Should I Respond To JV Inquiries If I Am Not Interested?

Bob, No? Then I would very much like to hear the motivation behind this connotationally loaded comment: The problem with commentary of that type comes when the target or any of the viewers break it down based on the various assumptions and inferences it's intended to convey.

Without more basis in reality than your comment had, you just end up attracting the attention of people who already agree with you and aren't actively thinking about what they read. In short, preaching to the choir.

The choir, in this case, consists of people who want to create a feeling of guilt or obligation on the part of strangers they choose to approach, in the belief that this will somehow get them the response they desire.

There's a problem with that approach. It steers the choir away from things that actually work. Things like properly matching the offer to the market, and respecting others' time and resources. Like treating these contacts as business offers made between equals, rather than the supplication of needy beggars.

Like offering value for value.

Like it or not, when you reach a certain level of visibility in this market, you're going to get more offers than you can deal with. At some point, depending on how accessible you are perceived to be, that number will get to a level at which you can't practically respond to them all without interfering with your own business activities.

I recall someone saying here a while back that, if he sent an email to a person about their product or service, and didn't receive a response from that person (not their staff), he wouldn't do business with them. That was fine, as a personal choice, but it was followed by implications much like yours. That the failure of that person to have unlimited time and attention made them somehow less professional or caring as a human being.

That is both rude and generally inaccurate. More to the point, it fosters unrealistic expectations on the part of less experienced people.

Your opinion is your business, Bob. I'm using your comments as a vehicle to explain this stuff to others here, who may not have considered the question from any perspective but the frustration that comes from having their unrealistic expectations left unmet.

As soon as those people start thinking in terms of offers, instead of obligations, their odds of success go way up.


Paul