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Lesson #1, People WILL lie to you
RetiredMember4
subscriber Posts: 1
Whether it is a client, vendor, employee or business contact, at some
point in your business career, someone will lie to you. Your vendor will
promise to deliver and fail. Your customer will promise to pay and they
won`t. Anticipate it, and you can at least limit the harm.
In a previous business, my partner was in negotiations with a vendor and
was pitched a deal that just sounded "to-good-to-be-true". My partner
told the vendor that he would need my OK to close the deal. I gave the
vendor a call to discuss the details but before we began, I asked the
vendor for his permission to record the conversation since "I am forgetful
sometimes". Of course he obliged but somehow, when I mentioned the
deal he spoke of earlier to my partner, he denied any knowledge of it. Of
course, any deal should be ultimately put in writing with signed
acknowlegements. But sometimes, to get a meeting with you, or to just
limit competitors, people/vendors will say and do anything to get you to
talk to them.
point in your business career, someone will lie to you. Your vendor will
promise to deliver and fail. Your customer will promise to pay and they
won`t. Anticipate it, and you can at least limit the harm.
In a previous business, my partner was in negotiations with a vendor and
was pitched a deal that just sounded "to-good-to-be-true". My partner
told the vendor that he would need my OK to close the deal. I gave the
vendor a call to discuss the details but before we began, I asked the
vendor for his permission to record the conversation since "I am forgetful
sometimes". Of course he obliged but somehow, when I mentioned the
deal he spoke of earlier to my partner, he denied any knowledge of it. Of
course, any deal should be ultimately put in writing with signed
acknowlegements. But sometimes, to get a meeting with you, or to just
limit competitors, people/vendors will say and do anything to get you to
talk to them.
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Comments
It`s a shame that these days, people seem to consider whether they can get away with certain things rather than whether it`s right to do them in the first place.
Imagine trying to do business with just a handshake today?
(I know there are many out there who have worked long and hard to build a good reputation for themselves. Wouldn`t it be nice if they could all band together and squeeze out the bad apples?)
So, Lesson #1: People WILL lie to you.
Lesson #2: They WON`T think twice about it.
As for common sense, sometimes I think it may be on the Endangered Species list...
However, the notion that right, wrong and truth are relative to the individual seems to take the backseat once such a "free-thinker" has been treated unfairly in some way. Then they want justice. How ironic.
when"... just take a look at all the head honchos of those fortune 500 co.`s
going down for being greedy... they bring a whole new breed of regulations
that never existed before.
So not only do we have to deal with these "snakes in the grass", but we find ourselves also trying to anticipate whatever scheme they will think up next in order to protect ourselves and our investments, which borders on the impossible.
So what exactly happened to honor and integrity? Did they leave on vacation and decide not to return? Where can we go to catch up with them?
It used to be that you didn`t have a good name, you had nothing at all. Today, you can just change your name once you have damaged it beyond repair.
Anyone who has ever put their faith in someone professionally only to be taken advantage of as a result probably wishes that someone would have forewarned them to be a little more careful.
I wouldn`t call you gullible. People really should be able to trust one another. I have had it happen to me, too, and it is no picnic.
We all have the tendency to expect others to behave as honorably as we try to, and it is that assumption (albeit made in good faith) that can lead to all sorts of grief if we don`t protect ourselves, which was the message that you conveyed when you started the thread.
Not everyone acts with integrity- and maybe this conversation that you started will remind those other honest, good-hearted souls who work so hard not to just take someone else`s word when it comes to a business transaction, but to get it in writing, too.
An ounce of prevention, right?
Sorry, it is a result of doing business for over 20 years in FL. Watching good people get worked over in a business deal because they did not check out facts or think through something they had been told actually led me to doing business consulting, and helping people look beyond what they are told. I would still like to believe that some of the things I have seen were not done deliberately but it has happened too often to be a coincidence.
The advice remains the same. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Means check banking references for new clients, drive out to a warehouse, check better business bureau, verify addresses before shipping, etc.