Remember how it took me 7 years to make it into the New York Times?

Wouldn’t it be great if all of your clients and vendors thought about your relationship in those terms?

I sent a proposal to a prospective client on Wednesday.

On Thursday, I followed up based on a Tweet I had seen and nudged slightly on her reaction to my proposal.

On Friday, she called me and said:

“Things are crazy around here. Honestly, I probably won’t even look at it for 2 weeks, but I wanted you to know that I got it, I appreciate it, and I don’t want you to think I’m ignoring you.”

That was all she needed to say.

And you know what?

That was class.

I’ve blogged about effective communication and radio silence in the past and this potential client understood it implicitly.

But, she went on: “look, a relationship is two-way. You deserve to know what is going on. Besides, one day, the shoe might be on the other foot.”

What long range thinking!

I understand that other things may be a priority in her work life right now. That’s fine with me. No hard feelings. But, what she realized is that someone had done some work for her and that the decent thing to do was to acknowledge it and manage expectations.

This is the kind of thing that makes me appreciate her and…if I get the business…go the extra, extra mile to serve her (since I go the extra mile for all my clients already anyway!)

Lesson: No matter where you are in the “power structure,” you can do gestures that people remember…and will talk about. That will help your company and your personal brand.

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