What … How Did That Happen?

Credit: Bill Gillespie

Happy Monday! I hope your week has started well. No matter how we spin it, Monday sets the table for the rest of the week. If it goes well, we’re ahead. If it goes bad, not so much.

I’ve got some work going on at the house. Her Ladyship and I were awakened at 7:30 by a crew out back. The screened porch is getting some attention and next comes painting. Our home is 40 years old so there is something to do 24/7.

I walked outside. I’ve known the contractor, Chip Burke (Global Building & Remodeling), for 20 years. I’m not a handy dude so he’s what you might call a “regular.” He’s a pal.

I ask about his business. He asks about mine. We trade war stories, selling stories, collection stories and a host of other things we have in common. Before you know it, we’re talking about work that went wrong and what we did to get things fixed.

I told him about mailing samples to a company called “Jammed & Wrinkled” on Madison Avenue. The shipping dude misunderstood my note about the condition of work received. He turned it into an address.

Chip responded with a story about an employee sleeping in a client’s garage. The customer didn’t want to wake the guy so she called the boss. Too funny.

The conversation went off the rails when he told me about roofing the wrong house. I was stumped. I looked at him with a blank face and asked, how did that happen?

It goes like this. He was behind on some work. Weather had been a factor and promises were getting piled on top of each other. One of his clients had been patient but was starting to apply pressure. He tells her, “They’re on the way” and dispatches the crew.

A while later his phone rings. It’s the client. She’s furious. “I thought you were on the way to do my roof. Instead, I see your crew working on the house next door. How did they get put in front of me?”

Thirty minutes later he’s standing in her driveway. His crew has parked on the wrong side of the mailbox. They misunderstood which place was the posted address. They have removed most of the roof from the wrong house. The owner isn’t home so there was nobody to say “stop.”

What would you do? What could you do? How do you fix a foul up like this one?

Chip tracked down the owner and let them know what had happened. Can you imagine receiving that call? Better yet, can you imagine making that call? A lot of reps that I know would simply hide.

They made things work out. The homeowner was stumped but shared that they had been thinking of roofing their house. They had planned to wait a year or two.

Chip said, “I can make you the best deal of your life if you happen to like the shingles we’ve selected.” He did and they did. Catastrophe averted.

Chip and I agreed on this point 100%. If you print stuff or build stuff mistakes are going to happen. Communication isn’t automatic. People aren’t perfect. Foul ups go with business.

How you manage problems says more about you than how you manage success. Do you duck and run or do you “fess up” and own your mistake? One makes you a partner. The other makes you a vendor.

Right now, Chip holds serve with the best story. I’m betting the printing business can top him, however. I’ve got my own examples. What are yours? I’d love to hear and share them.

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.