Put yourself in her shoes. Are you going to spend hours calling all the vendors and telling them what happened? Or would you rather spend time doing productive work?
Lets say you have served 1,000 customers and decide to shut down your window cleaning business. Except for a few people, are you going to call the other 975?
Were not talking about thousands. I doubt they have a tone of regular contractors servicing the building on a prescheduled basis. I donāt expect a delivery of flowers and a card. She could have easily typed one email and sent it out to her contractor list which wouldnāt take much effort. I think thatās the point. Relationships take effort whether they are personal or business. To not put forth the effort shows that you donāt value the relationship. That is my point. People donāt seem to value those who they do business with anymore.
If I sold my business I would feel a need to communicate with my customers to let them know but when a good customer with a well established relationship treats me like this it makes me second guess my own sense of customer obligation. It feels one sided. Not only did she not contact me but when I contacted her there was not thank you for your service or anything. It was, āYou can just contact the realty companyā and that was it. I have dealt directly with this lady for 6 years every quarter and had personal conversations with her enought to feel an obligation to her and their company.
It just makes me question that customers donāt value the relationship as much as I do. I donāt mean I value the relationship because they pay me. I feel a sense of connection with my customers. Iāve had a customer hug me and cry on my shoulder and ask me to pray for them. Iāve had plenty of others share personal moments with me and I have shared my own with them. Some of my customers kids were in the walking around carrying a bottle when I first cleaned their windows and they call me to clean their windows for their high school graduation party.
Too many people now days donāt seem to understand the value of human relationships. Even professional ones. They want you to care about their windows without making it personal. Iām sorry, I donāt care about your windows, I care about you! I care about your windows because I care about you as a person. I take care in the way I service your home out of respect for you as a person. Shouldnāt that show of personal care deserve a response in return?
What word then? I donāt see the problem.
Whatapane, i agree with you. I understand what some of the guys are saying about time and productivity, but i think that truly is just another manifestation of a bigger problem in this world. More and more people care about things and money; less and less about one anotherā¦ And letās face it: itās not making people happier. Thereās a lot that can be said about the lack of personal interaction that all our technology allows us, how jerkish people can be in traffic while hidden in their vehicles, how many arenāt concerned with suffering in other parts of the world as long as they can turn it off on their tv screens and go back to enjoying their own lives, etc. As a society we are simply becoming less caring and considerate of others.
Iāve always wanted to start a business, but always hated that ābusinessyā personality of some business owners i had met. I realize that business is business and you do have to be tougher in certain respects if youāre going to survive, but i never want to compromise my principles. Anyway, all this to say sorry that happened. I feel your disappointment. But donāt change who you are because of a crappy experience. Surely your manner has not only gotten you business and kept many customers loyal to you, but more importantly, has meant something to many people and at least in a small way brightened their day unexpectedly. If nothing else, youāve been true to yourself and itās made you happy doing it.
Is there a thing as loyalty in business? Business is to make money not charity. Loyalty is to the dollar. Why do they really hire us? Is it because weāre friends? No, itās because they need a service and we provide it. If they like us and we get along then thatās just a bonus.
So if we look at business as a place for relationships beyond just giving service weāll be disappointed. Now that is not to say that a friendship cant develop with some clients. We help someone out on a personal level But then itās really no longer business itās friendship.
I think sometimes the lines get blurred and when it does youāll feel cheated.
I dont like the idea of working for my friends because I dont want business to effect friendship.
Administration cost to process a P.O. are costly $200-$300 for each, specially if they have multiple vendors on a monthly basis. The contact (woman) was unprofessional not to contact you even if she had or didnāt have a say on it. One source services has become the trend for large companies/corporations to save $ on one end and pay more $$ and receive poor service at the other.
Tell that to Target whoās stock dropped when they shared their personal values that did not line up with a large portion of their customers. Tell that to Chick-fil-A whoās business rocketed with drive thru lines down the street when they stood for their personal values. Tell that to every company who checks peopleās Facebook page when they are looking to hire them so they can get a better idea of the applicants personal values.
Business involves money but money is not the only purpose in business. Business is largely relational. Hense the phrase, āItās all about who you knowā. The problem is to many people now a days equate money with success. Success involves money but there are too many millionaires who will quickly tell you that they are lonely and poor on the inside.
