Come Prepared or Stay Home

Don’t waste your customers’ time!

Our home is strategically located in Elizabethtown — about halfway between Harrisburg and Lancaster. That means that when we have contractors come to our house, they may have to make a journey back to their home base in order to get all the supplies and items needed to complete their assigned task. After living in this house for the past 26 years, we understand that that comes with the territory. However, since we have been working with some of our vendors that entire time, one would think that they would make arrangements to anticipate what they need and bring those items with them.

In the past, we had a contractor drive out to assess the job, leave for 1 to 2 hours, and then return to finish the task. Mind you, we do try to be as thorough as possible, when explaining what the task is over the phone. To add insult to injury, we often get charged for the additional travel time back and forth to pick up the items that were not packed on the truck before the contractor originally left to come to our location.

Sometimes, we get complacent and assume that is the way things are, the way things should be. However, sometimes you get someone who breaks the rules and redefines what is acceptable. That happened when we started working with George Garrett of Garrett Electric.

One of the things I learned early on with George is that he anticipates what a job might require and proactively stocks extra inventory on his company van in order to make sure that he’s equipped to solve the problem when he arrives and that he is not wasting his customers — or his own — time running all over creation, looking for parts at the last minute.

Once a customer encounters a superior level of service, it makes it much more difficult for mediocre contractors to continue to get away with average service. So, you have a choice. You can either play catch-up after your customers notify you that they are no longer willing to accept poor performance, or you could become a trendsetter and provide that exceptional level of service that customers love to share with others. It all starts with commitment; followed up with discipline and focus. So, what will you do?

“You’re allowed to be surprised once.  After that, you’re unprepared.” – John Maxwell

Let me hear from you.

I encourage you to click here to register for the Organizational Excellence IV: Get Organized Now! live seminar on Thursday, January 18, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. 


This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Organizational Excellence IV: Get Organized Now!. If you re unable to attend the live event, review it 24-7 online, at Romeo Network Online Learning.