Straw Brown

Straw Brown

The Art of Demanding

Last week someone told me I was too demanding. It's not the first time I've heard it, so I decided to share some of my experiences and let my readers tell me what you think. So here goes....

Case 1: I hired a PR firm. They didn't exactly get the message about Defy Gravity or me - but I worked with them for a bit and finally hammered out a reasonable first step approach.  We booked print and TV interviews and placed a few articles. But there were bumps in the road all along the way - missed opportunities, poor communication, dropped balls. The typical kind of bumps in a new relationship - only many more of them.

The final straw was when, after filming, I called to let them know a very important TV show was going to run the following week. I asked them to get the time and date so I could promote the show.  By the following Thursday I hadn't heard from them.   I called to remind them to find out about the show date. The next day I received a message happily informing me that the show ran on the past Tuesday and they hoped it had gone well.    When I called the head of the firm to complain  about this most recent dropped ball - she told me I was too demanding.

I paid for a service, asked them to follow up, they didn't. So we didn't know the show ran, at all.  Am I too demanding for questioning that service level?

Case 2: I hired a web developer - for web management, shopping carts and emarketing. The first work I gave him was returned a week late and 80% wrong. It took us three weeks to get 3 single product shopping carts and three new web pages up and correct.  The 2nd task was to create a subscription page - that took three weeks and I had to finish it. The story goes on and on - with various states of late and poor work. When I finally told him I was looking for someone else  - he told me that was good because I was just too demanding.

Three weeks for a subscription page and shopping cart? Tasks that are late and wrong, over and over again.  Am I too demanding?

Case 3: I hired someone to with with SEO for my site. The person wouldn't return my emails, didn't respond to any request or questions, gave me mediocre advice and not much else - and yet kept telling me that for what I paid him I didn't deserve any more than I was getting. In the end - he did nothing of value.

We agreed to the prices and the tasks.  Yet I'm too demanding because I expect that agreement to be fulfilled. By the way, my own SEO efforts since we parted company have done more for me than all of his reports and ego.

Case 4: I was working with an editor on a special project - all for free. I know this editor was busy - but I'd send email after email and get no response. None - for weeks on end.  I'd dutifully send in my weekly work - sometimes it would be published incorrectly, often out of order or with changes that I hadn't agreed to. I'd try again  to connect and get no response. This went on for a long time.  Then one day I received this condescending email explaining how a writer thinks and writes - as a commentary on a recent piece of my work.  I'll admit it - it was the straw that broke the camel's back.  After being ignored and having my work mishandled for months - I sent an email back saying that we needed to change our relationship - that this was not working for me.  The next thing I know - I'm "fired" from this free project because I'm being too demanding...after I put up with months of passive agressive abuse (In my eyes).

This one shocked me  - but it also taught me a lesson.  If I'm having that kind of problem again - I'll escalate it much sooner.  I didn't do that until the very last straw - and by then I looked like the bad guy and the -ever-missing -editor looked like the good person. In this case - I know I looked too demanding.  What was intersting was that the head of the company never even bothered to call to ask for my side of the story.  And I thought we were friends.

I could go on and on.  There's a single thread through all of the many similar stories.  I know what it is.

I'm expecting the same level of service and commitment from others that I give to my clients. Delivering on time, responding to requests, following up and meeting my commitments.

By now, I'm beginning to wonder if I am expecting too much.

Maybe the new economy means delivering less services and value - and expecting clients to put up with it.

What's your take?

About the Author

Rebel Brown consistently challenges the status quo to deliver optimum solutions and high velocity growth for her clients. She combines the strategic expertise and tactical savvy of a global Corporate Strategy, Launch and Turnaround Expert, along with the leadership and motivational skills needed to get the job done.

 

Check out Rebel's new business book, Defy Gravity, where she shares proven strategies and tactics for growing your business even in a down economy.

Is Gordon Brown trying to create a republic by the back door?

Gordon Browns constitutional changes seem to be the first steps to creating a rupublic in the UK. Power is being devolved to parliament and the Royal response is being diminished. Jack Straw himself wrote a paper in 1998 (I think) stating there is no need for a royal command in the Government of this country. Add to this Gordons new "Magna Carta" of Citizenship, we will be pledging allegance to a flag before the end of the decade.

As a country founded on the strength of a Royal lineage and our alliance to Queen and country, will this further weaken out national identity?

He'll be out by the next election anyway.

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