A WebmasterWorld thread reports that Yahoo! is stealing clients from their Yahoo! Search Marketing consultants (SEMS). The thread creator explained that he paid money and went through the necessary requirements to be a Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassador and what he lost a client out of it.
However, two of my clients, who already had sponsored search accounts, were called [by Yahoo!]. One of them actually decided to cancel with us, believing the free fast track service was all they needed to manage their account, and our expertise was no longer necessary. The other client referred the cold caller to me, saying we handled ppc for them. This guy had the nerve to ask me to refer any new customers we have to HIM.
We reported Google stealing AdWords clients a year ago, and then again a month ago where they stole Israeli clients. Does it really all comes back to this cartoon?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Update: OvertureRep replied saying;
Hi All, I appreciate you posting this information and I’ve passed it along to our sales and agency teams as a heads up.Batleon- Congrats on making Ambassador status. I’d like to address your concern. YSM values the role agencies play in the SEM value chain, and respects the contributions agencies bring to the engagement. We have strict guidelines for our sales team – and those guidelines are designed not to disrupt the relationship that advertisers have with SEMs or agencies.
Please feel free to send me a private message if you want to address further.
YahooSarah
