Have you ever given someone such an assurance before? Meaning you will have to go against many odds to make sure your promise scales. How did you feel after fulfilling the promise? Of course you'll burst into smiles and self cheers. A very satisfying moment for you to at least buy yourself a drink. How did you feel during the entire process of keeping to your promise? Stressed and worked out especially when you know you are making forgone alternatives in the process. Adding to that, you can come to a point of confusion and frustration. You'll be hearing the 'tick- tock, tick tock' and when you glance at your clock it's actually ticking.
Maybe you should have bounced back the offer and promise. What can one do when you are an entrepreneur or upcoming as the case may be. customer satisfaction always comes at a cost. I know business is a bargain between two parties but sometimes as an entrepreneur it goes beyond the money: you will have to prioritize business efficiency and customer satisfaction. Should it have been only for the money, maybe I should have turned down this offer. How did it get here? Sit tight for a little business storytelling.
source
So it was me left at the office to wrap up things for the weekend and a customer just stepped in for what I will consider an emergency service. Why do I say so? I had relieved ALL contract staffs and knew at least such work should it come in will need a preceding week delivery. I was wrong. I secured the work as usual and when I called one of my co-worker about him coming over for us to get the emergency service out he said no problem. The 'no problem' became a problem because he never showed up the next day and in the evening of that day when I called he said, where he is in so choked up with activities that he won't be able to meet up.
What? That feeling of 'why didn't you say so early enough' so at least I would have scouted for alternatives. Killing yourself over the phone won't solve the problem, why not quietly hang up. I actually did and felt so disappointed. I have lost at least a day and a half having to run all the chores myself in the next 24hrs, note that 12hrs are night out of this. Are you kidding me, won't I sleep, how about my other businesses, I never even planned for this. Rescheduling to meet up was very straining at that moment. Maybe I should call another contract worker? No, that's unprofessional I was thinking. When working with contract workers you have to respect their daily calendar also, no one is your baby to push around.
Still thinking and thinking fast and bang!! The customer hops in to check how far his work is going to avoid any disappointment. Nothing actually has been done and him seeing the situation of things asked my one final and daring question, 'are you sure you can deliver tomorrow?' And my reply was 'consider it done' with a bold face. Was it done? Let me keep you a little nervous as you read down. I had to cancel so many activities in the process and get my hands on the deck. That guy went home fully assured so it's me and the company's reputation that is at risk. Sometimes you need to play smart as an entrepreneur or a leader of a team. As I said, we know the rules, don't devalue a contract worker by opting into his routines anyhow.
source
Actually it's not me that does these services although I know the basics or beyond basics if I should say. We are trying to incorporate more services to increase our business publicity and opportunities. I have to focus on one and coordinate others at least for NOW to cut some costs. Talking about playing smart, what did I do? I actually took on the work myself until I got to a point that I was hooked. I can't stop now that it is half done, so what do I do now? I guess it's the right time to put a call through. I did and luckily for me the second person showed up. He wasn't actually to come and work from scratch so he felt a little relieved. When he came and saw the work halfway I already knew what was running down his mind? If Dani should abandon other things to focus only on this it means it's serious and very emergent.
'Caught ya' the leaders lead by example trick worked just perfectly. Two hands are better than one, with me not showing any signs of relenting, we both pushed ourselves beyond limit with that limited time. We couldn't meet up that day because time was already far spent so we agreed to complete it the next day. Deal it was and I got a little lucky he wasn't going to be occupied the next day. I resumed office very early to get things started and when he showed up it was just the finishing touches from a professional's hand that was left. So yes we delivered and I have learnt a lot from this experience.
To conclude, let me add, most times we need to dare things to get even better. I learnt something although it came at the cost of surrendering some activities of the day. Adding to that, I made a customer very happy and I personally find a lot of pleasure doing that. Everyone went home smiling, the customer paid satisfactorily and of course I paid my contract worker and his face was all smiles. That's what happens when satisfaction oils an entire contract. Nevertheless, words like 'consider it done' should not be spilled out anyhow because it comes at a reputable cost.
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