Success has more to do with relationships than it does money. The sad part is people now a days donāt seem to understand the value in relationships. Iām not looking to be best friends with my customers as it is not primarily a personal relationship. I am however looking to be personable in my business relationships in order to have strong relationships that can whether the storms life that we all face in business and personally. There are those people who share the same values and seek to do business with those people. It seems though that the people who understand the value in strong relationships, even in business, are getting fewer and fewer.
I get what youāre saying. We have to be decent honest and fair people and that is appealing to work with so itās a good business strategy. I think the point is that if you get to invested in the business ārelationshipā youāll eventually get burned at some point.
We all need friendship and loyalty but i think that you gotta look for that outside of work. If it presents itself because you cross paths with someone in work, great. But dont expect a business environment to automatically fill that need.
Good grief.
Garry was just acknowledging the differenceā¦
DB is slang, anyway.
But if weāre gonna go by YOUR definition, Iām the one you should be focused on.
Because āaināt nobodyā as obnoxious as me. 
I think itās more about understanding that business relationships are just that, business relationships. They are not personal relationships so they are not as close as say a friendship. That said all relationships work on the same pironciples of loyalty trust and respect. The difference is the level of demonstration we present to one another in regard to those qualities or values. For example if I was to break off a friendship I would expect to do it in person. If I am going to break off a business relationship Iām going to at the very least give them an email or a phone call. Iām not expected to demonstrate the same level of care but Iām still expected to demonstrate loyalty and communicate with the person I am relating with.
For me in this relationship I would have thought I would have at least got an email from the customer. Not to mention even when I called her she did not even voice a good buy or thank you etc. It was pretty cold.
I like to do business with people who value relationships as it is a shared value of mine. Because I value relationships I feel a sense of obligation to be faithful and loyal to others in the way I engage in relationship with them. When they donāt reciprocate that it can make you feel taken advantage of. They are benefiting from your core values but are not giving back. Those who share your values will appreciate your efforts and respond in kind. Those who donāt share your values tend to appreciate your sense of caring about them but donāt give back or feel they need to reciprocate that sense of care.
For me itās not something I lose sleep over. Itās just something that I observe. It does irritate me from time to time. It irritated me more with this customer because I thought the relationship was stronger than that.
As for the original post (sorry I sidetracked things, really.)
The more ya realize that people are self centered and really,
for the most part, dont give a shit about anybody else.
Iām not that way, and Iād say you arent either.
Swear to God, on my lifeā¦ about an hour I was at the drug store.
Got home and realized I received $10 bucks too much back.
I was in my driveway when I caught it.
I walked back out to my truck, and gave it back.
Why should she suffer for a simple mistake?
That is the definition according to the Oxford dictionary. The point is there is not sense in focusing on something so trivial when it only distracts from the discussion at hand and to do so is obnoxious.Hence the word I chose which fits the dictionary definition. It was technically meant for both posts but I just quoted the last post.
As for focusing on you, I have always gotten along with you in the past, but you do tend to be a butt at times. I just wasnt in the mood for it. 
I agree. Again itās jot like this ruined my world. It was just surprising coming from someone I had such a great relationship ship with which made it sting a little and made me reflect a little. I just thought I would share my experience. 
ļø
And we will continue to get along, man!
I was being genuineā¦ it sounds forced.
I just talk aggressive sometimes, but Iām always smiling, for what its worth.
Well today I did the second cleaning of a pharmacy I newly started doing business with. The head pharmacist was in this time and pressed a $20 tip in my hand out of gratitude for the extra time I put in on my last visit to really make the place look great. He said he wanted to make sure I knew that didnāt go unnoticed. The money was really nice, but even nicer was the feeling that, wow, people really take notice and appreciate my work. There are still great people out there!
years back BEFORE we ever did any work for this couple they called with an SOS. They were on the calendar a few weeks out. They had a a fire alarm battery which was beeping every 60 seconds or something.
foot of snow on the ground and in the middle of busy season. It worked out that we got out there the next day. Hiked down a hill in korkers and blah blah blah.
Refused payment, refused beer; just said one day someone will offer to do your windows for less, please just keep this act of service in mind.
2 years later they left us for someone 10-20 less. Clients can annoy me at times, but I donāt get too bothered when someone leaves now.
I have heard you say that she did not thank you for the work over the years? Did you thank her?
True the forum has been a bore lately.
You just need to find the right topics to follow.
