Sales Lessons From the Mouse That Ate My Car

My next Printing Impressions column is about cars. That is, I write about my wife’s and my experience replacing her deteriorating 2018 SUV.

During that same time period, I was on another vehicle journey, thanks to a mouse making a meal of my electric car’s innards.

Here’s the Reader’s Digest:

A mouse crawled up into my VW ID.4 one cold November night. When it woke up hungry, it went to work on everything from the wiring to the seats (see photo).

Lots of lessons here:

• Damage done by rodents is covered by insurance;
• That’s good, because I don’t think the mouse will cough the $4,435 spent so far;
• Plugged in, an electric car warms up nicely and makes for a fine place to sleep … if you are very small;
• For some odd reason, car manufacturers sometimes use wiring wrapped in soybean;
• SOYBEAN!!! That’s a food group!
• Mice eat soybean;
• A hungry mouse just waking up from a fine night’s sleep can eat a LOT of soybean … and the wiring that comes with it;
• An electric car can therefore be a bed and breakfast for a mouse;
• There is a difference between doing the job and owning the job.

My car sat untouched for 7 weeks while we waited for one backordered part. One morning, my wife had an idea and I called the repair shop to ask, “Can you just put the car back together without those parts and then return when they come in?”

Turns out the missing part was a seat cover. Now, the word “cover” suggests we are waiting on something that goes on the outside. Kinda makes you think they could fix the car to a point and when the cover arrives finish the job.

Makes sense, right?

But the shop said they only get paid for one repair, not two, due to insurance company rules. So, no, they wouldn’t do it.

I called the insurance company to push back and they immediately agreed to waive that rule so that I could at least get back into my car and drive it while we wait for that final part to arrive. And that is where we stand.

Technically, everyone did their job. The mouse ate. The insurance company covered. The repair shop ordered. UPS delivered.

No complaints.

My only wish is for someone there to have asked, “Is there a way to get Bill back his car? I mean, it’s been 7 weeks and he is suffering through an internal combustion nightmare while he waits.”

And that is the difference between doing the job and owning the job.

At minimum, you hope someone completes the task at hand. These days, even that is remarkable. But what is truly special is when someone takes on your problem as their own.

That’s special.

That’s a differentiator.

That creates a lifetime client.

I own my job. My job is to make you more successful as a sales rep or selling owner. That is done through The Sales Vault. For more info, go to SalesVault.pro or call me at 781-934-7036.

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.