I met a contact at a networking event I went to a year ago. I thought there could be some synergies between us so I called him and asked if he wanted to go for coffee. I never heard from him.
About two or three weeks ago, I got an email from him asking me if I could meet with him. He was interested in social media and wanted to hear more about what we do for our clients.
I get to his office and sit in the conference room. A few minutes into our conversation, his cell phone rings. “Let me pick this one up,” he says, “it’s important.”
A few moments went by and he came back into the conference room. He pulled down a huge box that included press kits, books and cd’s. “So tell me what you do,” he said. I gave him the brief overview.
The phone rang again. “Let me take this one,” he said. And again he left me alone in the conference room with all his books, press kits and cd’s. He came back a few minutes later.
“Do you hear that?” he said. I didn’t hear anything. “That,” he said. I started to listen closer. I heard a very slight tapping. “That’s a beggar downstairs banging on a drum. I can’t concentrate when he’s down there. Wait one moment while I call the police.”
As he called the police and told the officer about the situation, I sat and wondered whether or not I should pick myself up and leave.
“Now where were we?” he said. “Oh yes, let me tell you about XYZ.”
He then proceeded to discuss his client roster with me. After the second case study, I said, “how do you see us fitting together?”
“Wait a moment,” he said. He continued to talk about his client strategies. Just when I thought we were done, he calls in a staff person to talk with me about social media.
After I gave the guy a brief overview, he started asking me technical questions. Now I knew he was looking for a free consultation. He really didn’t know the premise behind social media and we started getting into a heated discussion.
Next thing I knew, we’re disagreeing about the methodology. I was ready to leave. As he left the room, I picked myself up and put my coat on. “Very nice meeting you,” I said and walked out. That was two hours later.
At what point would you have left?
P.S. He called me about 15 minutes after I left his office to tell me that the police took away the drummer…
I subscribe to the Rev. Jim Ignatowski (“Taxi”) theory: It's time to leave when the pretzels start to dance.
Your pretzels started dancing when he took the second cell phone call. I'd like to think that at that point I would have said, “I can see you're busy – let's re-schedule for another time when you're not so busy.” and then I would have handed his business card to the homeless guy on the way out.
Great comment! I'll take your advice next time!