The truth about the big boyz

I see my primary responsibility in being a technology consultant as keeping my customers interests at the forefront. Up until just recently I've never received pressure to do otherwise from my vendors. But, life hands us twists and turns to learn from. Just recently, I've had a major IT equipment manufacturer who decided to throw a temper tantrum when I was not pushing the sale the way they wanted me too. Apparently working in the SMB (small and medium business) realm for all of these years has softened me. I'm amazed and confused by the whole incident. I was asking questions about their process for bringing solutions to my customer. I was getting a sense that they were going to take this around me and go directly to the customer, which the customer told me they did not want. I was asking qualifying questions to this vendor about their presence here in Minneapolis. What their makeup of staff is. They were so offended that I would ask that they berated me for a 1/2 hour. After they acted this way they put the blame on me and told me that I did not know sales. Well, I guess I don't know sales. What I do know is how to protect and take care of my customers. I know that one of the problems with publicly traded IT manufacturers is that they have to please the shareholder, no matter what. I know now, more than ever I have to take care of my customers and watch out for the big boyz. It turns out I was right. Today the vendor went around me and went directly to my customer. How does this make the customer feel? Does it give them confidence in sales people? Does it make them want to buy the products? Does it give them a deeper feeling of trust? My guess is that it makes them want to run the other way. I know that the higher path, the one of honesty and keeping the customer first, will help me sleep at night and lead to the best and longest lasting customer relationships. I wonder if my vendor is sleeping tonight?