-face and was going to be able to help them.

Throughout the duration of my stay, I met with eight vendors, and I am happy to say that, in general, every one of them was happy with our customer care and our e-commerce system. Following the positive feedback I received from this experiment, I suggest that anytime our employees are out of the office and attending a conference, they should make the effort to meet with regionally located vendors. It was a rewarding experience, and even though next time I would probably give in and call a majority of them in advance so they had more time to prepare for my questions, the face-to-face interaction and out-of-the-way concern for their company’s well being, was well worth the time spent on the road.