The Curse Of The Rude RFP No Shows.
No one is more insufferable than he who lacks basic courtesy.
This is an angry rant, but let’s get one thing straight — it’s not about people wasting my time, or giving me the wrong answer, or not showing me love, or the money. Neither is it an attack on the unintentionally thoughtless ones; for those poor souls I have some tolerance (some rude people are actually a mess inside LOL). What this is, is a denunciation of those who know they lack basic courtesy, and don’t give a damn — the professionally rude.
Communication has never been easier or faster, so it stands to reason that when you send a company a proposal they have requested, they have the decency and respect for you to send you a nice response, or just a response, whether they want to go further with your proposal or not.
I get a handful of RFPs (request for proposal) each and every month, and they typically come from potential customers submitting a form from my site — name, company, email, phone number, URL and a summary of their requirements.
Receiving several RFPs each month not only requires a significant amount of time to respond to them in a timely manner, but requires a strategic follow-up plan to ensure that I give myself the best opportunity to secure the new business. Of course, some of the RFPs are not for me, so I pass, but I always respond with a “thanks-but-no-thanks” and a reason for declining, and often I will give them the name of someone else who may be able to help i.e advanced courtesy.
I’d like to say that most people respond in kind, but they don’t. From about 30% of those I politely decline, I receive responses. 70% never bother to contact me with a response. Rude!
But it is my experience with those companies, where we have progressed past the initial contact to a second stage and I am asked to send a proposal, who never even contact me again with a rejection or explanation, that well and truly gives me the hump. Very rude!
Really, people? Is this the sum total of your professional character and integrity. ZERO MANNERS?
You don’t even have to make an uncomfortable phone call; you can just send an email. Surely, when someone takes the time and effort to respond to an enquiry or RFP you made in the first place, the decent thing to do is to answer them.
Why has common courtesy and good manners gone out the window? Is it because the digital world is so impersonal that we don’t think of those on the other end as real people? Or have we, as a people, just become more rude and indifferent and this behaviour is now the norm?
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on August 24, 2017.
