Just Say No
| posted by Richard WatsonI didn't write this. It was written by a friend and fellow consultant called Andrew Crosthwaite and I thought I should share it. It certainly rings a bell with me...
No. It’s a two letter word. It’s one of the most used by parents to their children. Why do clients find it so hard to say? As a consultant I am often (although not often enough) asked by clients to write proposals in response to briefs. So I spend time knuckling my forehead, come up with some thoughts and send them off. And all too frequently hear nothing. A reminder email goes unanswered. Phone calls turn into voice mails, possibly listened to only by the office cleaner.
As an example, some years ago a fellow consultant and I went to see a well-known car company in the Crewe (UK) area. (To save you looking it up, it was Rolls Royce). We were scooped up at the station by the most expensive car I have ever sat in. We were briefed by the managing director and returned to the station in sumptuous splendour. We wrote an innovation proposal and sent it off.
And then nothing.
We emailed. We wrote. We telephoned. We telephoned using 141 so they wouldn’t recognise the number. We checked that the MD hadn’t been fired or died. (He hadn’t). And finally we gave up, with no clue as to how we had turned into pariahs.Now I’m not suggesting that I have a divine right to get business. I just want to be told “No”.
This can come in many forms: “Your proposal was an insult to the brand” “The budget has vanished”“We’ve changed our minds” “The whole exercise was a charade and we always intended to use Rhinos Can’t Dive, but we need to go through a tendering process”.
Silence, however, is not golden.
I suppose many people feel that we owe each other nothing and that all is fair in love, war and business. But spare a thought for your “supplier”, wondering whether the phone has been cut off, if his halitosis is even worse than he thought or even that he totally lacks even the modicum of talent he thought he had. Just ring, email and say “No”. And if you can say why at the same time, so much the better
