We identify the good because there is bad, someone is tall because someone is short, we hurry working during the day because there is night. No, I am not getting into any philosophy for this post but just want to thank many PR people who work seamlessly behind the scenes to ensure the brands they work for get recognition and are talked about.
So what brings me to this realization? A lady who happens to be the PR Manager of a highly reputed, Indian five star hotel group (with two properties next to each other in Gurgaon alone). She has left me with no option but to seek help from my readers to help me solve the puzzle she has put in front of me.
A couple of weeks ago, I receive calls late at night while I am in Tokyo. Since the calls are from an unknown number from India, I disconnect the calls. Few minutes later, there are more calls forcing me to turn on the True Caller to identify the person calling me. It might have been evening in India but it is late in Japan. Having thus identified the name of the person (which is that of a lady unknown to me), I whatsapp her saying that I am in Japan and can’t take calls. Almost immediately thereafter, I get a friend request on Facebook from her and a check of her profile reveals that she is the PR Manager of the hotel group I referred to above. I accept the request and meanwhile there is a reply to my whatsapp message introducing herself and enquiring about my return schedule to which I respond.
Post my return to India, I call back everyone whom I have promised to return the call, but this particular lady in question doesn’t take the call when I call her from my mobile. She obviously has my number saved with her as she was calling me and also whatsapp’d me. Believing she is busy I wait for her call but there is none. I again call her back the next day but the phone keeps ringing and my call meets the same fate as yesterday. I send her a whatsapp message confirming that I am back and had tried reaching her. Two blue ticks on the phone confirm she has read the message but there is no response. I send her the message again the next day and the message is almost immediately read but there is no response.
Exasperated, I call her from the landline and she immediately takes the call. But as soon as she hears my name, she hurriedly keeps down the phone saying she is in a meeting and will call me shortly – a call that never came.
Slightly irritated and puzzled at not receiving any response for next three days, I drop her FB message saying that this kind of behavior is least expected from a professional who was trying to get in touch with me rather than the other way around. Here, it is extremely important to highlight to the readers that there are multiple invites that we get on a daily basis from various restaurants and hotels and even though we visit only about 5% of such invited events, we always maintain a polite tone with anyone who calls us. We never ask anyone to invite us and all restaurateurs on this forum can confirm that.
The FB message is also read and yet, once again, there is complete silence from the other side. This brings on my inquisitive hat and I want to know what is the issue, if any, bothering her so much so that she was literally rebuffing all my attempts to restart the communication initiated by her. I tell my friend who is staying in one of the group’s hotels in Gurgaon and curating an event there of the events which had transpired. I want him to check on the reasons for such behavior. He is kind enough to do so and is told that she is keeping busy and will soon be calling me. A couple of weeks have passed since and yet there is no revert leaving me with few questions in my mind to ponder over :
1) What could have happened that someone who calls me frantically and sends a friend request and whatsapp’d me is behaving in such a fashion?
2) Does this behavior suit a PR professional whose raison d’ etre is to resolve any concerns and communicate effectively?
3) Does it not spoil the reputation of the hotel she represents?
….and lastly
4) How much time would it take to return a call or simply message me when half the time, I see her on FB responding and liking various posts?
I don’t have an answer to the above questions, and if you can help me solve this puzzle, do write to me at pawan.soni@indianfoodfreak.com
P.S. While on this subject, do have a look at my thoughts on the “Top Ten Mistakes of a PR Professional” here (I guess I need to add an “eleventh”) :
https://www.indianfoodfreak.com/top-ten-mistakes-pr-professional/
