Hell-oh!?! Can you be any ruder?
Friday night I got an email from a women who we’ll call Sammie. I met Sammie at a networking event six months ago where I was the speaker for the evening.
I liked Sammie, who owned her own business. She was fun, stylish and smart - or so I thought. She contacted me a week or so after the event to discuss the possibility of hiring me, which she was unable to do due to some financial issues.
I hadn’t heard from her since.
Then out of the blue came this email. Sammie asked me to give her all my contacts for getting marketing interns.
No hello. No how are you. Just a demand. (Besides the fact that since she couldn’t hire me, she decided to try and get someone for free - and asked me to help her! UGH!)
I have not emailed her back. She broke a basic rule in my networking play book: networking is about relationship building. Where’s the relationship?
What do you think I should do? (Besides reading up a bit more over at Jen Gniadecki’s Everyday Networker?) Should I play nice? Should I ignore her? Should I send her a link to the blog? Any other suggestions are welcome and appreciated!
POSTED IN: Business Failure, Communications, Customer Service, Entrepreneurship
5 opinions for Hell-oh!?! Can you be any ruder?
John
Jun 10, 2008 at 3:14 am
I think it rather depends on what those financial reasons were and what you said at the time.
If she’s being cheap then by all means ignore her, if on the other hand she genuinely can’t afford your services then why not help out, she might one day come back or refer others to you.
There is a danger of course that if you let her take now, she might just want to take more in future.
John
Jun 10, 2008 at 3:15 am
Hi Shannon,
I’d be tempted to send a short email thanking Sammie for getting in touch again and pointing out the concept of trust/relationship in marketing, business and life in general. It’s very easy to get the tone of an electronic communique wrong and her email may just have been very clumsily worded.
You could then ask if she could send you a 1 page outline of the role/person spec that you could forward to any of your contacts that are relevant.
If she doesn’t have one, or just comes back with another demand for your address book, well you tried so drop her quietly and move on to more productive connections.
Elizabeth Potts Weinstein
Jun 10, 2008 at 7:05 am
I would not send her anything that you don’t already have — then you teach people that you do not do one-on-one work for free, you are worth too much for that — you already have a blog that gives TONS of free advice!
I would send an email w/ a link to your blog. If you have a post about affording marketing, or a category of do-it-yourself marketing or interns, then forward her that link.
Otherwise tell her that she could hire you for 30 minutes at $XX per hour (if you do that).
The whole idea of thinking that doing stuff for free will give you future work is flawed — typically that only gives you referrals to other people who want more free stuff. Every single time I’ve tried to “help” people for free, they’ve become my most problem child clients! (and they are not even paying me!!) :)
~ Elizabeth
Bridget
Jun 10, 2008 at 9:26 am
I, too, would not give her anything extra, but send her a return email explaining to her how networking and creating business relationships is supposed to go. Say it firmly, but gentle and she should get the message.
Melanie Kissell
Jul 1, 2008 at 11:49 am
Shannon …
I’m delighted that you brought this issue up. Quite frankly, I’ve experienced this same type of rude behavior many times over.
Nothing like being used as a doormat, wouldn’t ya say??
I would maintain true professionalism and respond to “Sammie’s” email. I’d send a brief message explaining that you’re simply not able to meet her request. Wish her the very best of success … then get on with your day.
Write On!
~Melanie
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