Sometimes we forget common courtesies in our day to day life and it can make a small dent that can (depending on the person you are ignoring) sometimes turn around and haunt you later.
When you are working regularly, the chances are that you are probably responding quite quickly to emails, social media requests from people you know. Rejections, on the other hand, get put off because they are not always pleasant.
There are three sets of people I think we should always respond to:
- Media requests: I know that this particular one most PR types do respond to and its a no-brainer. Even if it is a topic I cannot contribute to, I usually make it a point to go the extra mile to point the journalist to other agencies or companies that I know can help them.
- Job rejections: Especially if you have advertised a job, this is quite essential. Though some applications would not match your requirements, they HAVE applied for the post. Some have probably not even read your requirements and just applied. Its important to give feedback – politely, courteously at least the first time around. I am not talking about the spammers and the ‘lets blanket email everyone’ applicants. Some of these are automatic when creating jobs in sites like Bayt.com etc but if you have advertised directly, its still important not to be so arrogant not to set up a reponse mechanism. Its nice to let people know and not leave them hanging. Even if they don’t get the job, people remember simple courtesies. I know I do. Makes the rejection easier to swallow.
- RFP Rejections: So you don’t want to work with XYZ because they don’t fit the profile or the costs are too high. At least let them know why so they get one last chance to pitch their business or make the changes. If it is a change they are not happy making, they will respect you for letting them know so that they can improve next time around.
So who have you ignored recently?
