Physician Heal Thyself

This morning I received an email; not an unusual or particularly exciting event in itself: I do receive a lot of emails!  

However, this one got my attention, for all the wrong reasons!

Had I not known the sender I would have deleted the message based on the subject line which started ‘Please Guys (& Gals) _sic.

Which I consider to be at best patronising, at worse downright offensive!  By the way my partner, a female, was very offended at being

a) not one of the guys,

and

b) being an afterthought in brackets.

The body of the message continued in the same vein.  

Here are some of the words from the body of the email:-

Embarrassing, unprofessional, selfish, stupid, irresponsible

These words were being directed at me, the reader, to convince me that I should do business with this group as they are the experts and true professionals in their sphere of activity.

I know and understand what these guys do; it’s something in the finance sector.

 I can only assume they are panicking and are desperate for business if they believe that being rude, offensive and patronising is the way to get my business!

There could, of course, be another issue here. The author of the email may well indeed be ‘red hot’ at whatever he and his colleagues do in the financial sector; but I do wonder about their marketing, communication and selling skills; perhaps they should take their own advice and consult a (professional ) expert to  avoid....

Embarrassing, unprofessional, selfish, stupid and irresponsible

....interaction with potential clients!

Just a thought.

Phil E

By the way if you need help from a professional why not visit the Business Adviser Forum

Chewing Gum and Wedding Rings

OR

Carelessness and Commitment

I’ve had a fall; I slipped on some discarded chewing gum on the stairs at the station and I broke my finger.

Not that big a deal but because of the injury I had to have my wedding ring cut off. For me, that was a big deal.

You see, when we made our vows, my husband placed that ring on my finger and I’ve not taken it off since – not once. Now, because of a careless, thoughtless act, that ring is broken and lying in a drawer.

This is a Business Advisers Forum, so why am I telling you about this minor domestic issue? Well, it got me thinking about relationships, why they work, or not.

It occurred to me that a business relationship should be a bit like a successful marriage; it requires a commitment from both parties, it requires honesty, give and take and seeing out the good and bad times together.

This forum – The Business Advisers Forum – is about banding together for mutual benefit. It is to promote professional, ethical business people and to share knowledge and experience. Let’s work together to grow it, to nail our colours to the mast of professionalism and ethical business practices.

And the chewing gum? All our actions have consequences, intended or not. If we don’t think about what we’re doing we can do damage and not necessarily to ourselves. Conversely, with thought and care we can be a power for good in the world and that has never been more important.

My call to action is that each of us will encourage at least one contact during the next week to join the Forum. We should be honouring our ambassador status and broadcasting the message long and loud.

In this case bigger is better!

Ps. Is your business in the Showcase yet? Mine is – ShoeBox Admin. If you need someone to design your advertisement for you, click on mine and contact me; that’s shelagh@shoeboxadmin.com