Keep being busy from becoming a downfall


  • October 19, 2016
  • /   Quint Studer
  • /   training-development,quint-studer

Quint Studer

Being busy is a good problem to have, right?

Being busy also usually means more revenue for a business, more jobs and more activity in a community.

But don’t forget about your customers. In some cases, being busy may mean a business deviates from the responsiveness and quality service that made it successful in the first place.

What’s the one example we all know well? Returning phone calls. E-mail follow-up. Thank you’s. This seems to be a growing issue in many small businesses, especially in the building trades, which have gotten so much busier. Even the best of things can have unintended consequences.

A reader wrote me with this story this week: He called a company that had done some work for him in the past about a new potential project. A person from the company called him back and said that they were busy but could still do the job.

When the customer quickly called back to confirm everything, three weeks went by with no response. Six phone calls went unreturned. The customer found another company to complete the work.

Could this be an isolated situation? Sure. However, I have heard enough stories to suspect this is not isolated.

It is a great blessing when a business does well, but good times can also lead to complacency, a feeling that the company or the person is better than they are.

So what can be done to keep this in check? Objective measurement is important. It provides the window into how things are beyond the sales figures.

How happy is our workforce? Are our supervisors living up to our company’s values?

Objective measurement also helps sound the warning when things begin to erode. A rising tide may lift all boats, but when the tide recedes, some boats are more prepared than others to sail on. It is easier to be successful when times are good.

The real estate industry is a perfect example. Before the housing bubble about a decade ago, many real estate agents were doing quite well. Some may have been so busy that an inquiry about a small purchase may have been pushed aside in favor of a bigger sale.

But when the decline came, many suffered. Some had to find other ways to make a living. Those who had built a strong referral base and reputation survived.

Those who built relationships and stayed responsive no matter the size of the purchase had a chance to stay afloat. In the good times, never forget what or who helped you. Be grateful to those who helped create the success. Most of the time, that’s your customer base.

The late, great Gwen Appelquist was incredible in this area. My friend Don Dean moved to Pensacola from Chicago and Gwen was the real estate agent who found him a home.

A few years later, Don used Gwen again to sell the house when he moved back to Chicago. Six years later, with Don living in Chicago, and Gwen still kept in touch. Why? Likely, it was Gwen just being Gwen, a wonderful person.

But if Don ever moved back or knew anyone looking for real estate in the Florida Panhandle, he would have used Gwen’s services.

Gwen retired from real estate and worked with my company, but even after she left real estate, she got calls from past customers asking for advice and referrals. Gwen did great in the good times and good in the bad times. She was never too busy to respond, and that paid off.

Here are some tips to improve your company’s relationship with the people who matter most:

  1. Measure your service. Do this in the good times so you don’t get fooled into thinking it’s just you or your company’s product or service.
  1. If you are too busy to help a past client or referral, explain why and get them to the right place. Many of us remember the movie “Miracle on 34th Street.” The key was when Santa told the mother they could not help her get that gift for her son, but Gimbels could. When you put the customer first, even if that means sending them elsewhere, you will win.
  1. Have standards in place on response. As Tom Petty sang, waiting is the hardest part. Don’t make a customer call back. Be very specific about when a customer can expect to hear from you, even if the answer is not one they are hoping to hear.
  1. Don’t forget the ones who helped make success possible. In the late 1980s I was working in Wisconsin. We lived about six blocks from the Rock County 4-H fair, where musical acts would be part of the annual fair ticket price. That year, one of the entertainers was a country singer named Garth. While I always fashioned myself a hard rocker, I had become a closet country music listener and was a big fan of Brooks. No one else knew but my wife and children.

So the night Garth was to be there, my wife took the kids paid the $4 per person and got great seats up front. I arrived when my work was done and found them. We were quite early and it was worth it. Garth’s show was spectacular. The next day I could not contain my enthusiasm and shared with many of my co-workers what a great show Garth had put on. Char Flurry was a co-worker whose family was active in the fair, but she had no idea about my penchant for country music.

“I wish I had known you liked Garth,” Char told me. “My husband is on the Fair Board and we had Garth out at the farm for dinner before the show. You could have joined us.”

Another consequence of false pride.

Char told me the fair looked to book “up-and-coming” acts and had contracted with Brooks a year earlier, right before he became so popular.

Here’s the rub: Brooks’ contract allowed him to cancel this appearance for a small penalty. He was such a big star, he could have canceled, paid the fee and made exponentially more with a big concert.

So why didn’t he cancel? Garth told Char he felt he owed it to those who believed in him and it was important to keep your agreements.

Brooks gave up lots of money in those months, fulfilling concert obligations at little fairgrounds like ours, but I feel history has proven it was a very good decision.

Never take for granted those that helped get you there.

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