About 10 years ago, a couple of readers we're calling Al
and Tina were in the market for a house. They worked with several brokers to
find a place and were ultimately successful in finding a home they loved.
Now that they've been settled in their new home, they
continue to get postcards from assorted local realtors informing them of
properties for sale. One realtor continued to send them unsolicited emails long
after they'd purchased their home. For a while, that realtor's emails stopped.
But a few weeks or so ago, Al noticed that he again
started receiving emails about available properties from that realtor. At
first, Al thought nothing of the email. But something struck him as different
about the most recent email.
After consulting with his wife, Tina, she pointed out
that the realtor was now at a different firm from the one he was at when they'd
met with him.
"Anyone can buy our name to mail to," writes
Al, "but this guy clearly got my email address from when he worked at his
old firm and he's now using it at the new firm."
Using his former company's leads didn't strike Al as
kosher. "Don't those email addresses belong to the old company?" he
asks. He wonders if he should alert the realtor's old boss and tell them that
the guy might have left with company property in tow. Or, he asks if he should
just let things lie since he never pays much attention to the emails or cards
he receives from realtors anyway.
If the realtor stole company information, then he's wrong
to do so. But Al doesn't know what the realtor's relationship to the old
company was. He might have had an agreement with his former employer that it
was OK to take his leads with him. Or he might have paid the former boss for
use of the names.
If Al wants to get clear on the propriety of the realtor
using his email address, then rather than accuse him of theft to his former
boss, he should get clear on the facts first. He can do this by responding the
realtor and asking him if he has permission to use his old leads, or, if he
wants to escalate matters, he can contact the realtor's former company and
alert it to the realtor's behavior.
But the right thing is for Al to figure out what goal he
is trying to achieve. If he doesn't care one way or another about receiving
occasional emails from the realtor, he can let things lie. Or, if he does care
and finds the emails to be a nuisance, he should contact the realtor and ask
him to stop. If the realtor persists, he should report him to his new company,
and he might also want to take the extra step of letting the former employer
know that one of its former realtors is refusing to cease his practice of
emailing Al, even after Al specifically asked him to stop.
It's not Al's responsibility to put in the time it would
take to discover whether the realtor's behavior is on the up and up. But once
Al asks him to stop, the realtor should.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice, is a senior lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.
Do you have ethical questions that you need answered? Send them to rightthing@comcast.net.
Follow him on Twitter: @jseglin
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