(In case you need it pointing out to you – this article is written with just a slight hint of sarcasm.)
If you want to hide from your customers, here’s a quick guide on how to do just that:
Step 1: Log in to LinkedIn
Step 2: Hover over “Profile” from the main horizontal site menu and select “Edit Your Profile”
Step 3: Hover over the down-arrow next to the “View profile as” button and select “Manage public profile settings.”
Step 4: Select the radio button in the right-hand sidebar entitled, “Make my public profile visible to no one.”
You are now invisible and can hide from your customers. How long you keep up this immature charade, on the other hand, is entirely up to you. I’m just writing this post to show you how to do it. Presumably you won’t want to keep your profile private for the rest of your career?
There are a number of reasons you might want to do this in the short term, for example:
- You can make a point of showing utter contempt for your customers and make it clear that you do not wish to have any positive and open dialogue with them (this is an especially useful technique if they have sent you a Connection Request).
- With your public profile now hidden, you can sit back and relax, and hide behind a computer screen instead of talking to your customers. Crack open a beer or something.
- Need to communicate with your customer to correct mistakes you’ve made? You could perhaps wave at them from a distance in the real world, but then hide away and talk to them through lawyers instead – it’s much more effective to send a forest of legalese paperwork through, costing hundreds of pounds, instead of a 10 minute phone call or a friendly knock on the door which could resolve things straight away. But where’s the fun in that?
- This way you can avoid admitting any fault or having to do any work above and beyond the absolute bare minimum you are required to do by your job description.
- If the organisation you work for and represent has particularly deep pockets, you can misuse the law to bully, threaten and intimidate your customer into submission – after all, most small businesses would probably fear the legal action and pay up, even monies that are not due.
As an alternative to the above, you could operate an efficient, considerate and helpful business that works with its customers and maintains a fruitful and positive relationship with them (maybe I’m old-fashioned?). If mistakes do occur, on either side, you could apologise (imagine that!) and put them right quickly, to maintain a positive and healthy relationship with your customers, who will then remain as customers and not go elsewhere. This will be better for your business in the long-run.
I’d love to hear which method of doing business you prefer – give me your thoughts in the comments below.
