| Topic: | Re:You are talking to the wrong people! | |
| Posted by: | Adam Beamish | |
| Date/Time: | 10/10/18 12:17:00 |
| I have sympathy with the basic point Charles is making, in these days of call centres, voicemail and email etc. it's very difficult to have a straight conversation with someone. I deal with Councils every day and dealing with them is such a mixed bag, often down to the individuals you're dealing with more than the Council. I've had projects over the years where I've left multiple voicemails for people who never answer their phones or return voicemails, you go to the call centre, they say they can't put calls through directly but give you someone's email address, you email them repeatedly and get no reply and so on. So what could be sorted/discussed by way of a 10 minute phone all ends up taking up literally hours of your time without making any progress, because in my case I then end up having to complain to Team Leaders, even the Chief Executive etc. - which isn't ideal for anyone going forward, as any hopes of a productive 'relationship' with the Case Officer have long gone. What I never understand is why some Officers behave like that when their careers are potentially in the shop window. I have clients I've known from my time in local government, clients who came to me when I switched to the private sector because they were impressed with my dealings with them when I worked in local government. Nowadays so often I encounter Officers who are either completely unprepared, are trying to blag it, or turn up for a site meeting looking like they're on holiday. Now I'm not one for wearing a suit day in, day out, but how about conveying a degree of professionalism ?. After all I run a successful planning consultancy and in time might be wanting to employ more staff, so if my first impression of you is that you're unprofessional, I won't be employing you. |