“Damn it Mike! That’s your job! I’m the client!”
My client taught me a valuable lesson that day that I’ll never forget.
Here’s what happened…
My client, Tom, left me a voicemail asking me to call him back.
So, I did. I called him back and left him a message on his voicemail, and went back to work thinking nothing about it.
It wasn’t until about 10 days later that I got that call from Tom. He was FURIOUS and couldn’t understand why I hadn’t called him back.
Surely, it must have been a mistake! Maybe the voicemail got lost and never went through. So, I assured him, “Tom, I did call you back. I left a voicemail. Maybe it didn’t…”
That’s when he cut me off, “NO!”
“I got your voicemail. You’re the one that needs to be on ME. Damn it Mike! That’s your job! I’m the client!”
WOW, I thought. This guy is old school, but he had a point.
The way he saw it was that since he was the client, he saw it as my responsibility (and good customer service) for me to follow up with him. He wasn’t interested in playing a game of phone tag.
This wasn’t a game of ping pong where we passed the responsibility back and forth. No, it was my job to continue to follow up with him until I reached him.
That day, my perspective changed, and I realized that, as a business owner, the ball is ALWAYS in my court.
With this, I began to operate my business this way, and some amazing things happened…
… I closed more deals because I took the responsibility to continue to follow up with prospects instead of waiting for them to get back to me.
… I solved more of my clients' problems because I was proactive
… clients were happier because I was responsive and on top of things.
It was a simple mindset shift (and, honestly, a slap across the face from Tom) that helped me see things this way.
Take personal responsibility for getting things done because the ball is always in your court.
If you're curious how this could work in your agency, apply for a call with our director of coaching. We'd be happy to help you explore this idea further.
