The other day I was asked to coordinate the move of a 10 man company from one building to another at short notice, and I was utterly staggered by how one removal firm unilaterally jettisoned an amazing opportunity worth potentially £23,000.The Job:- move a company quickly. The Challenge:- identify a temporary office, get IT and telecom experts capable of ‘plugging up’ the new offices fast, and then get a removal company to shift everything and store any surplus furniture / kit that wouldn’t fit into the new premises. Simple.
Everyone was identified, only the removals company needed engaging. I narrowed the choice to three, the favourite being the one with both a removal and storage capability. ‘All under one roof,’ I thought. This was how the phone call went:
“Good morning, could I speak to whoever deals with new business”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m a potential customer and could be looking to place a new order.”
“There’s no-one around at the moment so you might be better e-mailing us your enquiry. Bye.”
“Before you hang up,” I reiterated, “I am a NEW customer and will be telephoning a competitor of yours after you’ve hung up.”
“Who did you say you were?”
“Phil Hopkins”
“OK Phil I’ll get someone to ring you back. Bye”
Five minutes later a man left a message on my mobile (so there was someone in the office!). He gave the name of the company he was ringing from (it was the one in question), but left no personal name. I rang back and no one at the company knew who’d called me, presuming only that it was ‘Pete’ (an imaginary name!). He’d now gone out for a sandwich but would be back in half an hour. They’d get him to ring. He never did.
The complacency of some employees / companies staggers me. We are in the toughest economy for 50 years, and this conduct was shameful. Do staff have to lose their jobs before they fully understand that there’s a problem, and that paying their wages is not done by the commercial equivalent of the tooth fairy? More to the point, what training are managers giving to the frontline troops? Train the soldiers before they lead your company to a bloodbath.