Our team and two oustide companies are pitching a three-way project to an out-of-state business. Everything was progressing smoothly and we were almost there----until a few minutes ago.
Yesterday, the prospect requested that our final proposal be in her hands the next morning (meaning today). Sending it by e-mail wouldn't work because it included various physical exhibits. FedEx Next Day to the rescue. Real simple, right?
So I start the wheels in motion: an email to our two project partners that stated: "get the proposal overnight'd to the XYZ Corporation in Baltimore and label it attention Mary Smith." Included in my correspondence was a prior communique from Ms Smith, thus displayng her email address and company web site domain. Done deal; it was off to series of appointments I went.
This morning, I awake to an email that says this: "we couldn't FedEx the package because you didn't tell us their shipping address."
Now, both of these parties are in a constant-online mode, mind you, courtesy of broadband connections.
A quick phone call to my hapless and helpless friends this AM had me asking both "couldn't you have just typed the company name into Google and found it? Or e-mailed the lady and asked? Or called them up after asking an operator to assist you?" In both cases, I was answered with silence.
The deal is dead--they HAD to have the stuff by 9AM, and not even a plane ride can get it there by then.
The only satisfaction I got out of it was my early morning phone calls woke both of them up. But that doesn't quite do it. Maybe I'll program my phone to ring them up every morning at random times for the next three months...
In the meatime, I think I will go buy myself a bicycle helmet. It will come in handy throughout the day as I bang my head against the walls.
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