My husband is a general contractor. This week he called a roofer to do a repair job for a client. When the roofer, we’ll call him Mark, answered the phone, he spoke so quickly, my husband could not understand the greeting. My husband had to ask Mark to repeat his greeting to ensure understanding. After clearing that up, mark asked for the address for the project. My husband did not even finish saying the number when Mark started repeating it back – making the communication extremely difficult. My husband’s first instinct was to cancel the appointment due to Mark’s inability to listen, but decided to give him a chance.
When Mark arrived at the site, he immediately began complaining about the economy and blamed former president Clinton on our current economic situation. Not only was Mark extremely loud, but he was using profanity, specifically the “F” word. My husband asked Mark to keep his voice down and to refrain from using profanity. In those few precious moments, my husband KNEW Mark wasn’t the person for the job. Mark may have been well qualified, but his demeanor gave my husband no confidence in his mental ability and professionalism. If Mark acts like that in front of my husband, how will he behave in front of the client? And that behaviour will impact the reputation of the company – ouch! Mark definitely did NOT have KhoZAMitude!
Z-Tip: When you first meet someone, in person or on the phone, be careful of your words, your tone and your body language. Those first impressions – those first few seconds – will either open doors or close them!!!!!!!!!!!