What ever happened to answered emails or telephone calls and true professionalism?

It is with great pleasure that I coach individuals in leadership roles as well as sales professionals on their leadership, communication skills and consultative sales and negotiation techniques.

In this era of social medias, voice mails, emails and after many many conversations with many different professionals in all types of markets and industries, one common complaint that keeps on being shared today, is what seems to be a lack of respect and professionalism in the business world today.

At times, it seems as if professionals have become allergic and possibly afraid of "real conversations!"

Yes I know, we are all very busy people, however being professional also means being respectful of other people's time and being open to opportunities that could improve certain challenges or offer new solutions to recurring problems that organizations are facing today. To truly be professional means to be willing to take a moment and look into these possibilities.

Too many times I have met with people in management positions who ask for proposals to be made after showing interest in solutions that are being offered , while also being asked to arrange another meeting together only to find myself at times with many unanswered voice mails or emails on their part, which makes it quite difficult to arrange the requested meeting or to go over their requested proposal!

Result, the proposal which may have taken almost an hour of our time to produce, remains unseen and therefore cannot even be taken into consideration by this particular individual. 

Being a very busy person also, very important values that I have always applied in my business life is respect and appreciation of other people's worth and value.  It is of great importance to me to treat every human being that asks for a moment of my attention with dignity, respect and honor.  Why?  Because I sincerely believe that no one is insignificant and that there are no coincidences in life.

There is always a good reason why this person has contacted me at that particular time and I have the choice of who I am going to be in every given moment and situation. I realize fully, that what I give out, I also get in.

Yes it does happen that once the person begins sharing with me the reason for their call or email, that I unfortunately may not be the ideal contact for their type of business. I then very politely inform them of this with a brief explanation as to why that is. Whenever possible, I will refer them to an organization or contact that I know could benefit from their services. This is always appreciated on their part.

My philosophy is that in turn this will be done for me at some time by someone as respectful and professional, and you never know where you may meet this person again in the future!

I like to old saying: " Be kind to everyone, because you never know who you may work for"!

Ghislaine Florence Labelle