How Not To Get Blacklisted in Business

01 Sep How Not To Get Blacklisted in Business

Recently, I was on the receiving end of the most nightmarish intro call that I’ve ever conducted. Within minutes, perhaps even seconds, this potential client was rude, arrogant and downright aggressive in the way she spoke to me. I had been recommended to her and she demanded to speak to me right at that moment – 6:30pm on a week night.

I can honestly say that I have never been spoken to in the way she did. I desperately wanted to end the call but for some reason, I kept thinking I could save it. I thought if I could just speak with her for a little bit, I’d realise that she wasn’t as awful as she seemed, that I’d just misinterpreted her initial abruptness. But instead, the longer I stayed on the call, I became more and more incredulous about how anyone could possibly speak this way to another.

As business owners we know that our reputation is the key to our success. But we also need to remember that it’s not just our customers (and potential customers) that we need to impress, it’s also our suppliers, our contractors and anyone that we may touch in the business world.

The “big wide world” isn’t so big anymore. The internet has connected all corners of the globe and anyone that has ever spent time in more than one Facebook group of a similar interest will quickly find that they keep “bumping” into the same people. Over and over and over and over again.

Where the importance of reputation comes in, is that just how a great reputation will make people want to work with you, a bad reputation will do the opposite.  And trust me, bad news travels fast.

If you treat others badly, I promise you that you will feel it. Maybe not immediately, but if you build a reputation of not paying your invoices, treating your contractors badly or just being plain difficult to work with, you will soon find it near impossible to source suppliers.

There are networks and groups within any industry and even though names may not be mentioned, when more than a few people all have the same experience, it’s not hard to connect the dots and discover they are all talking about the same person (yep, unofficial blacklists really do exist)!

On the flipside, if you build a reputation of being a great B2B business, you will naturally create a referral network around yourself.

Remember; like attracts like.  If you want to attract the best contractors that do the best work, you need to be the best too. And not just at what you do, but in how you treat those working with you.