Fine. (Is this rude?)

[ChallengingFigureANDUnrulyFlaps]

Hello

If I phone a client, is this rude of them?

Me: Hi, it's ChallengingFigure from MyCompany, how are you?
Client: Fine

(client does not say "thanks" or even "how are you?")

This is an existing client btw, not someone I'm cold calling.

What to do you think?

You say you weren't cold calling, but you were calling without having arranged to do so. Why not just email or text with the update? A phone-call is an imposition.

Glad so many hate this approach and it is not just me. Even at the end of a call more personal questions can seem off unless they affect the 'transaction' or are too big to ignore i.e. an important event in their lives.

I hate when businesses or customers ask how I am on the phone - they don't care and nobody ever gives a genuine answer so it all seems incredibly pointless.

I'd just say "Hi Fred, it's sunset from MN here, are you free to chat about X for a few minutes?".

No need for the fake pleasantries crap.

Ah me too! There’s a very sweet lady at work that always includes a personal sentence at the beginning of this kind. I feel trapped into answering in kind, then she responds as well and on it goes.

And it undermines my confidence my own emails are efficient rather than terse!

I haven't phoned a bank in years but I remember calling one and as part of the sign off, the person said 'and what are you doing for the rest of the day' and I felt really put on the spot. I think I just said 'er, dunno'.

Now I know that they're probably told to do that by their managers, but WTF thinks that's a good idea? They don't care. The majority of customers will hate it. Some people will have upsetting/distressing things to deal with that they won't want to discuss with a stranger. It's just so inappropriate. I'm not against chatting with call centre people (or shop assistants etc) if it's neutral subjects like the weather, Olympics, TV etc when it's natural, not forced, but they often stray way beyond that and it can get awkward really quickly.

Yes, I agree with this.

I have colleagues who start every email with "I hope you are well,"

I can't see the point. But at least they don't expect a reply like you do.

That is perfect.

He is probably fed up of being asked how he is as a pleasantry and nothing more.

You are two individuals with different communication styles in a business relationship.

If I were the client I would be annoyed to be interrupted (unless the call had been booked) so it is only polite to ask if this is a good time to discuss Project X.

Regarding the asking of "how are you", some people (like yourself) prefer to be asked this and view it as polite. Others think it has no place in a business relationship and is wasting their precious time and is both unwelcome and inappropriate. Replying "fine" is not rude, it's telling you that they did not want you to ask this question at all.

It's your choice whether to:
a) stick with your choice and be annoyed with your client for not doing the same
b) stick with your choice and try to shame the client for not asking how you are in return (this would be both passive aggressive and also plain rude, and very destructive to the relationship, very unprofessional)
c) flex your approach to your client and match how they communicate ie "hi, it's Rachel with an update on project X, is this a good time to talk?" and accept that there is no rudeness here from your client. It will help to build your relationship if you match their communication preference - if relationship building matters to you.

You seem very stuck in the mindset that your approach is the only right approach. Newsflash, it's not.

Not particularly rude.
A little terse, so it tells you that you should have sent an email previously saying "Just wanting to give you a quick update on where fwevare with project X - no need for a teams linkup, a call is fine but is 3pm ok with you?"
And that gives them the opportunity to let you know if the have another meeting, a deadline or a desire tp slope off a bit early because childcare juggling is crazy over the summer.

I do calls like this regularly and very rarely just phone up an existing client out of the blue with no idea if I would be interrupting something. At the very least we will have exchanged emails broadly agreeing we'll catch up next week and if the client says "I'm free any time, call whenever" then I wouldn't bother with setting a specific time.

If someone didn't respond to my call with platitudinous pleasantries I would check if it was a convenient time and offer to call back another time if now isn't good.

I hate being asked how I am on the phone. Absolutely hate it! I always say

"Hi, it's Catamaran from Vipers R Us, I'm just calling about your vivarium repair, is now a good time?"

Friendly tone, keep it professional, to the point, explain why I'm bothering them and checking it's okay.

I don't like being asked how I am when we both know I'll give a stock answer that isn't true and we've both just wasted time to appear friendly. how I am is none of your business. No I don't want to talk about the weather or hear about your tea plans.

I call existing customers and say Hi, it’s Maddie calling from xxxxx, I have an update on your xxxx, can I go through this now with you?’

Customer: yes that’s fine or actually now’s not good, can you call me later

Then I need to do data protection and a bit of rapport building

For those who’ll now say why bother with the ‘chat’, believe me I’d also rather just crack on but our calls are scored, so we have no choice.

It's rude of you

Try saying:

'Hi, it's ChallengingFigure from MyCompany, phoning to discuss time-sensitive thing. Can you talk about this now?'

