Manners, respect and responding in Business

This weekend finished with me sending my mum a message on how surprised and proud I was of my 2yr old daughter for remembering her manners all weekend - pleases and thank yous.

Then it hit me - and I was shocked to be surprised about someone having manners!

The reason being is that, in my experience of the business world, respect and manners have severely diminished.

In my previous BD and marketing roles - it is not unsurprising to only have a 50% attendance rate to a large event. Smaller events usually have a 25-40% drop off.

There will often be registrants who just don't turn up - no message, no call. I often wonder whether it would be the same for a friend or family event.... The main difference is often - a business is sponsoring the event and paying anywhere up to $120 a head to have a place. I can also tell you how hard it is to talk to a sponsor - and say "yeah - I know we had 50 people register, but only 30 turned up". If they have hired a space, paid for a drinks and canapes package - even a small event with 30/50 attendees means that they could be out of pocket around $1000... A call, text, email, however blunt, however far out means a lot...

Did you also know that emails typically have a 5% response rate? In my opinion, it doesn't take much to respond to an email, and every response I do receive is valued - even if it is a "not interested". Why? Because like your time, my time is valuable, and if I can cross you off my list - you are one less 'potential'.

I have previously heard - "my non-response was a not interested" - and what a statement that is! I can't assume that everyone who doesn't respond isn't interested... Firstly, I wouldn't be doing my job properly if I did that (and yes - I know many people despise the people in the role that I am in...) and secondly - emails can get so lost in the pile... they are often flagged and forgotten... I can't assume anything, for me to stop pestering you, give me a reply - anything!

So - I challenge you.

Take the 5 seconds to reply - to at least the 'real' emails - the ones where someone has typed your email address in, and personalised it with your name (yes I know all about mail merge - but there is still a lot of effort in those and HTML emails are so easily mass sent). If you need some assistance - I've created a few of the simplest responses below, but I challenge you to remember those good manners that your mother reminded you of every time she dropped you at a party or friends house as a kid...

Good responses:

• I'm not interested + why (eg - I have a provider, I don't need your service, I really can't be bothered with it) Be blunt, be brutal, be honest - and frankly you will receive less emails and calls. The best response I've ever received was to a round table where the guys said 'I really just don't like events where I have to talk to people' - and that, in my eyes, is a completely valid response! Not all of us are social butterflies!
• Now just isn't the time - I'll get back to you/please get back to me [include a time frame] - the time frame gives the person a time period to reach back out, plus in the meantime, if it actually is of interest, you will be much happier to get their follow up... Even if it is in 6 months!
• I am interested, but busy at the moment. Can we talk about it [next week] - if you are truly interested, let us know, and lets find an uninterrupted time to talk about it. It saves the calls/messages/repeated emails.