Thick-Skin Saves Time
Thick-Skin Saves TimeHaving a thick-skin saves a lot of time in business.
I received an email last week from a guy who berated me for the very poor quality of a web site he'd visited - he made comment about the design and the usability mostly. At the bottom of the web page he saw the "Site by Tailored" link and thought he'd email me a piece of his mind.
So poor old me is sitting here when I get this rather abusive email about the site. I clicked through to have a look at the site he mentioned.
We did do the site......
Yes, we did do the site he mentioned................... but 5 years ago. Since then the design had changed completely. The functionality had changed completely. There was very little left of our original work - except the "Site by Tailored" link was still there!
I was going to email this guy back.....
I was going to email this guy back and explain what had happened but I thought better of it.
1. He was rude so didn't really deserve a response.
2. An email would take me 5 minutes to write.
3. He'd email back (another couple of minutes to read it).
And all for nothing
I guess I could say that I need to protect my online reputation and that by not setting this guy straight I was risking a bit of that. But I think most people are smart enough to get a sense of a person from direct interaction rather than hearsay.
(And I could have also written an email back that told this guy exactly what I thought - That he should get his facts right before email me his abuse and that I suggest he "go away"! But then that just wastes more time.)
As businesspeople we have to make the most of each day. And cut out the wasteful stuff. I'm far, far better off checking our clients are okay than answering abusive emails.
Cheers
Brendon
[ comments ]
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Dear xxx
Thank you for your email. I had a look at that website and discovered it was one that we completed 5 years ago. However, it appears that the owner has completely changed the design and layout but left our link at the bottom. I will contact the owner and ask for them to remove it as I agree with you and your comments. For an up to date example of some of our work please have a look at these links ....
I appreciate the time you have taken to point this website out to me as we at Tailored take great pride in our work.
Kind Regards
Brendon "I'm a top bloke" Sinclair
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Love your work.
Good points. My thinking was because he was so aggressive and offensive I wouldn't bother with a reply.
Brendon
Good point and that's something every business should do.
One thing I've learnt (the hard way) over the years is that not every client is worth having.
This client was one we quickly moved away from (huge maintenance, didn't pay on time, constantly complained aboiut agreed fees) - we said to him "I think you'd be better served by another web firm. I don't think we can meet your expectations."
But like you say, one of the best ways to grow your business is to keep going back to your clients for add-on sales and repeat buys.
Cheers
Brendon