My wrong business communication strategy

[Mikey]

I'm self employed and, of course, one of my tasks is to acquire new contracts.

Yesterday I was contacted by an agent from an education center. She told me that they would urgently need a trainer for a 6-week computer seminar. The seminar was to be held Monday to Friday mornings. Since I give classes on Friday mornings in another school, and I assumed that it would be difficult to change the timetables there, I said to her: "I would be interested, but Friday mornings will be a problem. Could you check if we can move Friday's classes to the afternoon?" She agreed and mumbled something about other contractors.

We hang up, and I called immediately the principal of the school to request that my classes on Friday morning will be moved to the afternoon. He surprisingly agreed.

So I immediately called back this agent and told her that I had solved the time problem. But she answered that she had already given the contract to another company.

Naturally, I was very disappointed. I thought: "Had I only changed my communication strategy, this would not have happened."

But the story isn't over yet. I called the principal again to tell him that it wasn't neccessary to change the timetable any more since I didn't get the contract. The principal told me that he was sorry, but that he discovered another problem in the timetable and that he would have to move my classes to the afternoon anyway.

If that's not one of life's grand jokes!

So, if you need a job/contract etc., and you see the chance coming, agree immediately and make a personal appointment, even if you have doubts because of other restraints. Because: you can still decline later. If the decline is not too late, other applicants will be happy to get the contract/job, and there is no harm done. Of course, don't agree if you smell a bad deal.

I learned a lesson, and that's why I shared it here.

 

[Gawan]

I'm self employed and, of course, one of my tasks is to acquire new contracts.

Yesterday I was contacted by an agent from an education center. She told me that they would urgently need a trainer for a 6-week computer seminar. The seminar was to be held Monday to Friday mornings. Since I give classes on Friday mornings in another school, and I assumed that it would be difficult to change the timetables there, I said to her: "I would be interested, but Friday mornings will be a problem. Could you check if we can move Friday's classes to the afternoon?" She agreed and mumbled something about other contractors.

We hang up, and I called immediately the principal of the school to request that my classes on Friday morning will be moved to the afternoon. He surprisingly agreed.

[...]

So, if you need a job/contract etc., and you see the chance coming, agree immediately and make a personal appointment, even if you have doubts because of other restraints. Because: you can still decline later. If the decline is not too late, other applicants will be happy to get the contract/job, and there is no harm done. Of course, don't agree if you smell a bad deal.

I learned a lesson, and that's why I shared it here.

Thanks for sharing Data,

I would have done the same as you, first to check everything with my other job and then to call back.

Maybe that has something to do, not to hurt another person? But I may be off.

 

[Finduilas495]

Hello Data,

Thanks for sharing this experience of yours - I used to be a self-employed IT consulting engineer as well (now I am working in an employed position again) and face the same type of challenges. The first paragraph of your quote raised alarm bells for me as far as the potential business partner is concerned, and I don't think there was anything wrong with your reaction at all.

Yesterday I was contacted by an agent from an education center. She told me that they would urgently need a trainer for a 6-week computer seminar. The seminar was to be held Monday to Friday mornings. Since I give classes on Friday mornings in another school, and I assumed that it would be difficult to change the timetables there, I said to her: "I would be interested, but Friday mornings will be a problem. Could you check if we can move Friday's classes to the afternoon?" She agreed and mumbled something about other contractors.

Of course I can only speak from my own experience, but these are the thoughts that immediately occurred to me after reading about yours:

The first question I'd ask myself is if I really want to work with someone who puts this kind of pressure on in the first conversation. For me this would be a clue as to how the potential business relationship would continue. So I do think that being honest with the lady from the agency was a good thing.

Anyways, I hope the right contract will come along soon

All the best,
Finduilas

 

[Atreides]

I learned a lesson, and that's why I shared it here.

The general rules are: Never say no, say "Yes, I'd love to, let me see about rearranging my schedule." Always answer in the affirmative, and then qualify, that way you seem amiable, knowledgeable and motivated. Yes gets you in the door for you to negotiate on exactly what yes really means. To be honest, it sounds to me like the job wasn't really worth it, but lesson learned and now your mornings are clear.

 

[trollet]

Being self-employed for many years, my experience is that it's better to immediately say "Yes, I'd love to work for you", just as Atreides recommends. This is of course assuming you do want to have as much work/income as possible. I have done this even though I know that if two or more requests actually turn into jobs, I would have to take a careful look at my schedule and possibly reschedule some other jobs. This has rarely, if ever, caused my clients any problems. They know that if they ask me to do a job, and I say yes, and they then wait a few days before sending me the material to work on, that the situation on my part may have changed with other jobs needing to be done before I get to theirs.

Having said that, you also learn to be picky with time, and get to know by the way a person asks for your services, whether it's worth working for them or not. It might be like your situation, when they press on urgency, or price, and it might just be better to let them find someone else, and wait for better deals for yourself.

 

[Buddy]

So, if you need a job/contract etc., and you see the chance coming, agree immediately and make a personal appointment, even if you have doubts because of other restraints. Because: you can still decline later. If the decline is not too late, other applicants will be happy to get the contract/job, and there is no harm done. Of course, don't agree if you smell a bad deal.

I learned a lesson, and that's why I shared it here.

Thanks. :)