Stanley F. Bronstein – Personal Development BlogPersonal Development Blog of the Founder of the Achievement IQ Movement and Creator of the Laws of Positioning

You Say You Want Something, BUT Will You Do What It Takes To Get It? (Stanley Bronstein)

Background

Last night, at 8:00 PM, my hot water heater in my garage broke.

When I say broke, it didn’t stop working, BUT it started leaking water.

When a hot water heater starts leaking water, that is usually indicative that the inside tank has rotted out and it is time to replace the heater.

I knew I needed to take action and I needed to take it sooner, rather than later.

What Happened Next?

I turned off the gas supply to the heater.  Then I turned off the water supply to the heater.  Then I hooked up a garden hose to the heater to drain out the water inside the heater.

Fortunately the heater was in my garage.  All it did was make a mess, all of which was easily cleaned up and all of which has since dried.

HAD THIS BEEN INSIDE MY HOUSE, IT COULD HAVE BEEN A MUCH LARGER MESS.  FORTUNATELY THAT WAS NOT THE CASE.

I Started Making Phone Calls

I started looking up plumbers on the internet and started making phone calls, all at 8:00 PM to 10:oo PM.

Everyone I called listed on their website or web advertisement that they were available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.  Ha, ha, please tell me another funny joke because the reality was nothing of the sort.

I made several phone calls and NOT A SINGLE PERSON ANSWERED THEIR PHONE.  I LEFT MESSAGES AND NOT  A SINGLE PERSON CALLED ME BACK, until the next morning (and not even early in the morning, but around 10:00 AM or so).

Basically, every one who said they were available 24 hours per day / 7 days per week was at best wrong and at worst intentionally lying.  Not a single company I called who said that they were available turned out to be available.  NOT A SINGLE ONE.

My Results

Everyone promised they would respond promptly.  Only ONE of the people I contacted actually answered their phone.  Everyone else simply left a voicemail system or an email system to take the message.

Who Do You Think I Hired?

I hired the person who answered my phone call on the first ring.  Everyone else got pushed to the rear, because they didn’t respond promptly.

Here’s The Funny Part

The contractor came to my house at 8:45 Am to install the new water heater.  He was there for 2 hours and while he was there, I received, not 1, not 2, not 4, not 7, but 8 phone calls from other plumbing contractors who wanted to take care of my job.

I had to tell, EACH ONE, that it was already being taken care of (imagine my laughter).

Moral Of The Story

The normal moral would be, “you snooze, you lose“.  But I feel even more strongly than that.

ALL of the people I contacted said they were available around the clock; 24 hours a day; 7 days a week.  All but 1 of them failed to live up to that promise . . .

They do NOT deserve my business.  They deserve to go out of business.

I grew up with parents and grandparents who taught me to ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, take care of business.  Anyone who doesn’t do that is, in my opinion, LAZY and IF they fail, it’s only because they didn’t do what it takes, WHEN it was necessary.

My wife learned, a long time ago, that I have to take phone calls, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to service my clients.  In return for servicing my clients, I get to make a living and I get to stay in business.

It’s a shame other people who are probably crying about a lack of business haven’t learned that, YET.

What Do You Think?

What do you think about these thoughts? Please share your comments below.

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