Everyone complains about the economy. I say, “Times are tough and when the going gets tough the tough get going” …. Ya-da, ya-da, ya-da. Lemme tell you- I don’t see this in a lot of the businesses out there. Here’s what I DO see. A lot of TALKING about customer service and changing the way they do business AND a whole lot of belly-aching but no real sense of urgency!
For example, many years ago Sioux and I went went through the tough process of renovating our home in Colorado that had been rented out for 15 years.(As the photo shows it WAS a beautiful home. Let’s just say the years had not been kind!)
So what we thought would be a quick, tax-deductible trip where we could squeeze in some high mountain hiking turned into a brutal two week odyssey of 14-hour days doing most of the work ourselves. Why? Because of…
An almost complete attitude of complacency and arrogance on the part of contractors we called. For example, we wanted to fill the cracks and seal our extensive asphalt driveway. So I called (during normal business hours) three asphalt contractors. Perish the thought of me getting a real, live person so I left a detailed massage with all three. Only one returned my call and when he showed up he didn’t even get out of his truck to give me an absurdly high verbal bid. The result- nobody got the work which of course gave them even more fodder for their nightly bull sessions at the Dew Drop Inn on “How bad the economy is…”!
Learn from these dummies. Develop a sense of urgency. Given MY sense of urgency as a Landlord with a deadline (those mountain trails were calling!) I would have cheerfully shelled out big bucks to the first contractor that a) responded quickly, b) showed personal interest in MY problem and c) gave me both solutions AND good feelings about them as a professional. People just like me are calling YOU for help. Are you listening and responding??? Quickly???