UPDATE:
So the following post is moot — guess the dude I fired wasn’t even a customer (or even a prospective one) in the first place. Check it out on Scott’s McKain Viewpoint — he posted on this same event. Looks like I let the dude walk on me for nothing.
My parents owned a hometown grocery store in the burg as I was growing up, so my brother and I were raised on the philosophy that “the customer is always right”. So that you understand, that’s really translated into “you need to permit the customer to believe he’s right”. It ain’t easy to make a living in a small town when your only business is that from repeat customers and word of mouth, so I became the master of ‘sucking it up’ at an early age at McKain’s Market. I smiled when I wanted to say, “you are an idiot”, and gave back change for a $20 to complaining customers when they only gave me $10. I made my Dad proud because that’s what he taught us to do.
So everyone loved my Dad it seems. But, they also took advantage of him over the years. Seriously, I still have the huge box of ‘I-OWE-YOUs’ that many of our good customers never seemed to deem important enough to pay. And as I’m growing older, I’ve noticed that my ‘suck up’ talent just isn’t what it used to be. While I agree with the basic concept I learned at such an early age, (Does it really matter if you’re right?), I’ve figured out it simply doesn’t apply every single time for every single transaction.
On Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM, a gentleman left a voice message on my corporate line. I stop taking calls at 5:00 PM. Hey, I need a life too, right? So the dude leaves a voice message asking for a favor from my boss (who happens to be my brother, Scott), and a return call — from me or him. My Thursday was scheduled full — yes, planned weeks in advance. So on Friday, the gentleman calls back at 8:30 AM, and since I start answering calls at 9:00 AM, his call again went to voice mail. So at 9:30 AM, I call him back, and attempt to help. He begins our conversation by telling me that because I didn’t get in touch with him quickly enough, it caused him to be “massively embarrassed”, because he couldn’t provide the favor he was asking for to his client. (Lesson #1 — don’t promise your clients anything where you must depend on the favor of another to deliver.)
I don’t know what Dallas McKain would’ve done if he were the one holding the phone at that time. I can tell you what I did… I sucked it up. I apologized. I attempted to offer a solution to no avail. I listened to the vile tone and accusations in reference to what he felt was an inadequate response time. Upon telling me he no longer needed the favor or a call-back, I could tell he thought that would wound me — like I would be devastated that he no longer needed our free help. I will admit my tone graduated from apologetic to defensive, but I did not stoop to being rude.
Once the conversation ended, I was done. Done as in — this dude is FIRED as a customer. He burnt a bridge that this firefighter couldn’t put out. (Don’t we all spend far too much time putting out fires that keep us from working on our business instead of just in it?) There comes a point that you have to give yourself permission to have a life, stop fighting all the fires that are started by others, and instead try starting a few of your own — like reigniting the passion for the things you love to do best.