Just business

Just business

Dear Laurie,

I received a startling email yesterday from a rental car company.

It said: "You have a large balance of over $500 with us and, due to no contact and no payment, we are going to have to alert the authorities today that the car has been stolen."

The back story. I was in a car accident over a month ago. Everyone is fine, but my car was banged up. It is still in the shop for repairs, and the other driver’s insurance is paying for repairs and the car rental.

The rental car contract with the insurance company ran out, and now they want to know who is going to pay the rest. They tried to call me, but my voice mailbox was full. So the first email they send me is the one you see above.

It was all news to me!

It’s clear their goal was to get me to contact them ASAP. It worked! Of course, the additional result of their goal is I will never do business with them again.

In all of my years of business I have seen kindness and the benefit of the doubt pay off over and over again.

Their first email to me could have been, should have been, “Hey, we tried to call your number but it’s not working. Can you contact us right away, as your rental agreement has expired. The bill is getting big and we want to make sure you are the right one to charge for the car.” (They have my credit card on file, by the way, and my driver’s license.)

The first lesson for all of us: Begin with kindness and the benefit of the doubt when dealing with people. You can do the right thing in the wrong way! I needed to know – it’s how they told me that was the problem.

The second lesson for all of us: Your business needs systems to prevent this from happening. In this case, the system should have been a phone call and an email with a pleasant, but firm, request to call or email back right away. If that fails, then you can get tough.

If you are a business owner, do you have systems in place in your business to help you avoid losing a customer forever? Can you take a three-week vacation and know that your business will run great without you there? If you want to learn about how to make your business turnkey, then you should check out our Ziglar Business Owner Boot Camp. Click Here to learn more.

Come and spend two days with us at Ziglar HQ and learn how to make your business a turnkey blessing that is profitable and gives you the free time you deserve! (And put systems in place so your people don’t accidentally send out nasty emails that end relationships.)

You are Born To Win, so go ahead and Live To Win!