The Pedestal Group

I took the high road today.  It was tough but I did it.  I received an unsolicited resume from someone yesterday and I read his opening paragraph (of 7 with bullets, mind you).  I then opened his resume and forwarded it to someone who might have a position for the individual.  Did I go back and read the rest of his extremely long email?  No – I got an UNSOLICITED resume and I have work to do.  In fact, I had three customers with emergencies just after I received his email.  So he was not a priority.  On a whim, I sent him a question.  Turns out, he answered the question in paragraph 5 which he was quick to point out in his response. Seriously?  You send me a hugely long email and a resume and then scold me when I don’t read every word?  When I was looking for work I would have been grateful to get a response! I would have answered the same question 18 times if necessary.

My thought was to send him a note and let him know that as I had read his email on a phone, that much detail was too much to manage on such a small screen and the fact that I care enough to respond should have been a happy event. Not an opportunity to point out where I had made a mistake.  I also mused on what this said about his management style when he was so quick to correct a total stranger from whom he wanted help.  But as I went to hit send, I wondered, what would this accomplish?  Best case he would take my words to heart, not be so quick to judge and take care of people more in the future.  But is that really likely?  I decided that it wasn’t.  So now I have a bad feeling about this individual and he’ll never know.  I did not share the experience with the person who got his resume from me so it will probably never amount to anything, but if I’m ever called on to deal with him, it won’t be something I want to do.

So the point here is, think about your email responses before you make them.  If you send someone an email, be sure that on whatever device they have they can get the salient points.  Be sure it isn’t going to take too much time to get to those points and that the points are what they need right away.  At some level leaving some questions to later means the person will start a dialogue with you to get the answers and isn’t that what you want any way?

Also, if someone misses something or makes a mistake, don’t automatically forward your original message with the information highlighted unless you want the other person to feel bad.  Instead, think of a couple scenarios where they would have missed it to help yourself feel good and answer it again.  Maybe add a little more detail or phrase it differently.   I laughed at Disney when the trainer told us the most common question people ask on Main St. is what time is the 3:30 parade?  While the question itself sounds stupid, we all know of a ton of situations where something is scheduled for a specific time and doesn’t happen then.  Also, if you aren’t where the parade begins, you aren’t really asking when it begins, you are asking when it will go by the space you are standing in.  The trainer went further to say the staff are all trained to answer the intent of the question with when the parade will go by the spot where they are and then also to refer people to great places to be able to see, or where there are seats, or other helpful hints.  No one feels stupid – in fact, it is part of a better experience.

So today I didn’t send the two paragraph response putting this person in his place for being obnoxious.  But it also made me think more about the emails I did send this morning and how they might be taken.  Just re-reading an email before hitting send can make all the difference.

Recently, a friend of mine and I were in a meeting and she asked me to blog about cell phone etiquette.  I was surprised because I thought, “what do I know about cell phone etiquette?” and then I started looking around. People are really rude when it comes to cell phones!  So here’s what I’ve noticed:

First, when going into a meeting, turn off your cell phone.  That’s an easy thing and no one should have to be reminded.  Take out your pen, and put your cell phone on vibrate.

Next, if you are in a public place, put your cell phone on vibrate.  The meeting we were having was in a small coffee shop so when the person at the next table received a phone call.  It rang so loud we all jumped.

When you answer the phone, think about the people around you.  I can’t tell you how many conversations I can recount to you from the last week of paying attention that were people just talking loudly on their cell phones.  I’m tempted to start commenting – wouldn’t the person on the phone be surprised?!

Keep conversations short when you are in public.  In you are in line somewhere or at a restaurant, keep it short. It is frustrating when you are holding up the world so you can finish your conversation.  And exactly how is a company suppose to provide you customer service if you are on the phone the whole time?

Be conscious of when you check your phone during a conversation with someone else.  If you know there’s an important call coming in that you have to take, warn the person up front.  If the phone rings and it might be a school or other issue, let the person know you have to check for that reason.  Otherwise, focus on the person in front of you and let the phone go for awhile.

And just to invoke a little common sense, if it would be reasonable for another person to say, “shhhh” to you in that location, don’t take a phone call. The library, a church, a lobby of an office, a movie theater, a quiet restaurant, etc. are all places we would shush you so do it yourself!

The bottom line here is as the face of your company, your behavior speaks volumes about who you are and what your company is about.  If you are rude with your phone, regardless of your intentions, your company will be judged that way.  If you take my call and are in public, I will wonder who can hear what we’re saying and how conscience you are of confidentiality.  If you infringe on my lunch or meeting with your phone, I will assume you are insensitive and don’t care about other people.  Not the right messages, right?

I meet with a lot of sales people wanting to sell products and services to my clients.  I am constantly amazed at how bad sales people can be! Here’s the latest tips I’ve picked up from those meetings.

If I get to the meeting location first it isn’t personal.  Twice I’ve arrived 5 minutes early for a meeting this week and had the sales rep annoyed. And showed it! Before we’d even been introduced!  Seriously?  If you wanted to buy the coffee, buy yours and grab a gift card.  Don’t get annoyed!

READ our website.  Seriously. Please.  Develop a list of questions before the meeting and see if any of the answers are on the website.  I had one person tell me proudly that he had read the site.  But then he didn’t understand  the service my client provides.  Foolishly, I started worrying we hadn’t written that page clearly.  After several minutes, he finally confessed that he “looked” at it but didn’t get into the detail.  Come on people!

You know how sales trainers tell you to repeat back what the person says to show you were listening?  Unless you are a Freudian therapist, turning the exact words I said into a question is annoying, not demonstrating you were listening.  One sales rep asked about our target audience.  I answered and he said, “so I hear you saying [insert my exact words], right?” Without some interpretation or at least changing the order of the words, he was just a parrot.  Not someone understanding what I needed.

So, the morale here is listen to sales trainers but be smart, think about the intent of the training and be sure to be respectful.  A sales call isn’t about YOU – it is about THEM.  Or if you want to work with my clients, its about ME.  And I get there early. Deal with it.