I'm presently at this convention in Chicago. Today I met up with a guy I've known for a long time. When he asked me how I was doing I told him that a representative from his company had contacted me about a possible contract last week, and how I'd written her back then never heard anything again. I told him that if I'm treated that way, and I've known him for many, many years, just how are other people being treated? Since it's his business, and of course it was something that could have affected my business, I felt I needed to let him know.

This seems to happen to me often; it's like my business and my home are black holes to other businesses. Quite often I get calls from people asking me questions about availability, then I never hear from them again. If I gave them a blanket "I'm not available" or just said no, I could understand. But when I say I'd like to discuss it or something of that ilk, quite often after I've sent them some information, I may never hear from them again. Sometimes I try to call back, and I get an answering machine, and still nothing.

The same happens at home, unfortunately. We contract with people to come do an assessment and send us a quote, and we never hear back from them. In early September, we had contracted with a guy to replace a window in my wife's rooom, which he'd measured and said he'd even bought the window, scheduled a time to make sure I'd be home, and then nothing; no phone call, no visit, nothing. About 4 hours later I called to complain and he said he'd forgot but was going to get to it, and I canceled, because I had something else I had to do, and said we wouldn't be needing his services.

Contractors are bad, but why is that? And, more importantly, why do we let them get away with it? For that matter, why do we let anyone get away with these types of things, especially when it concerns some type of business?

Dr. Phil is often saying "we teach people how to treat us", and I fully agree with that. Earlier this evening I wrote another consultant who'd sent out a call looking for people who could do a certain type of project, and asked him why he never got back to me because I'd told him I would be interested in hearing more. I know him, and as another independent consultant one would think he'd know better because he hates when the same type of behavior comes back his way.

As a sidebar, I often receive resumes from people who don't know I'm a sole proprietor, and most of them wouldn't have the experience to work in my field anyway. Yet, I always get back to these people, either by email or by picking up the phone, just to let them know I received what they sent and to tell them just what kind of business I'm in.

Part of me wants to ask them why they didn't research my business online first before sending me something, since I'm all over the internet and, if I were a large corporation, would probably not take seriously someone sending me information that couldn't help my business, but the other part of me acknowledges that it's a tough job market, and I just want to get back to them because I know most of the companies they actually apply to, possibly even interview with, will never get back to them. The way I see it, if I treat them as personally as possible now, who knows if they might remember it when they get somewhere else, are possibly in a position of authority, and may need someone who provides my services.

Do you or your employees tend to black hole your customers or contacts? Are you really so busy that you can afford to turn away potential customers or clients by not acknowledging them? Do you like it when someone else does it to you? Something to think about as you consider how your business is being run.