In my never ending quest to bring
you useful information such as the Lawn Care business articles, I
want to tell you about a lesson I learned today.
There is one lawn care supplier I
have dealt with for a number of years. A few weeks ago, we started
having supply chain problems from this company. It was nothing too
major to begin with...just a missing order on occasion. As weeks
went buy the problems seemed to get worse. It was gradual enough
that I did not take immediate action.
Eventually, I realized that
something had to be done. Otherwise we were going to lose lawn care
customers and our relationship with this supplier would be ruined.
I would have to find a different supplier of grass seed,
fertilizer, and parts for our lawn mowers and weedeaters.
Well, just this morning, I
visited them to try to get the situation handled. First, I spoke
with the supply clerk. He was absolutely no help and tried to put
the blame on me. Next, I went to the Manager. She was even less
help than the clerk. She basically shrugged and offered no
suggestions to find a solution.
I have been around in business
long enough to know that if you want results you have to go to the
top.
The regional office is not too
far from here. So, I took a drive and spoke with several
people before I was finally pointed to someone who actually had a
clue as to what I was talking about. For 45 minutes, I sat in his
office before we finally discovered a problem in their computer
system. There had been a temporary hold placed on a single order
last year. When they switched to a new computer system two
months ago that
temporary hold order kicked in as a permanent hold on many orders.
I definitely lost revenue due to this situation. However, 15
minutes after finding the problem, it was
solved.
I have learned two lessons from
this experience.
1) At the first sign of trouble,
start looking for a solution. If I had called at the first sign of
trouble, the problem would have been solved much sooner.
2) If you don't get immediate
satisfaction from your local dealer, immediately contact the highest
person in the company that you can reach. A face to face meeting is
preferable. Also, have urgency. Let them know the problem needs to
be solved right away and that you are not leaving until you are
satisfied.
I plan on using these lessons for
both my suppliers and my customers.
I've already covered the supply
side.
On the customer side, I always
want to remain available for my customers to talk to. I want them
to feel secure that they can come to me if there are problems and I
want them to know that I will handle any concerns they might have
quickly and accurately.
Proper complaint resolution is one of the best ways to keep good relations with
both your customers and your suppliers.
