Business Etiquette

I wasn't going to write this post but having chatted with @tarazkp about opening up next week i said I would not bug my customers and new clients on Monday. Reason being they need to catch up and the last thing they need is me barging in for my own selfish reasons. How many others will be thinking like that though? I just see it as good manners and it would be rude to jump on them from day one. It is a bit like foreplay I suppose as you can ruin the moment if not done correctly. The early bird doesn't always get the worm and sometimes best to wait. What is that saying “all things come to those who wait” which is very true in most instances.

I think over the years certain things have disappeared and just faded away. I am talking about business morals and just doing the right thing. Everything is about the bottom line and no one seems to care how they get it. I am still from the old school and it matters to me still. The "new" generation doesn't seem to get any of it as they have no idea that certain rules should still apply.

When I started working it was frowned upon if someone moved jobs too much. Employers saw it as a negative as why should they train you if you are going to disappear within a year. Within 10 years it was then seen as a negative if you had been in a company position for too long. I saw nothing wrong with that approach as long as you were being well looked after.

For me experience counts way more than text book knowledge and would hire someone who is right for the position over a proven tack record than someone who has floated between jobs. It tells me the opposite as they are either too ambitious not wanting to work their way through the stages or they aren't capable and move before they are found out.

I knew a sales director at an IT company who did just that. He would move within 18 months to a new bigger better paid position each time. This guy was bloody useless and relied on his management to make him look good. I blame the idiots for hiring him each time as it tells me they had no clue what they were hiring.

I used to do promotional work for a major cigarette brand and I was particularly good at it. It involved me working several nights a week (no overtime) which i gladly did. It helped that I often hosted ladies nights at night clubs and ran certain competitions. My deal was that if I host an event no other cigarette company is allowed to promote within 1 week of me being there. This was somewhat standard etiquette as I would never do it to a competitor.

I had two night clubs host events the following day and they subsequently got scratched off my list never to be seen again. They begged as the promotions I held used to attract a large following. For me it cheapened the whole event and it cost my company thousands each time. All the work you put in becomes diluted and lost not having the same impact. The clubs were happy as they were paid in kind for missing out on sales as I would give them free stock for the vending machines making them far more profit overall. That was the right way to do it and the only way as you were also using their venue and clientele.A two way street where everyone is happy.

I found out other companies never did this and in some cases never even got permission to promote yet they did. I hate to know what a promotion would look like today if cigarettes were still a thing and allowed to do what we did. I have always put myself in someone else's shoes when I think things through and wonder why others don't even consider what they are doing.

I think of what has become standard yet morally wrong today. One prime example is the Champions League on television which is sponsored by Heineken. Have a look next time what advert comes immediately at half time and you will know what I mean by this. It will be another alcohol advert,but not Heineken which is wrong by the television hosting company. Heineken should stipulate as part of their agreement and yet they let it slide. Millions of sponsorship diluted by a brand manager who has no clue as he can't see it.