When Leaving a Message Isn’t Optimal

I heard two quick examples yesterday that seemed relevant to share. Sometimes it is good to learn through others mistakes…

An executive at a company decided that they didn’t want to fill a particular drug since they were losing money per prescription. After the decision was made, he called the CEO of the manufacturer and left a voicemail saying “call me back in 24 hours with a lower price or we will stop filling your drug”.
- What about their other drugs?
- What about all the patients that you have in queue?
- Do you think the CEO might be busy?
In another case, a person in procurement called a vendor and said that every time the sales people called or made a suggestion that they were just going to send it on to their competitor and grow that relationship. [Steve – This is you guys.]
- Is that really what your business people want? They don’t want new ideas?
- Any worry that you might be breaking confidentiality by sharing this information?
- Did you ever realize that this is a small world? Don’t burn a bridge if you can avoid it.

Sometimes, you just should try talking to the person live and thinking through the conversation.