Sometimes, even the most innocent-sounding statements can speak volumes about the person or organization that you’re dealing with. In my experience, this is especially true when people try to address your concerns about a possible transaction. Say you’ve just told a vendor the three things that worry you most about a particular purchase. But instead of addressing each concern with testimonials from other customers or a concrete plan about how they’ll prevent problems, the vendor says you’re worrying too much. “Don’t worry,” they say, “Just trust me.” More often than not, these are the people who screw you over.

It’s the buyer’s job to express their concerns about a transaction in clear and concrete terms. But it’s the responsibility of the vendor to take these concerns seriously. Instead of being a condescending jerk and treating your customer like a whining child, show them some respect. Discuss each concern in detail and show them how your prior experience or your business processes will make sure that things go smoothly. This is true in product-oriented businesses and online services too, even if the delivery of these assurances comes in the form of a FAQ or a money-back guarantee.

So, if you’re evaluating a vendor and they come back with the sort of generic, nebulous statements I mentioned above, keep looking. These people don’t deserve even a dollar’s worth of your business.