March, 2011 update and disclosure: Since writing this article I have since left Acuhire and moved. See my latest posts for more information. The reason the company name has been removed is that I can no longer represent the company and therefore want you to take note of the fact that I am no longer affiliated. Thank you
Where have all the good, honest business men (and women) gone?
This is, well, a rant of sorts. It’s more of an extended question. Those who know me personally, may recognize this question as a topic I talk about often.
In my life as a consultant I have encountered individuals that would under bid to win contracts they could not fulfill. They would then greatly surpass their time and cost estimates. Others would extend their deadlines to pad their bills. These practices still infuriate me and I regularly rant on the evils of dishonest contracting. There are newer methods in project management, like the Agile project management format, that help to keep the client informed and gives a bit of transparency to the process.
The above-mentioned question resurfaced recently from my own experience trying to find an honest service provider for my marketing needs. Additionally, as a product and business development manager, I recently began to notice a pattern of jaded and gun-shy prospects.
It really hit home for me, when one prospect refused to share their current costs associated with their screening (background checking) process. Her logic is that if we are lowering our prices to win their business, that there would be a price increase soon to follow. This idea was so foreign to me I was initially confused, then after realizing what that said about my business ethics I was insulted. After contemplating my initial reaction however, I began to understand her point of view:
There is a lack of honesty, accountability, and service in the realm of sales and customer service in a vast majority of businesses. Some examples are dentists that double bill insurance and re-bill clients when they don’t get away with it. (Yes, I am talking to you Dr. Hekmat) What about car mechanics that have repaired the same oil leak in my car THREE times, the last time it was supposed to be a head gasket that they forgot they JUST replaced less than a month ago (Precision Auto and that other auto shop in Escondido I can’t remember right now). Or the printer who completely messes up the color scheme on your company brochures.
Honesty speaks for itself…
Accountability is what the vendor or business operator does to make a transaction right when it has gone wrong.
Service is what the vendor does to keep my business after the wrong has been righted.
For example, when the print shop messed up our logo colors on our order they demonstrated accountability by correcting the colors and reprinting our order. So how do we make up for the fact that my order is 2 weeks late and I have not had brochures for conferences and client meetings etc… I received a follow up call from the account manager offering a discount on our next order. In this act of customer service they even threw in some other extras as samples for new products.
The printer did the right thing. The other two, well, they just blew me off.
As a computer consultant, if I was not able to resolve a problem I would not charge the client for my visit. If I made a mistake like a spelling error or graphic error, I did not charge to fix the issue. However, in my process I have a week-long review period for the client before payment was due, primarily because I wanted them to be fully satisfied before they were billed.
The key to the honest, accountable, service oriented business is to remember to under-promise and over-deliver. This is a concept many software developers SHOULD be aware of. Software can be made to do ANYTHING. It’s just 0’s and 1’s. I can make data tell you a story, paint you a picture, even make your coffee in the morning. The fact is that the more fantastic the activity the more time and thus money it will take to do these things. Understanding this fact creates the contractor’s pyramid. With cost-time-quality being the points at each corner. You can have any TWO but the third will get out of hand. High cost means good quality at a reasonable time. Low quality means you can have it cheap and on time as well. Get the picture?
How does this all return back to my pricing program at our company? I was recently at a conference for men who want to pursue a higher level of standards at home and in the office.
One thought that was posed at this conference: Assuming that everything you do has a consequence, good or bad and someone is always paying attention; What do you want your life’s work, at home or the office, to say about you? What is YOUR mission statement?
The exercise was to create your personal mission statement and then live up to it. I began to look at what we think our core values are at our company and we created a mission statement that expressed that philosophy.
Our MISSION is: HELPING BUSINESS HIRE
Our overall GOAL is: To promote honor, trust and brand security by providing the customer with superior services and support, at the best possible price.
I take this very personally as the Business and Product Development manager.
Our pricing and product structure is based on this goal.
For example, our standard pricing is based on the concept that a client will order fewer than 20 searches. This means we have a higher overhead per search. Our custom pricing and packages are specific to what a client will regularly order. More searches per month mean a lower overhead per search. Packages mean one package can be handled by one researcher and not split into individual searches, meaning again less overhead. These prices are then lowered based on the lower overhead required to fulfill.
At our company, we ensure that reports are as accurate as possible via human review. Additionally if something is reported incorrectly we will submit a correction to the reporting agency if possible. Otherwise we will provide the subject with the contact information for the agency and re-run the report for free if it has been corrected within 45 days of our report. Our Accountability action corrects the report if it is an error, our Service action is to re-run the report for free.
So my question is: Where have all the good, honest business men (and women) gone?
More importantly what is YOUR mission statement? What does your life say to others?
Thank you for reading and for comments…
– Be Yourself, Be Well, and Be Loved,
May Jesus have His way with your day
He is Founder and consultant for Tek Management,
Founder of the Men’s Leadership site: CalebStrong.org,
Co-Founder of the online Bible study app: BibleCounts
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It was brought to my attention that I only named the guys who blew it in the service arena.
The printer that made everything work and STILL has my business is Office Depot of Poway.