It’s All in the Relationship

I was reminded recently of the importance of relationships, whether personal or professional.  This is something that comes up frequently and it did again in a relatively powerful way a week ago.

People respond to requests based on personal relationships.  If you have a good one, you will get a response.  If you don’t have a great one or a non-existent one, you may not get a response, especially if you’re making a request. 

This is a fact of life in business.  While we do cold calls to people we don’t know to generate business, the real ways things happen is through your own network.  The strength of this is important.  People must respect you and like you.  It is not enough to have one or the other.  Ideally, you have both!

Respect is important because this means you deliver.  You make promises and you meet them.  You get positive results over and over.  Being liked is also important.  If you get results, but you roughshod over everyone, you will not be liked.  You may be feared and in a professional relationship, and that may get people to do their jobs, but you won’t be liked and so you miss out on the informal connectivity that is so important in building solid relationships.

I am not the best at this, but I am fairly good now.  I still want to improve though.  I am in a profession and a function that depends heavily on relationships, like most do.  There are some professions, like being a healthcare provider, where relationship skills are important but you can get away without having good ones.  You can’t do that in the kind of work I’ve been doing and will continue to do.

It really is all in the relationships!  A good thing to be reminded of.  An even better thing to become relationship-oriented as a way of living!  I’m there.  But I strive to be much better.

Airtel’s Customer Service Sucks

I recently had to disconnect a mobile number. My sister got married and moved out of the country. I asked her if she wanted to keep it. Since she’s not coming back to India anytime soon, she said to go and disconnect it. I called Airtel customer service and informed them of the situation, being very careful to tell them the reason is married and no longer in the country. The reason I had to even say that is because I knew they wouldn’t just disconnect it easily. I would expect they would try to talk me into keeping the number. It happens everywhere and with every company. Here, it’s a question of degrees – how much will they try to convince me and how much trouble will they give me.

I did this three months ago. Three months later, I was still getting bills. After the first bill, I called them and they said they never received the request. Thinking like an American (i.e., the disconnect would go through smoothly), I didn’t think to get a reference number for my call (as if that would have mattered anyway, but at least I would have had some ammunition). After the second bill, I called them and was told I should just pay this bill as the final and it would be disconnected. Of course, then I got the third bill. I called them again and this time I was told that the reason was my error – customer service usually does not disconnect numbers, that’s the job of the retail offices. I needed to go to the nearest retail center. They were just trying to help me out, really.

I was beyond pissed off by then. I asked them why no one had told me until now the process was to go to the retail office. Why didn’t someone tell me that if they did do it over the customer service phone line, it may not actually get disconnected. I asked the rep if he saw anything wrong with that. Very blatantly and with a straight face, he says absolutely not! I then asked him again. He repeated the same answer! Giving up, I sent an email to the customer service complaint department explaining the situation and providing reference numbers for two disconnect requests. I thought that it would finally be done.

A few days later, I got a call for my home Airtel number. Apparently, they had not received my bill payment yet. This phone bill has the internet service on it too. Needless to say, I am very careful of paying on time as it is, but especially for my internet connection line. I can’t not have internet. My clients would not be too happy if I disappeared on them. The interesting thing is that I paid the bill in the same exact manner that I have been paying bills (for 5 Airtel numbers!) for over a year. Surprisingly, this time around they don’t get my check! Apparently, Airtel wanted to get the last word in – they had to give me grief! This isn’t just an Airtel problem. It is exacerbated by an India problem. Even businesses take things personally. I was not in the wrong. I wanted to disconnect the number. I have a right to do that. But, clearly, I can’t just do that without paying for a few extra months and being given hassles otherwise.

Where’s Barnes & Noble or Borders?

Finding books in India is getting easier, but it’s still not easy.  It partly depends on where you live, of course.  In small towns and smaller cities, it’s very difficult to get the latest books.  The availability is lacking in two ways – a) there just aren’t enough bookstores, and b) even if there are a few stores, they tend to carry older books.  The stores tend to be rather small as well.

I live in North Delhi.  While it comes with many costs, availability of resources is one of the major ones.  I cannot find a decent bookstore here that carries what I’m looking for.  After a bit of searching, I was told I need to go to South Delhi as my first option.  There are a few large book chains called Teksons and Om’s in South Ex.  In order to get what I want, I have to spend half a day to a third of the day.  It takes me an hour fifteen to get to South Ex from where I live.  Coming back is going to be even worse because I’ll hit traffic.

The second option is to go to Kamla Nagar near Delhi University North Campus.  This one makes sense since the university is located here that you would find bookstores.  But again, that is an hour out.  I will spend the whole day today in an attempt to find what I need.  First, I’ll be off to Kamla Nagar and then to South Ex.

Contrast this to the book/resource availability in Cambridge, MA or one of the other places I’ve lived.  I could be at a Barnes & Noble or a Borders within 10 minutes.  It was actually an enjoyable experience to get there, browse books, read a few magazines to see if there’s something I’d like to buy, and then come back home.

Random Encouragement to Keep Blogging

My professional life has been chaotic the last few weeks.  That’s my first (and legitimate) excuse for not writing frequently.  The second reason for my delayed return is that it’s hard to write when no one is reading!

Yesterday, a friend sent a note about his blog that hit the spot – it takes 8 to 12 months for a blog to start getting noticeable traffic!  It was exactly the thing I needed to be reminded of.  I know this but I had forgotten in my quest to get readership!

The article also mentioned that I need to review other people’s blogs and write comments on them.  I have been following half a dozen writers for a couple of months.  Now, I need to start commenting on their posts.

Is Anyone Reading This?

My last post got me wondering and curious – is anyone reading this?  If so, write a comment to this post so I at least know someone’s out there….