There is an organisation in London called Debrett’s; they have existed since 1769 and are experts in, amongst other things, social skills. According to The Financial Times ‘Britons seeking advice on etiquette and lineage have been able to turn to Debrett’s for almost 250 years.’ I think I’m going to need to enlist the help of Debrett’s because I’m confused about some business etiquette I’ve experienced very recently.
I was discussing Emotional Intelligence with my delegates a short time ago and about how we have the ability to refine and improve our personal and social confidence through understanding our own behaviour and those of others. A key attribute of any learning and development facilitator is the possession of Emotional Intelligence and knowing in which circumstances it is best to not react emotionally and ‘let it go’.
Rewind to my early years as a salesperson and I had much less self-awareness and, in all honesty, self-control. I was brutally schooled in the discipline of conducting follow-up calls. If a customer had made an enquiry (through their own free will) then it was my job to always ensure there was a positive, diarised next action with that customer until they made a purchase or were deemed by my Sales Manager to be ‘lost’ – and heaven help you if you tried to ‘lost sale’ it before the Manager had agreed!
Now, at that time I hated follow-ups because I convinced myself if they hadn’t bought on the spot then they wouldn’t buy now, and it almost became a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the modern era we now know the critical importance of getting it right first time as the gestation period of a retail buyer has reduced massively. The other reason I disliked them was rejection; I was, and still am to a slightly lesser extent, sensitive – not a great attribute for a salesperson perhaps but the flip side I was/am able to empathise with people and take the time to take a genuine interest in them & understand their circumstances.
Forward-wind to today; I’ve been self-employed for nearly 5 years and enjoy a very close working relationship with my key clients. When I’m asked to provide a quotation for a new piece of work I will (wherever possible) visit the client, gain an in-depth understanding of their needs and prepare a summary of content, structure and cost. I was asked recently to provide a quotation for a new prospective customer – I visited the client and did all of the above.
I followed up my submission of the quotation a short time afterwards (as per my brutal schooling) and was asked to make some changes, which I duly did. I then followed that amended quotation up with another call to which met with approval subject to final sign-off and dates were provisionally booked in my diary.
I have subsequently tried to contact the potential client by telephone on 6 occasions and sent three separate e-mails. It is apparent that the project has either been postponed, cancelled or the work has been awarded elsewhere as there has been no response to any of my attempts to contact them.
And this is where I need Debrett’s help. Because I’m not sure if this is now modern business etiquette? Is it now acceptable for a business to approach another business asking for their help and then ignore them when they try to contact you (after significant work and effort has gone in to provide a solution)? Or, did my brutal schooling in relentless follow-up process contribute to this failure? Or is it a lucky escape for me because based on their business etiquette their culture is, at best, questionable? Over to you on this one, readers, because I’m genuinely stumped!