Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The Worst Thing You Can Do

The worst thing you can do is ignore me.  I am your customer.  I need your help. I trust you, otherwise I wouldn't be working with you. 


You are the person who understands my business and me. You get it.  So when I call or email, answer me please. When I walk into your shop, talk to me. Acknowledge me. It's that simple. I am your customer.

It doesn't have to be a big thing. I get that you are busy and have a hundred other priorities, because you have other customers - people who think you are as amazing as I do.

Talk to me in sentences and use words that make sense to me.  I get that you are brilliant at what you do, and that's one of the reasons I love working with you. But bring me into your world by using words that make sense in my world.  I am not an accountant, a techie, an engineer, an investor, a banker or an astronaut.  So if you talk to me as if I am, I have no idea what you are talking about.  And I am your customer, so that's a problem. We have a problem.

Talk to me in voice or in person so that you have my undivided attention. Emails can be great as a follow up, or just to say hello, but if you have technical information to share, please call me.  When I am working on a deadline and I get a technical email out of the blue asking me to do something, I feel like I've just been torpedoed. Seriously, my concentration has just been obliterated, and now I am reading your email with disdain, and by association thinking of you with disdain. Sorry, but you and your communication style are a package deal.

I love you, but I have needs too.  In the entrepreneurial world, I rely on the expertise of others to help me to be successful.  The thing is, I need what I need when I need it.  I am your customer, and I am loyal to you, but loyalty is a two-way street.  You might after a time realize that I am not around. That's because I had to move on.  

So if you are too busy, just send me a note or a smile and let me know that you see me and hear me.  That's really all I need.  I am your customer. 

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