An Essential Business Lesson

Last week I had one of those yucky and tricky business development situations come up.

I contacted a prospective client, using our normal protocol and received a near-flaming response for my efforts. Now mind you, I did nothing wrong other than to politely ask for a meeting. As this prospect works in the public sector, this is not an unusual request.

I figure I must have been the first email read after a really awful day. Or I was the 30th meeting request and this individual just couldn't take it anymore. In any case, I was not-very-politely told where to go and, to boot, to stay there.

I was a little irked about it - particularly since it was one of the first emails I read Thursday morning.

So what's a marketing gal to do? I couldn't call the prospect a jerk - not if I had any hope of ever working with the institution. I couldn't ignore the email either, or I'd risk looking like someone who couldn't handle conflict.

There really wasn't anything I could do except eat a little crow.

You know the drill:

I'm so sorry! I appear to have caught you at a bad time. We're simply interested in understanding how to best present ourselves when a project comes available. Who would be the appropriate person for me to speak to about this? Again, please accept my apologies for interrupting your busy day.

And there lies an important lesson for those in business. Always remember:

You can eat crow,

But you can't call a prospective client a turkey.