The Rules Of Management: A Definitive Code for Managerial Success, Expanded Edition

Chapter 100. Build Respect—Both Ways—Between You and Your Customers

I was listening to a salesperson on the radio the other day, and the way he was talking about his customers made me think he and they were different species. He was condescending, patronizing, abusive, belittling, and ridiculing. He seemed to think it was fair to con people—he said it was up to us to check the small print, and if we didn’t we were somehow stupid.

I have no respect for such people because of these attitudes—and the fact they phone me most evenings as I sit down to dinner with my children. I have a whole range of techniques to punish them for this, including pretending to be deaf and making them shout, saying they need to speak to my father, and leaving the phone ...