Bad presentation alert. I have to say I have seen my fair share of these. It is usually either the snooze fest or the 90 minute buy-my-stuff infomercial. All are usually accompanied by a horrid meal consisting of overly dry chicken and a side dish where I tend to entertain myself by sticking my fork in it, and timing how long it takes to fall over. At a recent networking dinner, the presentation that accompanied the non-inexpensive gross dinner, was from a plastic surgeon who decided to show before and after pictures that were quite graphic. DURING DINNER. Anyway, not only was I not attempting to choke down the overly dry catered dinner not of my choosing; I managed to even fail on my fork entertainment in an effort to pull my jaw off the table. When the doctor asked, “Are there any questions? Here’s what I really wanted to say: “Do you think anyone is going to eat their food after that?”
Not appropriate. This happens more often than not, but it is the reason I work mainly with woman. Time after time and I have already lost track this year, certain (not all – and I adore all of you good guys out there) men will contact me to chat about “marketing” and the next thing you know this is having the appearance of a date. When I communicate I do not date potential clients, the sudden website, PR need, etc. suddenly disappears. Fine by me, and even funnier is when I get hit up for free PR consulting after I have one of these conversations. Here is what I really wanted to say: “Really? Inappropriate. Unprofessional.”
No means no. I have worked in the corporate sales arena and I get the competition, the need for numbers, etc. What I don’t get is when people approach you with the I am not trying to sell you technique and they are. Big time. This is usually accompanied by phone call after phone call, email after email and I said no a long time ago. At this point I am not changing my mind and what I really want to say is: “The clue phone is ringing off the hook, please pick it up.” The other tactic which I have grown to loathe is the whole bait and switch maneuver. Do not invite a colleague to a dinner to discuss PR with potential XYZ clients and all of a sudden have them sitting in a live infomercial. I was in one situation where I had a woman sitting next to me ask me what we were doing there. And, she runs a massive organization. Unfortunately, in this situation I wasn’t near a door where I could easily escape, nor did I have the opportunity to make something up to leave. Here is what I wanted to say, “What part of I do not have time for your biz opportunity did you not get?” Oh, and “Really?” You can use that word for just about everything. My point? Go for low hanging fruit and don’t cause yourself anguish on an uphill battle by inflicting something that is clearly not of interest to others.
