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As I sit here thinking of what I should write for this week's article I hit a roadblock and just couldn't come up with something I thought would be relevant. I took a break from the computer and then it came to me. Funny how that works sometimes, so here goes......
We all consider our time very valuable in our work day and there can be many interruptions by salespeople or others who may want to have a few minutes of our time.
In our stores we have made it clear to all of our salespeople that it's best if they set up an appointment in advance if someone other than our salesperson wants to come in and see us. This has worked well for the most part.
In my situation with not always being at a particular store, it is very important that our sales staff contact me ahead of time to see if I can meet. I always try to make myself available if someone specifically wants to meet with me.
A few weeks ago I had a request from a local wholesaler that the owner of the company and the president of the wholesaler plus two supplier reps wanted to meet with me and talk about our business. I have done this in the past for this company as I respect the relationship, from the president on down, we have with them.
The meeting was set up for a Wed. at 10:30 at our main store. I printed out some of our sales reports so they could see what our business was doing with their brands, good and bad. I was actually looking forward to meeting with them because they wanted info from our perspective; they were not coming to sell me something.
They never showed up.
I waited over 45 minutes, not a word from anyone as to if they were going to show or sorry were running late. I had to make a call to my sales person saying I had to take off and that the group might as well not show up as I would not be available the rest of the day. He knew I was upset and mad that they didn't show up.
I received a phone call the next day from a sales manager apologizing for not notifying me that the reps plane was late due to a storm that blew through that morning.
What I took away from this is that my time or your time if this has happened to you is not as valuable as their time, and that by making a simple phone call they could have avoided me being upset and frustrated by their lack of respect for me and the time I set aside to meet with them.
I will forgive and forget about this because it doesn't do any good to hold a grudge forever.
I hope this company has learned that our time is just as valuable as theirs, and that if they will be late for an appointment, the respectful thing to do is to call to let the account know what's going on.
Let's hope they don't make this mistake again.
Steve Grausam
Edina Liquor | 
