Call Office – Leave Message – No response!
Call Cell Phone – Leave Message – No response!
Send Text Message – No Response!
Send Email – No Response!
Congratulations!
You’ve found a “Communication Black Hole”
If there’s ONE thing that can single-handedly stifle achievement of success in business and relationships, it’s failure to communicate.
NOTHING is more offensive and/or irritating than apathetic non-response.
I’ve seen non-response cause a home Buyer to “move on” from LOVING a house and willingness to pay whatever it takes to buy it . . . to a steel resolve “NOT to buy that house even if it were the last house on the market, and they’re not making any more!” . . . simply because of lack of communication.
Our teenagers do it to us. We ask them a question, and it seems to flow in one ear and out the other without having any visible impact on them . . . and we wonder sometimes if they are still breathing and/or if they’ve had some kind of hemorrhage and are brain dead.
We can give these teenagers the benefit of the doubt because they’ve got a lot going on in their bodies and minds as they process all that comes at them during their maturity process.
What about adults?
Is there an unwritten obligation to at least “Confirm Receipt?”
Has social etiquette somehow morphed away from direct, feedback oriented dialogue towards a nonchalant non-communicative way?
How do people who fail to communicate/respond build relationships and do real business?
My rant this morning comes on the heels of several recent “one way conversations” each of which could have easily been more pleasant. Non-response leads to agitation and exasperation . . . and for many folks, births a mental cycle of “Conspiracy Theory Thinking” as folks wonder why the non-response.
Does this person not like me?
Is this person arrogant?
Is this person playing a game?
Are there other offers on the table?
Is this person a candidate for “Village Idiot?”
or
Is there trauma/drama in this person’s life that’s distracting from the matter at hand?
The solution is not complicated . . . simple responses are OK because they confirm some sign of life.
“K”
“thank you!”
“Got it”
“will get back to you later”
“working on it”
“thinking”
A little more of this and a little less non-response would create a kinder, gentler dialog and might actually be the key to world peace.
Just sayin’
Best,
b