Thursday, March 19, 2015

How Not to Make a Good First Impression


The Toastmasters meet every Tuesday at noon, about 15 minutes from my home. Another group meets about 20 minutes from home. I visited the 20-minute-away group and really enjoyed it. Decided it was worth checking out a second group before I committed myself to anything.

We'll call the 20-minutes-away group The Top-Drawer Toasters, and the 15-minutes-away group The Topsy-Turvies.

When I entered the large glass office building where the Top-Drawers meet and approached the front desk, the friendly security guard knew exactly what I was talking about when I asked where the Toastmasters meet, and outdid Google Maps getting me to the exact place. Today, when I entered the low-slung office building where the Topsy-Turvies meet, the front desk security guard looked positively panic-stricken when I asked where the Toastmasters meet.

While the unconcerned panic-stricken security guard looked around at her desk, wondering how she might get me to just go away, I hopped online with a helpful Toastmaster chat person called Jason, who was able to give me the contact email for the group. Then I switched over to the webpage of this Toastmaster group and called the contact number and left a message. Finally, I sent an email to the contact person. I hung around for a few minutes in case a Topsy-Turvy was checking the email or messages, but heard nothing back.

So, I drove away, a little disappointed, but saying "Yes, and" and then saying it again when I got all the way home and realized I had left my irreplaceable water bottle at the Topsy Turvy location.

The truth is, for something like this, I'm probably not going to try a second time. Had the security guard known any helpful information, that would have been super. Had the phone number been answered ... oh, by the way? The person whose phone that is called me back and let me know I had called the wrong number, the one I clicked on on the website. And the return email I got let me know not one iota more information than I already had.

I'd say that group isn't really interested in new members. Of course, I am forming a conclusion that may or may not be at all accurate, but that's what us busy humans do these days. You only make one first impression.

2 comments:

Mona Karel said...

I see this so often with clubs and groups. They don't update the website (they'll get to that 'real soon') and they don't get around to answering queries for several days. Or longer. Most distressing!

Suzy Taylor Oakley said...

Yikes! I probably would have gone with Top Drawer group, too.

The phone number being wrong is atrocious, and I really hate it when you ask for info and you're told the same sort of boilerplate information you already got ALL ON YOUR OWN.

They need help. :-)