Am I Being Unreasonable?

[Dana]

I don't think so.... He called me Saturday or Sunday... It's Wednesday and he expects me to spit it out by tomorrow? I mean I can that isn't the issue. It's his lack of professionalism. I may bitch about clients but I am never unprofessional when dealing with them one on one.

 

[Francis]

Says same as last time.. I guess he expects you to still have the template available from the last one you did for him..

If you do, what's the issue ? Can you not just jazz it up a bit, change the date and send it to him ?

Many people work under tight deadlines.. No it's never fun.. But he just asked if he could see it by tomorrow and will give you one more name to add..

You can Sub a Name right ?

 

[Dana]

Says same as last time.. I guess he expects you to still have the template available from the last one you did for him..

If you do, what's the issue ? Can you not just jazz it up a bit, change the date and send it to him ?

Many people work under tight deadlines.. No it's never fun.. But he just asked if he could see it by tomorrow and will give you one more name to add..

You can Sub a Name right ?

It's not really the same as last time. Different artists, etc. If he was under such tight deadlines he would have emailed me over the weekend.

 

[Zorak]

I may bitch about clients but I am never unprofessional when dealing with them one on one.

go big or go home

You and I have different standards of professional, clearly

 

[acctnt shan]

You and I have different standards of professional, clearly

This. I would never, ever use the casual language you used in your response when talking to one of my clients or coworkers.

 

[HK]

Gotta say, that's not professional language. I'm more formal with our suppliers that I'm on great terms with.

 

[Dana]

If you knew the type of guy I was dealing with, I don't think it would make a difference. I talk professional when I need to. This dudes a hip hop promoter. He runs his own hip hop entertainment company. When someone starts a convo with "Yo" or "hey bro" and ends with "peace"

 

[Dana]

Because he wasn't exactly professional with his reply by

 

[acctnt shan]

If you knew the type of guy I was dealing with, I don't think it would make a difference. I talk professional when I need to. This dudes a hip hop promoter. He runs his own hip hop entertainment company. When someone starts a convo with "Yo" or "hey bro" and ends with "peace"

Doesn't matter who he is - the fact that you're adjusting how you act based on your customer proves that you're acting unprofessionally. There is a standard level of formality that should be in place in a professional situation, that is in place no matter who your customer is. Even if he is acting/speaking informally, you as the professional should maintain that level of formality in order to generate + maintain a certain degree of respect.

I guarantee if you up your game in terms of professionalism, you'll see positive results in terms of how your customers treat + approach you.

 

[Natasha]

I agree w/ the others. You don't change your level of professionalism based on your clients. Just my 2 cents. I have to be just as nice and courteous to the old man who told me I'm sweeter than a spotted puppy dog as I have to be w/ the guy who called me a "stupid fucking cunt." :dunno

 

[Francis]

Well I said a long time ago, a written terms contract goes a long way..

How you deal and talk to customers says a lot about how you run your business..

 

[Zorak]

Because he wasn't exactly professional with his reply by

He is not the "professional" in question.
His response was more than fair. Take this as a wake up call: work on your manner, work on your people skills. Do you talk like that to all your clients and casual acquaintances?

 

[Panacea]

Customer service is sometimes a bitch, but you attract more flies with honey than snark

 

[HK]

Customer service is sometimes a bitch, but you attract more flies with honey than snark

And if nothing else, being calmly professional with someone when they're getting worked up and talking down to you is so much more infuriating for them than if you stoop to their level

 

[Francis]

He is not the "professional" in question.
His response was more than fair. Take this as a wake up call: work on your manner, work on your people skills. Do you talk like that to all your clients and casual acquaintances?

I agree Zorak, but again, no one forces anymore to do business with anyone else..

If this other person is unprofessional in how he deals with people it becomes his issue.. How we deal with our customers as business people reflects on us just as how we deal with people will tell people in many ways, "he's a great guy" or "he's a fucken jerk" and eventually drive business away no matter how good you are because there is always someone nipping at your customers door..

 

[acctnt shan]

Francis, not sure if you read Zorak's post the same way I did... but I believe the "he" and "his" that Zorak was using referred to Dana, not the customer.

 

[satinbutterfly]

If you provided reasonable expectations for your client you wouldn't have this problem. You have to let them know when they need to get something to you for you to complete it by their deadline. You don't know their deadline? Ask. It's a pretty simple concept. But don't get pissed when your clients have unreasonable expectations because you didn't communicate with them from with start about what was expected and when.

As far as the professionalism goes... you are sorely lacking. Your clients will expect you to treat them like a client, not a friend, not a peer using their lingo, but as a client. Personally I think you could benefit from a seminar/class to teach you how to manage clients and your interactions with them.

 

[Francis]

Francis, not sure if you read Zorak's post the same way I did... but I believe the "he" and "his" that Zorak was using referred to Dana, not the customer.

It doesn't matter.. I have discussed this with Dana many times.. You must hold your composure when you deal with customers of all types.

 

[Darrell]

Probably.

 

[nadrrek]

The issue with being choosey with who you act professional to and who you don't is that it spreads. That dude you're dealing with there could quite easily go ahead and mention to other people, who could potentially be future clients of yours, about your lack of professionalism with him and his displeasure at your level of service which could be bad for you.

Clients, whether hip hop gangsters or the CEO of a multinational, several billion pound company need to be treated with equal amounts of professionalism because at the end of the day, they're paying for a service - yours.