I received a call from one of my coaching clients and she was rather distraught. Someone she has done business with unfriended her on Facebook.
I told her there must be some explanation, “perhaps you hit the unfriend button by accident on your phone.” After all, who hasn’t pocket dialed someone by mistake? These things happen right?
I suggested she reach out and tell the person she noticed that they were no longer friends on Facebook and try to rectify the situation. What happened next shocked me…
She was deliberately unfriended because of a perceived misunderstanding.
Now, I am all for not being connected to people who are toxic, negative, and damaging to you on Facebook but….. is severing a friendship, (we are not talking strangers here) a bit drastic and could it be the new Burning Business Bridges?
In my coaching sessions and my training programs like The Pilot Project I talk a lot about building relationships in your business because my fundamental belief is that business is all about relationships. When we build solid relationships with people online and in person we are able to connect those relationships to our business through word of mouth marketing. Relationships might very well be the most valuable asset you have in your business.
To me, this unfriending signifies a lack of maturity and professionalism that can do irreparable damage to a person’s business and business reputation.
My suggestion – do the 24 hour cool off. Maybe remove said person from your newsfeed for a month and take some time to really think through whether you need to be as drastic as clicking the unfriend button.
Take a look at the video then let me know what you think in the comments below.
How would you handle it if this happened to you? What situations do you think merit this type of thing?
4 thoughts on “Are You Burning Business Bridges?”
Good Morning Lisa,
So why do people unfrend?
From experience I hear it’s because they are receiving too many posts in their feed.
I do agree that you can block from feed (over unfriending) BUT how often is too often to post??
My retail customer tells me they feel bombarded after signing up to other store e-mail lists therefore I’ve had to generate groups so my Chamilia or Ornament customer gets specific e-mail notifications. How often should I post on facebook or send e-mail newsleters (I know the answer is somewhat content related)
Carole
Hi Lisa,
I agree that unfriending someone is drastic, and I tend to hide feeds when I’ve had enough. If people over-post, post political rants, or start over-sharing their drinking habits, I hide the feed. Eventually, I’ll go back and check to see if anything has changed for the better, and often it has. I then unhide the feed and off we go. I don’t think I’ve ever unfriended anyone. Great video!
That is exactly why I don’t “friend” business contacts unless I absolutely have to for a Facebook app to work. They can all come to my page, but they don’t need to see my personal stuff.
I totally agree with you on this!! This just happened to me 2 days ago and my reaction was that I’d was so childish and immature. It kind of reminded me of an online temper tantrum. It wa so unprofessional, especially because I am in business with this person and thought we were friends. This kind of behavior should definitely be thought out because of the irreparable harm if can cause to the business and the friendship. We work way to hard to cultivate and maintain business relationships!