A new chapter to the book of "What goes around..."

Hey, it's Monday and I'm feeling positive!

Quick story: I mentioned a couple of months ago that I had done one of my customers a big favor by letting them use a piece of equipment for several months while theirs, which was way out of warranty, was fixed. That's a huge risk on my part, and I had to stand on my head for about 7 hours to install it because it was a complicated, robotic thing.

I did this in spite of the fact that the customer had just purchased a piece of equipment from my competitor, without even giving me a chance to discuss their application with them. I felt quite stupid about that and taken advantage of.

So, here's the obligatory disclaimer: 1) I realize that I am doing this to make money. In some ways I'm not doing them a favor--I'm investing in goodwill that perhaps will come to fruition via an order. 2) I know that the customer is not obligated to buy from me, no matter what I do or how nice I am to them. 3) I know that the customer isn't required to consult with me before purchasing something from my competitor. 4) blah blah blah...

My point is: I thought it was pretty bad form for them to do that because I had really been working hard to take care of them, going beyond anyone's normal expectations for on-site help including extra free training sessions and free equipment rental. They were very complimentary of me and kept telling me how much they appreciated, me, and I, like a dummy believed them and was a little hurt when they didn't even extend the courtesy of considering our product (which they knew about) before going with the competitor (who installed their system and never went back...so there!) Here's the kicker: I wasn't the one who sold them the original equipment so I was never paid one dollar to do this for them.

I also think it's okay to be mad about it, but not okay to confront the customer about it. Part of this issue is that I should allocate my time responsibly, which includes weighing a customer's relative importance (an ugly truth, and sometimes you get it wrong (like this time)).

Anyway, last week I got a call from this customer and they ordered a huge order from me on the spot over the telephone! Wow!

It's kind of funny how this works--I'm sweating my butt off in the Texas heat to eke out as many tiny orders as I can, checking my Email daily and praying that something comes in...been in kind of a drought for the last few months...about the same time as I have dedicated to blogging...coincidence? Hmmmm...

But then, out of the blue, here comes this huge order which eclipses the sum total of my previous 3 months worth of orders...when I wasn't even expecting it and wasn't required to pursue it...

What you sow, you shall reap, I guess. I am a believer in that.