Doing business? Give me a break
Doing business in Britain is tough. It seems that no one wants to sell you anything, no one wants you to buy their products and no one wants to be sold to. For the country that spearheaded the Industrial Revolution, this seems ironic.
Around the world, restaurant managers spend their days dodging salesmen, but in my 25 years of being in business in Britain I remember only a couple of dozen reps ever trying to see me.
The flip side of this will be familiar to anyone who has ever tried to contact a company for the first time to buy something. Not only are companies slow to respond to new business opportunities, they actually throw obstacles in your way.
Assuming you can bypass the moronic "press 1 for this and 26 for that" phone system to talk to an actual person, you'll probably be told that the One and Only person who handles new business is out for the day, on the phone with six calls waiting, on holiday, in an all-day meeting, on a training course, working from home, or sick - take your pick.
Should you be so foolish as to ask if the One and Only person wouldn't mind calling you back, you'll get a sucking-of-teeth sound as you are told that they can't promise when that will be, as the One and Only person is very, very busy.
I've known it to take weeks to get a return call, if one comes at all.
Finding a company to take your money is tough, but finding one that will talk to you if you have something to sell is harder yet. As a part-time consultant, I work for an overseas public company that asks me to identify and make contact with potential "host" companies which might be interested in its contract catering services.
One typical call was met with the arrogant response: "Don't bother to send us any information. We'll call you." But I knew someone who knew someone, and so a meeting was arranged with a "decision maker" - let's call her Ms X. She seemed impressed with my presentation and volunteered to visit my client's head office within two months.
Three months later, despite numerous attempts, I could not get her to speak to me again. Trying hard not to appear over-zealous, I sent occasional e-mail reminders and kept my calls to once a week, only to be fobbed off each time with her secretary's mantra: "She'll call you back."
How discourteous, time-wasting and ultimately detrimental to a company's image not to be able to straightforwardly say "no" instead of playing games!
Alas, the above story is all too typical. In my view, the British will never be a world-class business nation until they understand that business is something you do, not hide from.
And Ms X? I eventually got what I wanted, but it could have been so much easier.
Michael Gottlieb is president of the Restaurant Association and proprietor of Café Spice restaurants and Pencom (Service That Sells) UK
