Who knew manners mattered more than any other sales technique known to man or woman kind? Read on to this story which illustrates something that is so common nowadays that I’d like all those reading the article to take a second look at how their manners are treating those around them:

“Mary” excels as a business development consultant. She was granted a meeting where she ultimately had an excellent conversation, and in the end shared her creative insight with the initial decision maker.
“Jim” loved Mary’s idea but needed to consult with a colleague and promised to get back to her within 10 days. Given the timeframe suggested, Mary patiently waited. Being a business professional, she followed up by phone by the 11th day and also sent an email for Jim to choose how to respond. No answer came. Mary then left another voice message joking this time about persistence. But once again, no response was received.
Mary finally found someone else in the company with whom to speak, only to learn Jim had declined her idea. Unfortunately, he also declined all future communication.
via Etiquette Out-performs Sales Techniques.

I know we’re all busy. I myself don’t have the ability or the capacity to respond to all the cold calls or the spam that I get. However, if I’ve had a face to face meeting or a long phone conversation with someone and we’ve agreed to connect at a certain time, I do expect at least a line on an email saying they were moving on with someone else. I find it a real testament of how etiquette is a long forgotten art now that I’m on the sales side and not the buying side. Even back then, I’d like to think that I was always considerate of the relationships around me. How about you?
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