Starting to understand the high failure rates... - I'm currently sourcing all the required elements for my own start-up and was really surprised by how poorly a lot of businesses are run.

1. Company One had a salesperson who said they weren't sure how much their client services cost because they were new and asked me to email my enquiry instead...which they promptly ignored.

2. I agreed to purchase some marketing services from Company Two who were actively advertising for new customers. After I said I would like to go ahead with the sale, they stopped responding.

3. Online quote requests for Company Three went unanswered and when someone finally answered the phone, they told me the provided email address is actually an unmonitored inbox.

4. I requested pricing from Company Four, but the owner told me they were just on their way out grocery shopping, so I'd have to call back later. I did and they still forgot to send the quote.

5. I ordered paid custom packaging samples, selected colours, provided my logo, etc. Only to receive a random assortment of other people's paid custom packaging samples. The owner actually tried to blame me for this one, claiming I hadn't sent the required information. I pointed out they were responding to the original email chain with all the required information clearly visible two emails further up.

Surely this can't be normal for the average B2B interaction?