I posted this in my blog about a year ago. Just thought you all might enjoy seeing it here. It is much more human than the stuff I usually write about. From my heart not my head.
I have about 100 customers on my storefront route. These are stores priced from 10 bux up to 150 bux. They are mostly responsible for the 500 to 1000 dollar residentials that I get on the side that make up about 20 percent of my annual income. Now these “people” are my most valuable assetts. They advertise for me. Stores are your best publicity. Much better than any advertisement in a newspaper! But even more than that. They give you the incentive to get up in the morning and go out. Even in bad weather. Your store route is a friend route. These are not just customers. You love these people. When you are in the hospital they will call, text, and email you. You see them on the street and call them by first name. Or razz them in public. No matter how much money they have or don’t have. These are the people you kick back with in their favorite chair and share stories with. I had a brand new resi customer the other day call me in to his summer house. A small 1,000 dollar job. He had a huge boat. Gobs of money. But he was about 84. Had cancer but beat it. Could barely walk. Hearing aids, etc. He said;… take me out with you cleaning. You know I am going to give him a call soon and take him downtown for a coffee or a beer and spend some time with him. Just because I want to. I am only 64 now. But I have learned over the last 42 years being in business that what you put out comes right back to you a hundredfold. Because you do it WITHOUT MOTIVE. The true benefit that you recieve is in the love you show and that which is recieved. That is what makes life worth living.
Henry Grover Jr.
