Contractor Selling

It’s A Family Affair

Most people identify “Mom and Pop” shops for their welcoming charm. Yet despite a reputation for exuding a comfortable feeling, many end up closing their doors. Whether the challenge is big-box competitors, an economic slump or limited resources, making ends meet can be tough. But for Precision Air-Conditioning of Memphis, Tenn., the family business figured out the secret to staying open for 37 years and counting.

Just as individuals have a story, so do businesses. Ten years ago, asking Kathe Stewart if she would ever work in the family business would have resulted in a firm “no.” As a practicing lawyer, she never imagined she would one day be chief operations officer of her father’s air-conditioning company.

But in 2002, an unfortunate event changed the course of her life and the direction of her father’s company.

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Talk About Procrastinating

Two weeks until my sister’s wedding, and I hadn’t had my bridesmaid dress altered yet.  I admit that I am a procrastinator, but this was ridiculous even for me.

To be honest, I was not looking forward to wearing the dress. Don’t get me wrong, it was a beautiful dress.  It was long, a flowing, raspberry-colored gown with a strapless bodice and a few rhinestones adorning the middle that connected two ends to a sheer piece of material that bustled around the back of the dress.  It was gorgeous on the model wearing it online.  Once I tried it on, though, I quickly realized that a strapless dress was not meant for my body type and thus the reason I was not looking forward to wearing the dress.  And now we were only two weeks away from the wedding day, and I needed a miracle worker.

I decided to ask a friend for a referral. She had lived in the area all her life and quickly recommended a woman on 12^th street in Paso Robles.  Joe and I drove over to the shop first thing in the morning only to be greeted by a sign saying they were not open until 11am.  “OK,” I said. “We’ll come back at lunch.”

At lunch time, Joe drove me to the shop again and dropped me off in front of the store while he went to find a parking space.  I quickly walked inside with my dress hanging from my arms to find a young woman at her sewing machine while an elderly woman appeared from behind a curtain and greeted me with a coarse and irritated, “Can I help you?”

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Last month, from my home in Templeton, Calif., I planned a wedding shower for my sister and future brother-in-law, who live in the Chicagoland area. As I started to make all the necessary phone calls to find a venue, caterer, flowers and so on, I quickly realized that even in a down economy, some companies just never get it when it comes to providing good service.  Had the word service become generic like Kleenex or Jell-O?

I called various  companies and explained  this was the first wedding shower I had ever planned for my one and only baby sister, that I wanted it to be very special and, well, perfect.

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Are These Skills Really “Soft?”

One of the things that has always made me crazy is the labeling of sales and customer service as a so called “soft” skill. If sales and service are soft then why is it so hard to get your team to put them into practice?  I often wonder, “Who was the dunderhead, that coined this term?”

My best guess is that it is probably someone who has a very strong technical skill-set that has failed to develop equally strong customer skills. This person (Probably a guy) then trying to justify this weakness, downplays the importance of customers by labeling this uber-important skill as “soft” which implies that it is not very important.

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Is Your Service System Too Hard?

Last month we had a momentous occasion in our household.  Wyatt, who just turned one in February, graduated from his first ever survival training class with the Baby Seals Swim Academy. 

We watched our little one transform from being unsure and uncertain of the water and of his trainer, to being confident and courageous in and under the water. He is now willing and able to jump in the water and kick himself right back up to the top where he starts to float on his back, even while being fully clothed. 

What started out for us as a safety precaution due to the new pool in our backyard turned into one of the best decisions we made so far for our little guy.  We want to continue to build his confidence and his skills. 

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