I have hired an employee but I am nagged to make these registrations - legit or not?

[Eholic]

Hello there,

Okay so I am the manager of a digital marketing agency and I have recently hired an employee.

The days prior to signing the contract, the conversations were running smoothly.

After the signing of the contract though, my employee started being quite pushy about a certain registration to the point where I felt I was being controlled. There were then a few emails where I had to remind my employee about my rank in the business.

My employee did specify that to sign contracts with large businesses, the registrations below are mandatory to proceed:

These are the following places I was dictated to register: to obtain Duns Number, then to get NCAGE code, and finally to register in betasam.

As the discussions about the daily duties I want my employee to carry out, the above registration was mentioned in every single email.

My concern is are these places legitamate to be registering my business?

This has raised a lot of doubts, red flags and questions in my mind whether or not to go ahead with it?

So if any of you have or haven't been in similar situation, please share your inputs on this!

Thank you in advance!

 

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[aeden]

Hello there,

Okay so I am the manager of a digital marketing agency and I have recently hired an employee.

The days prior to signing the contract, the conversations were running smoothly.

After the signing of the contract though, my employee started being quite pushy about a certain registration to the point where I felt I was being controlled. There were then a few emails where I had to remind my employee about my rank in the business.

My employee did specify that to sign contracts with large businesses, the registrations below are mandatory to proceed:

These are the following places I was dictated to register: to obtain Duns Number, then to get NCAGE code, and finally to register in betasam.

As the discussions about the daily duties I want my employee to carry out, the above registration was mentioned in every single email.

My concern is are these places legitamate to be registering my business?

This has raised a lot of doubts, red flags and questions in my mind whether or not to go ahead with it?

So if any of you have or haven't been in similar situation, please share your inputs on this!

Thank you in advance!

Nothing is *required* to sign contracts with large businesses. If you provide a service that a large business needs, they will find a way to work with you. Furthermore, if they absolutely have a specific requirement, then they will tell you and at that point you will have to find a way to meet their requirements if you want the contract.

My take is that the person you hired is used to working a certain way, and that way included processes that involved DUNS and NCAGE identifiers. You are the boss though so you have the freedom to say no and the employee needs to deal with your decision. They can deal with it in all kinds of ways, from just accepting it, to arguing with you, to cajoling you, to quitting, but they have to deal with it.

Regarding the legitimacy of these registrations, yes DUNS is a common identifier that is used in the business world. sam.gov and CAGE codes appear to be specific to working with the US government. If that's your target market then you'll probably need to go through with it. Also, if that's your target market, good luck.

 

[Lyinx]

Nothing is *required* to sign contracts with large businesses. If you provide a service that a large business needs, they will find a way to work with you. Furthermore, if they absolutely have a specific requirement, then they will tell you and at that point you will have to find a way to meet their requirements if you want the contract.

My take is that the person you hired is used to working a certain way, and that way included processes that involved DUNS and NCAGE identifiers. You are the boss though so you have the freedom to say no and the employee needs to deal with your decision. They can deal with it in all kinds of ways, from just accepting it, to arguing with you, to cajoling you, to quitting, but they have to deal with it.

Regarding the legitimacy of these registrations, yes DUNS is a common identifier that is used in the business world. sam.gov and CAGE codes appear to be specific to working with the US government. If that's your target market then you'll probably need to go through with it. Also, if that's your target market, good luck.

Nail on the head Aeden!
I just wanted to mention, in my business (family + 2 employees) we did not do any of these 3 things, but we have been assigned a DUNS number automatically, but do not pay the DUNS membership fees. NCAGE and samgov we have never had, but we sell to the retail and wholesale markets and not to businesses.
Our business stats to let you know where we sit in size (for comparison)
28 Yrs in biz
1.5 M sales
10+ people employed (mostly subcontractors from at-home workshops)

 

[Eholic]

Nothing is *required* to sign contracts with large businesses. If you provide a service that a large business needs, they will find a way to work with you. Furthermore, if they absolutely have a specific requirement, then they will tell you and at that point you will have to find a way to meet their requirements if you want the contract.

My take is that the person you hired is used to working a certain way, and that way included processes that involved DUNS and NCAGE identifiers. You are the boss though so you have the freedom to say no and the employee needs to deal with your decision. They can deal with it in all kinds of ways, from just accepting it, to arguing with you, to cajoling you, to quitting, but they have to deal with it.

Regarding the legitimacy of these registrations, yes DUNS is a common identifier that is used in the business world. sam.gov and CAGE codes appear to be specific to working with the US government. If that's your target market then you'll probably need to go through with it. Also, if that's your target market, good luck.

Hello there Aeden,

I know there is risk associated with starting any business, but when this type of target market is involved are there high risks such as being prosecuted/sent to jail or something along those lines? ( just so I know what I am getting myself into) Of course I am doing everything to the best of my ability and how it should be done but it doesn't hurt to know the worst that could (God forbid) happen, as such target market can't be treated as a small matter of course.

Let me know

 

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[aeden]

Hello there Aeden,

I know there is risk associated with starting any business, but when this type of target market is involved are there high risks such as being prosecuted/sent to jail or something along those lines? ( just so I know what I am getting myself into) Of course I am doing everything to the best of my ability and how it should be done but it doesn't hurt to know the worst that could (God forbid) happen, as such target market can't be treated as a small matter of course.

Let me know

If you're concerned that you might be doing anything that could be construed as potentially illegal, then hire an attorney and seek their advice. Have them write contracts that you are comfortable with, and review any contract that a client or vendor might request you to sign.

 

[biophase]

Hello there,

Okay so I am the manager of a digital marketing agency and I have recently hired an employee.

The days prior to signing the contract, the conversations were running smoothly.

After the signing of the contract though, my employee started being quite pushy about a certain registration to the point where I felt I was being controlled. There were then a few emails where I had to remind my employee about my rank in the business.

My employee did specify that to sign contracts with large businesses, the registrations below are mandatory to proceed:

These are the following places I was dictated to register: to obtain Duns Number, then to get NCAGE code, and finally to register in betasam.

As the discussions about the daily duties I want my employee to carry out, the above registration was mentioned in every single email.

My concern is are these places legitamate to be registering my business?

This has raised a lot of doubts, red flags and questions in my mind whether or not to go ahead with it?

So if any of you have or haven't been in similar situation, please share your inputs on this!

Thank you in advance!

Since you mention that you are doing a digital marketing agency, I don't see why you would need any of these? Is your employee stating that certain companies are not working with him because they are requesting these things?

Or is he saying that your company is not legit without them? If that's what he is saying them he's totally wrong.

I don't understand why an employee would feel that you need those to do business. What are the reasons that he is giving you?

The only one I've ever been asked for was a CAGE code when submitting at RFP to the US government.

 

[csalvato]

The real problem here is that you need to learn how to communicate with your employee and build trust.

This is a conversation you should be having with them, not strangers on a forum.

It seems like you're not used to collaborating with others. Your employee is struggling to communicate with you his needs to get the job done, and you aren't able to get them to be more clear on why his needs are needs, not wants.

So to you it seems like they are being pushy, and to them it seems that you're being difficult because you're not giving them what they need to get the job done.

Close your browser window, pick up the phone, call your employee, tell them this situation has you concerned and you want to learn more then ask questions to get to the bottom of their rationale.

If they are good at their job, they should be able to clearly explain why you need these things, what they are, and the benefits/drawbacks of these registrations.

If you disagree with it, you need to talk through that together. Very rarely does a hammer need to drop.

 

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