Being in a service driven industry for more than 9 years, I have learned more life lessons than I have time to share in one post. One of the most important of those lessons is the value of response.

What do I mean by that exactly?

Every day many of us set out to perform our job, which often involves servicing others in some way. Some serve others through hospitality and retail, while others serve through assisting with finding and buying homes. And if you’re like me, we serve others by providing a unique professional service.

While serving others is a sought-after aspect of personal relationships, sadly, when it comes to professional relationships it seems much more undesirable. In order to perform a service, you must first seek out whom your unique survive can help and who might benefit from it most. Most often, that involves going out of your comfort zone and researching, targeting, getting to know and ultimately pitching your service offerings to a company representative or qualified individual.

More often than we all probably care to admit, our initial outreach, whether it be in person, by phone/email or even snail mail; often falls on deaf ears. What a disservice this is to our fellow professionals who are working hard to promote a service that can positively impact you or your business. How have we gotten to such a cut and dry state of mind that we can’t even form a simple response of appreciation and acceptance? It’s understandable, that there will be times when you are not in the market for a service or not open to moving from the provider that you currently use, or you just don’t have any spare time to think about it at all. We’ve all been there. But what is the harm in a quick response to a fellow professional who has spent hours or more of research and thought into developing and presenting their service to you?

Possibly because, as a society, we’ve grown afraid of telling someone “No”. Or maybe, many have not personally worn the shoes of a service industry professional who is persistently trying to grow a business and do not know the discouragement an unanswered message can bring on a person. 

So, I challenge you! As a business professional, no matter what it might be, take the time to respond today! Tell a sales person that you appreciate them reaching out even if there is no interest or it’s not the best time. Be honest. It’s OK! We’d all rather that! There’s reassurance in knowing that someone took the time to read our well thought out message, as opposed to not receiving any type of response at all, which ultimately creates a sense of discouragement and failure.

Let’s change our culture back to a society where relationships matter!