Client: 'yes' or 'no, not now, in three hours will be fine'

If you phoned me with the wording in your OP you'd be lucky to get 'fine' my brain would be thinking 'mind your own effing business'

rude of you and intrusive and over personal

It's a customer.
Not a friend, or family or anyone that owes you anything.
Why did you take it personally?

I think rather than asking "How are you?" it would be better to ask, "Are you able to speak for X minutes about an urgent matter?" If it's a general update, I would have emailed first and asked for availability to have the conversation. If they are busy enough to outsource the work, they are busy. I would also check that they haven't literally told company not to call them between X hours, or only to call between X and Y hours.

What you are doing for them is your job, and the question may have seemed urgent to you, or necessary for you to move forward, but to them it may not be the most pressing and urgent thing on their plate that day. They have been interrupted in whatever they are doing and asked to deal with someone else's priorities. They may have been waiting for another call and have picked up not realising that you were not it and need to get the line clear. They may not have been in a position to speak about the project at that moment.

Unscheduled calls can be just as disruptive as cold calls.

@ChallengingFigureANDUnrulyFlaps I completely get what you're saying, I think some clients have more of a transactional relationship with their suppliers etc and tend to skip the pleasantries but yes, it can be annoying, I know what you mean. Do you generally have much small talk with them or is normally straight to business? As sometimes this is just the way an effective business relationship works (not trying to tell you how to suck eggs here of course! It's just I work in senior ops and have said the same thing so many times over the years!), so you either work to create a more personable relationship or accept that this business relationship is transactional only. Again though I am all about the pleasantries so I get annoyed too!

On another note, I once had a member of my extended team where it was always...

Me: good morning, how are you today
Her: fine

Or

Me: hey there! Are you ok today?
Her: yes

😂

She was a really lovely girl but just didn't ever seem to know how to ask someone how they were!

On another note, why are so many people on this thread so angry 😂 people have clearly had bad Mondays! It's a very innocuous question I don't think there is a need for the hostility!

In the olden days, a mark of the social outcast, ignorant of etiquette, was a person who if greeted with the words 'how do you do?' told you how they did/were, rather than replying "how do you do?".

It was a customary salutation, not a question.

No it isn’t rude it is a response to a detestable fake question which has become the norm in more recent times from certain companies and younger staff. I hate it and frequently say fine. Sometimes I might say can I ask why you are calling instead of responding to the fake question at all especially if it is a cold call.
To be honest given I am actually seriously ill with a variety of issues they are lucky that I don’t answer the question.
Try being real and simply saying why you are calling once the person answers the call. I think you would get a much better response.
I hate this script almost as much as the way they use my first name without asking how I would like to be addressed and then continually repeat my name throughout their spiel as if I might have forgotten who I am. If this is supposed to foster customer relations it certainly does not for me.

I always silently answer in my head 'Mind your own fucking business'
You don't care how I am and I don't care how your are
When cold callers ask I remain silent

Much better. I hate being asked how I am by a colleague in that context. I would just say "fine" and not thank you to signal how pointless it is and hope you'd get to the point so if this client doing that has caused you to now change your opening line that's been entirely successful.

OP is an estate agent, so calling someone selling their home or trying to buy/rent one. The person they're calling will be going about their daily life when they get the call, they could be in work, in a supermarket etc.

"Hi, it's Sparrow from X Estate Agents, I just wanted to let you know that we've received another offer of X on your home. We have 2 more viewings scheduled for tomorrow and will contact all the underbidders to see if they wish to raise their offer."

That gives the vendor the chance to accept the current offer or confirm if the EA should try to get a higher offer.

That could then be adapted when arranging a viewing, letting prospective tenants know if they have/haven't secured a tenancy etc.

I'm sure opinions will vary wildly, but whenever I've bought and sold a home I didn't want the overly friendly EA pattle, just cold hard facts.

You don't care how they are

They know you don't care.

Just get on with your call.

Morning oh grumpy MNetters!

Just to reiterate - I'm not a cold caller. They have engaged my company to sell their property.

Actually, often I do say "how are you?" and they say "oh, finding this all very stressful" or "really excited, I've just viewed xyz property and want to offer on it". There IS a bit of human interaction. Sorry if that bothers those of you who would prefer I was a robot.

And btw I'm Scottish, working in Scotland, not English. For those who said this is a very English way of conversing, to ask how someone is.

And btw often it's older people selling who prefer a phone call (even one out of the blue, can you believe it!!) to emails or scheduled zoom calls or the like.

Was the person you thought might be rude older?

Adapting your approach to different clients is really part and parcel of any sales job. Some might appreciate the friendly opener, but others won't, so don't use it again if the other person clearly doesn't want to engage with it.