Masonry Magazine May 2011 Page. 41
ADVERTORIAL
Customers hire those that
make their job easy!
CONTRACTOR TIP OF THE MONTH
I read a story about a phone company that had a lot of trouble with its systems, but offered tremendous customer service while fixing those problems. They stayed in constant contact with customers tuning many upset customers into happy lifetime customers. While the competition had hardly any problems, they also had very little interaction with their customers. When it came time to change phone plans, guess who ended up getting most of the customers? You're right, the company that had all the problems but great customer service! This tremendous service built rapport with their customers, and the excitement about what a wonderful phone company they were spread like wild fire, all because they "made their customers' jobs easy!"
We all have problems on the job; it is the nature of our industry. As long as our leaders get out in front of those problems, difficult projects often build the very best long-term customer relationships. We have a very large brick job going on now that we just headed off a major problem on: Our brick supplier stopped production over the winter in an effort to save money without notifying us ahead of time. It is obvious that they were not aware that we would continue bricking right through the winter, using up the several thousand bricks they had already made.
Imagine our surprise when we had about 15,000 bricks left onsite, and they notified us that we would not get any more brick for another six weeks. This was a major gamble/mistake on their part in an attempt to save money by not running our bricks through the winter, and, potentially, a major disaster for us as this is a new customer and the tightest schedule we had ever had. Instead of hiding behind the issues and holding up the entire project, my operations manager called a meeting with the brick supplier, construction manager and the Ohio School Facilities Commission, and explained the issue. At the same time, he proposed a solution: submitting a substitute matching brick from another brick company, so the job could go on.
We made the customer's job easy by offering an immediate solution. The job never missed a beat, and I am convinced that the tremendous attention the LMC team gave to this customer and district will build an everlasting relationship. In fact, the customer has already asked us to bid another job that we were not even aware of until he asked.
My 9-year-old daughter, Rachel, must know something about fixing problems in the early stage as she recently showed a great example of this. She just got an F on her midterm in science. Knowing I would be furious, she called me at work and said, "Dad, I'm probably never going to be a scientist anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I got an F on my midterm in science. Now, don't worry about it dad as I know what went wrong. I never turned in my science project like I was supposed to and as soon as I get it turned in, my teacher says that F will become a B."
What a smart kid, if I do say so myself. Rachel addressed the problem before I discovered it on my own, and laid out a plan to remedy it. Before I got home to discuss it with Rachel, I was already happy with her as she solved the problem without me having to deal with it. That made my job easy! I believe Rachel will be a good business person someday, if she keeps that capacity to fix issues for customers.
The bottom line is, if you have a problem, you have a tremendous opportunity to earn a customer for life by being creative and proactive, and having the courage to get in front of your customer with solutions. If you do, you might be like Rachel and turn your F into a B, and build customers for life by making their jobs easy in the meantime.
Damian Lang is CEO of Lang masonry Contractors in Southeast Ohio and inventor of many labor-saving masonry systems and products. He is also the author of the book "Rewarding and Challenging Employees for Profits in Masonry." To order a copy of his book, or to network with Damian, contact him at diang@langmasonry.com or 740-749-3512.
Provided by Damian Lang, President of Lang Masonry Contractors, Inc., and EZ Great Corp.
READER SERVICE #314
May 2011
MASONRY
39
Coach Gary: Thanks, General. Inspiring words for us to live by and live up to, to be certain! Would you mind closing off this column with the words of that prayer you uttered on more than one occasion? Seems like it puts Memorial Day 2011 into perspective.
General Patton, God of our fathers, who by land and sea have ever led us to victory, please continue your inspiring guidance in this the greatest of all conflicts. Strengthen my soul so that the weakening instinct of self-preservation, which besets all of us in battle, shall not blind me to my duty to my own manhood, to the glory of my calling, and to my responsibility to my fellow soldiers. Grant to our armed forces that disciplined valor and mutual confidence which insures success in war. Let me not mourn for the men who have died fighting, but rather let me be glad that such heroes have lived. If it be my lot to die, let me do so with courage and honor in a manner which will bring the greatest harm to the enemy, and please, oh Lord, protect and guide those I shall leave behind. Give us the victory, Lond.
Thanks to all of you out there who are still fighting for survival, hanging on and believing in the future. And, in the words of our guest, remember that "pressure makes diamonds"
Most of all, thanks to those men and women protecting freedom around the world and here at home. They truly are what Memorial Day is all about. This year, especially, with our country involved in three "wars," may our Day not just be about barbecues and baseball
For more of Gen. Patton's quotes, visit http://microsoftprojectclasses.com/ general-patton-project. IMAS
Gary Micheloni is a working project manager, speaker, author, consultant and coach. White him at FullContact Team@gmail.com. Copyright 2011 Gary Micheloni
COACH GARY'S CORNER:
Public works on your mind for 2011? Want to try and get Coach Gary to speak for your group, or coach your company? Go to www.FullContactTeam.com, and click on the links for the resources (below the arrows). The report is FREE: not knowing the info is expensive! Get FREE scheduling help from www.MicrosoftProjectClasses.com, so that you san enter public works contracting, Go there now.
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