Good manners is everything in business. To me anyway.
I don’t tolerate rudeness.
I had a phone call booked in with the CEO of a start up business. I went into the call with an idea that I’d help him out as much as I could as they were a new company.
The call went a bit like this:
He answers phone not saying anything. Complete silence.
Me “Hello?”
Him “Yeah?”
Me “It’s Milo from Digital Dominator, we arranged a call on LinkedIn. How are you?”
Him “Yeah?”
(At this point, my willingness to help had diminished. I instantly felt like I was cold calling, not making an arranged call.)
Me “Sorry, is now a good time to talk?”
Him “Yeah.”
Me “Ok, great. How’s things going at *business*?”
Him “I just want to know how much you charge.”
His rudeness really put me off my stride. As he wasn’t interested in telling me about his business, I was unable to know the degree of work I’d need to put in to give a great service to him.
I gave a brief overview of the services and he got the price of our most expensive package. Not only wasn’t I sure on the work it would take. I didn’t really want him as a client. If he wanted to be a client, he’d have to pay for it.
The call was over in less than 5 minutes.
A few days later, he sends me a blunt message saying my prices were high and I wasn’t clear in what I offered.
I politely replied that as I was unable to generate any conversation with him, it was very difficult to give a proper pitch as I didn’t really know where my services fitted in or what he needed.
When I say politely, it was of course alongside a great undertone of sarcasm.
I won’t give the full details of his retort but essentially, he was under the impression he could act how he liked as the potential customer and that I should just put up with it.
He was wrong.
I run my business because choosing who I work with is a huge thing for me.
Had his attitude been different, he’d have been given a great price.
I’ve run a few startups and I know how tight things can be in the first few months.
I could have really helped him. He cost himself one way or another.
Rudeness in the business world will bring you one of three things when looking to hire an expert.
High prices.
Low prices from someone that won’t want to talk to you after taking your money.
Or doing it yourself.
Whatever way you look at it, you’re just increasing the chance of failure.
When doing anything in the business world, manners get you everywhere.
Perhaps I’m just old school?
