Dealing with unreasonably slow response / ghosting

[Escape333]

Hi -

Wondering how people handle terrible response time and ghosting.

I've been finding more & more people to be unreasonably slow in response and action. I've always thought that an acceptable response time was 24 hours in business, but I'm really used to minutes to several hours on a solid team. I'm seeing days and weeks even with vendors we've paid to do a job. Getting tired of strategizing how to get normal response time.

Even when the vendor needs something from me, like payment - I recently waited 3 weeks to get follow up on where to send payment on an invoice - I wasn't worried about the delay for obvious reasons, but bizarre!

Any advice on this & are others seeing this same lack of response? Thx for any input!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Johnny boy]

works the same everywhere. customers, employees, partners, tinder dates.....

don't chase em, replace em!

View: https://youtu.be/O8WQ4VCoQ_8?si=I2v4qprFx6Dbsad3

 

[Escape333]

works the same everywhere. customers, employees, partners, tinder dates.....

don't chase em, replace em!

View: https://youtu.be/O8WQ4VCoQ_8?si=I2v4qprFx6Dbsad3

I hear you! Problem is, some are under contract. Could push for breach of contract but that channels energy the wrong way instead of the practical side of getting the work product. But I hear you.

 

[Johnny boy]

I hear you! Problem is, some are under contract. Could push for breach of contract but that channels energy the wrong way instead of the practical side of getting the work product. But I hear you.

So while you’re waiting for them just go be working with other people and mentally write off the slow ones.

“Hello, random fact: it takes 3 days to travel to the moon, which means we could travel to the moon twice in the time it takes you to respond to emails. Wow! The more you know”

Insert pic:

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[amp0193]

I don’t work with any suppliers who can’t communicate.

No response in 24 hours to my first inquiry? Not even going to consider working with you, because it’s going to be like that forever.

And most of the time, the ones who are on the ball with communication, are also on the ball with everything else.

As far as other interactions go, I’m religious about using the “snooze” feature in my email program to be relentless on follow ups.

No response I’m 24 hours? You will be hearing from me on day 2, because it pops back in my inbox for follow up.

 

[Escape333]

So while you’re waiting for them just go be working with other people and mentally write off the slow ones.

“Hello, random fact: it takes 3 days to travel to the moon, which means we could travel to the moon twice in the time it takes you to respond to emails. Wow! The more you know”

Insert pic:
View attachment 52324

Lol - may try that.

 

[Escape333]

I don’t work with any suppliers who can’t communicate.

No response in 24 hours to my first inquiry? Not even going to consider working with you, because it’s going to be like that forever.

And most of the time, the ones who are on the ball with communication, are also on the ball with everything else.

As far as other interactions go, I’m religious about using the “snooze” feature in my email program to be relentless on follow ups.

No response I’m 24 hours? You will be hearing from me on day 2, because it pops back in my inbox for follow up.

Seems to be a serious uptick in flakes post covid. I'm realizing I need to do shorter engagements with people before a commit to a relationship with serious follow through issues.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biophase]

Hi -

Wondering how people handle terrible response time and ghosting.

I've been finding more & more people to be unreasonably slow in response and action. I've always thought that an acceptable response time was 24 hours in business, but I'm really used to minutes to several hours on a solid team. I'm seeing days and weeks even with vendors we've paid to do a job. Getting tired of strategizing how to get normal response time.

Even when the vendor needs something from me, like payment - I recently waited 3 weeks to get follow up on where to send payment on an invoice - I wasn't worried about the delay for obvious reasons, but bizarre!

Any advice on this & are others seeing this same lack of response? Thx for any input!

I had a vendor ask for my email to send an invoice, I sent it to them. Three weeks later I asked them if they got my email. They never replied.

That was August and I still haven’t paid them for their services and probably never will at this point. Lol

 

[Escape333]

I had a vendor ask for my email to send an invoice, I sent it to them. Three weeks later I asked them if they got my email. They never replied.

That was August and I still haven’t paid them for their services and probably never will at this point. Lol

I find it totally surreal - have had multiple situations like this where ppl want money or sthing from me & don't follow up - one dude was asking for a 200k+ exec gig - didn't return emails - gtfo

 

[Kevin88660]

Hi -

Wondering how people handle terrible response time and ghosting.

I've been finding more & more people to be unreasonably slow in response and action. I've always thought that an acceptable response time was 24 hours in business, but I'm really used to minutes to several hours on a solid team. I'm seeing days and weeks even with vendors we've paid to do a job. Getting tired of strategizing how to get normal response time.

Even when the vendor needs something from me, like payment - I recently waited 3 weeks to get follow up on where to send payment on an invoice - I wasn't worried about the delay for obvious reasons, but bizarre!

Any advice on this & are others seeing this same lack of response? Thx for any input!

It happens frequently in my country because middle and back office staffs have to deal with hundreds of service requests per day. Cost optimization is high priority.

But I am surprised they are slow in getting payment. The slowless is usually in post sales service.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[amp0193]

But I am surprised they are slow in getting payment.

I never ceased to be amazed by the contractors who I work with, and do a 5-figure service for me (for example, installing compressed air pipes in our warehouse) and then don’t send an invoice for 3 or 4 months.

There’s one inventory vendor that insisted I send a check for payment. So I did. Then they never cashed it. 3 months later, my bank auto-cancelled the check. It’s been 6 months since I received the inventory, I wonder when they are going to ask for their payment again?

I really can’t grasp why companies aren’t all over their accounts receivables. How do they keep the lights on?

 

[amp0193]

My primary supplier in China does a good job responding on time (almost always within 24 hours).

However, it’s not at all unusual for my sales rep to reply to a random older email thread, and so the threads end up getting all messy.

Drives me nuts, but I just keep track of link to each message sent in clickup now as a workaround to keep tabs on all outstanding important questions with them. But before the cross threads was causing me to drop follow ups on time-sensitive items.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Dude, I've had some of the same issues. Over the last 2 years, I've hired and fired more than 50 VAs/Contractors/Service Providers over Upwork/Guru, Fiverr, and a few other places.

And there were SEVERAL I tried to pay early and/or on time and it just blows my mind they won't even take money. If anybody has solutions PLEASE teach us all!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JordanK]

Hahah, two or three businesses I regularly interact with can go 1-2 years without charging. Usually they'll hit you up in early December as they want more money over the Christmas period or they are closing out accounts for the year. They still provide a great service and are very easy to deal with so I'm happy to continue giving them work.

The majority I have found that operate like this are family businesses or ones that are established over 40-50 years+ in a community. They know who you are, you aren't going anywhere - they aren't going anywhere.

 

[AppleTree]

In a way since you put yourself to high standards, you should put your clients to high standards as well. I'd say if there's no contract then you should move on. If there's a contract spend your time looking for new clients.

 

[FastNAwesome]

Whether vendor or client, I learned to waste no time.
In my experience, if someone's difficult to work with, it just doesn't get better.

If you do find reliable folks every now and never,
maybe it's worth considering some sort of retainer,
or giving them work continuously.

So they can rely on you too, and hopefully in return - you on them as well.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JordanK]

Hahah, two or three businesses I regularly interact with can go 1-2 years without charging. Usually they'll hit you up in early December as they want more money over the Christmas period or they are closing out accounts for the year. They still provide a great service and are very easy to deal with so I'm happy to continue giving them work.

The majority I have found that operate like this are family businesses or ones that are established over 40-50 years+ in a community. They know who you are, you aren't going anywhere - they aren't going anywhere.

This is hilarious. I just received my bill from my mechanic. 10 days before Christmas as predicted lmfao