This may sound a little petty, but...anyway, I occasionally have clients that will only refer to themselves as Mr. or Mrs, Ms. when speaking to me. I'm not talking about a prospect, I mean a client that may have one or more policies, and has had them for years.
Now, considering that this is rare, I still find it mildly irritating when they continue to address me by my first name, regardless of the fact that I am not enjoying that privilege with them. It's one thing if they want to be formal, okay, I don't get it, but that's okay, I don't get a lot of things. However, if you are going to have this alpine sense of self, shouldn't it extend to those you do business with?
One example of this, that I really found hard to take, was a guy that was several years younger than me, who was doing okay work wise, but nothing special...he calls me Bill from the beginning of our tenure together, but insists that I call him Mr. Jones. I returned his calls, and tried to be accommodating, but it was a real effort.
Now, considering that this is rare, I still find it mildly irritating when they continue to address me by my first name, regardless of the fact that I am not enjoying that privilege with them. It's one thing if they want to be formal, okay, I don't get it, but that's okay, I don't get a lot of things. However, if you are going to have this alpine sense of self, shouldn't it extend to those you do business with?
One example of this, that I really found hard to take, was a guy that was several years younger than me, who was doing okay work wise, but nothing special...he calls me Bill from the beginning of our tenure together, but insists that I call him Mr. Jones. I returned his calls, and tried to be accommodating, but it was a real effort.