Why A 10 Second PM Could Cost You...

I can understand your thinking on this and I personally would respond and say that I wasn't interested if that was the case.

But I really think you need to get over it and move on...and I say that in a nice way.

When I want something done on my house and I get a few quotes done, I don't go and ring each tradesman to say I'm not interested. I'm sure they realise that they aren't going to get every quote and I am sure they don't expect every person to give them a ring to say they aren't interested.

People are busy, some may have forgotten that they even asked you for a quote, others may be ill...there may be a host of reasons why they haven't responded.

Personally I would have accepted both people. You've just lost a sale and that person who didn't respond and now wants work could have resulted in more work down the line. You just don't know.

Last time I posted a project in one of those forums I quickly found someone to hire... but I was deluged with over 25 responses. (not a bad thing - gives me a lot of choices)

but that "10 seconds" can turn into a lot of time...

I respond to those that I can when I have time. The others just have to wait till I get a sec to say thanks for responding.

It is courteous to respond whatever, however, I think that in the "modernised" world we live in now, you have to accept that not everyone is going to give their time to respond to a proposal they don't want to accept.

I always reply, however it's not as easy as you put it.

Example:

10 people write me with a quote, I accept one of them and reply to the 9 others, but it does not stop here. Quite a few of them want to know why I did not accept the bid and they want to lower the price or try to explain why they are better etc.

It gets messy soooo fast.
Normally I dont reply to the 2nd mails (depends how many I receive).

Which is why casting agents always say: Dont call us, we'll call you!

Are you sending them a question like "Hi, I haven't heard from you. Are you still looking to go ahead?"

When you are selling something don't expect everyone to act like they do when money is not involved. Some people are put out of their comfort zone saying "no" so they would rather avoid the situation entirely.

Anyone who has worked in sales will know the type. they are the ones who never say "no" they say "Yes, but I dont have my wallet, call me next week".

Don't take it personally, if after you send a couple of messages they don't get back to you think of it as a dead lead and move on. You need to have a thick skin when selling anything, even in a friendly environment like the WF.

A tough subject, but if you take the line of not expecting anything then you can not be let down.

You may find on public forums that people will push the boundaries of free / paid service and disappear like a rat up a drain pipe when all free information that can be gleamed has been acquired just short of pulling out the payment for a service / product.

In many cases offline clients are better so it may be a choice as to where you spend your working hours and expectations.

I'm going with the OP on this... professional courtesy is a wonderful thing.

Tsnyder

Just send them an email with your information etc.

It is quite hard to find a good writer/programmer, so if they are interrested then they will get back to you.

A designer contacted me some months ago (other forum), his work was really impressive - so I desided to go with him but it took me 4-5 days to reply (needed to finish some stuff first). Result, he was busy working on a project so I had to wait a couple of weeks before he had time.

What happend? I waited until he was ready.

I'm sure he was aware of the quality of his work and expect people to get back to him if interrested, he was not sitting back waiting for my reply.

My point is, dont sit down and wait for them to get back to you, keep contacting people looking for your services. Your first mail means a lot (atleast for me). Something like "hi, I can do this for you" isnt enough.

I have to I agree. There is no excuse to not respond. No one is that busy that they cannot click the REPLY button and say thanks or no thanks. No one needs write a novel, just a simple acknowledgment would suffice.

Our society has become such a ME society that common courtesy is not understood or even thought about, for the most part. I will always find the time to respond and respectful to others and their efforts. It is NOT all about me...

Umm, both? If you are implying (which you definitely are) that you rejected an opportunity because someone else didn't close the loop with you immediately (but has subsequently followed up with you to hire you), I suggest that you rethink your approach.

First, you need to follow-up with your prospects. It isn't always about you and your perception that everyone always has time or remembers to get back to you if your proposal doesn't match their needs.

Second, you need to realize that selling your services isn't like applying for college. Most folks don't have a process and a set of form rejection letters to send out just because you charge $10 for an article and someone else bid $9 and won.

At the risk of sounding overly blunt, you should ammend your original post. I appreciate where you are coming from and can understand your emotion (you have to learn not to take this stuff personally), but your remarks about "who do you think I decided to work with" wouldn't sit right with me as a potential customer (and everyone reading this thread is a potential customer).

You've got spirit! Just focus it on what matters and you will continue to serve yourself and this community well.

/soapbox

I don't care what people's personalities are. If they're good at what they do, and they deliver, so what. I'm don't want a date for Friday night, I just want my stuff done.

I can tell who has a lot of experience in the business world and who doesn't by how much people expect others in business to conform to their own frame of the world. I'd rather work with an experienced prick that is short on grace and poise who delivers without a fault than an inexperienced person who demands congeniality over everything else.

Sure, congeniality is a great thing and goes a long way towards developing lasting relationships. But it's just not a high priority on my own "must have" list. I guess I've worked with the big business for so long, and I am used to professional RFP processes that don't involve personality -- and shouldn't for good reason. You win, you get notified. Otherwise, you read about someone else winning the bid.

I wouldn't care personally... You can look it at as a negative or you can make it work for you, if they don't respond, you have that 1pm option where you can ask them why and upsell them with a cheaper and better deal for them. There are many reasons why someone wouldn't bother to pm/email a out sourcer back. This being said, maybe putting your pricing where everyone can read it, then this would stop this problem.

they need to extend the courtesy, but you need to not expect it. nuff said.

I doubt you were interested in hearing other peoples opinions in the
first place based on your comments after your original thread.

Your breaking the first rule of business...letting your emotions get in
the way.

I've worked with those clients before. I dunno, they're just like all
my other positive experiences.

Does a lawyer turn down a client who realizes he's ready to pay more
to get a better service?

As a writer, I get quite enough rejection letters, thank you very much.

I worry more about the clients that are actually communicating with me and willing to put the money down. Those who go with my service will only actually be in my job queue once they pay.

If someone inquires and I never hear from them again, it's not something for me to worry about so much, because I get paid 100% upfront for every job. I'm replying to multiple people per day at the moment. Some will go with me and some won't. In fact most do go with me after getting in touch, because my fixed prices and work quality are already clear and they've usually already made a decision by the time they choose to contact me.

My job queue is always more than big enough and I'm not so much at risk of getting started on something that I won't get paid for.

It is seeming to become quite a pointless thread, you don't really want anyone elses opinion as a member above me stated and there really are more important things to be worried about.

If you only had one prospective client and it was the person who never bothered to contact you about the previous proposal, would you decline the work out of principle? (Just curious.)

Geez, if you want to communicate, well communicate. If you don't, don't.
Why doesn't someone start a thread about wooly worms? Ah now there's a subject we could get into.

I would say its common for people to answer back, at the very least to keep the relationship alive incase you want to work with them in the future. I totally agree with this post, both online and offline.

When I was selling web design I would position myself as the expert. I had a telesales agent schedule my calls for me. One of first things I said to client was I am a busy man so don't expect me to be at your beck and call, but if you leave a message, it will always be returned in 24 hours.

Positioning myself as a no-nonsense busy professional made people value their time talking with me and I had less problems. Even if you are not busy and desperate of the work, don't sound like it (like you do now). You need to give the impression you are in demand (social proof). Whining about not receiving an email reply does not convey the dynamic successful image you should be trying to portray.

With the volume of private messages I receive each day, I wouldn't have much time left in the day if I replied to all of them.. and I can only imagine what it must be like for other Warriors.