by Mark Laughlin

Many years ago, when my wife and I were running a quick print franchise, a print broker stopped in about an hour before we closed one Friday.  This broker had given us many small jobs to do over the last couple of years. 

She explained to us that she had just picked up a new client that was moving their company headquarters into our area.  She dropped a huge envelope on our front counter with printing samples and self-explanatory instructions enclosed.  We told her we would fax over our estimates on the many different jobs.  She told us to have a good weekend and got in her car and drove off.

It had been a long week and everyone was tired.  The last thing I wanted to be doing was quoting this job, which I knew we would not get.  We had been down this road with this broker before.  In the past, all the big jobs ended up at one of our competitors, who “low balled” their estimates to get the job.  I sighed heavily as I dumped the contents of the envelope out onto my work area.

It was all very simple two-color work.  I examined the samples enclosed, which were all of very poor quality.  I really didn’t want to be doing this but she did give us sporadic work from time to time.  I started separating out the contents of the envelope and began working on the quote. 

It was soon closing time and I was still looking at another hour to wrap this up.  My wife and my other employee locked the door, cut the lights and headed off to their cars.  My wife’s parting words were, “Don’t stay too late.  You can finish that up on Monday.”

Believe me, I really didn’t want to stay but I sucked it up and continued working.  Around 7:00 p.m., I walked over to the fax machine and watched my ten page estimate slowly kerchunk through.  I was thinking while I was leaving, “There’s one less thing to do on Monday”.

Two weeks went by and the broker walked into our shop.  She was dropping off a small repeat order we have done many times before.  I had completely forgotten about the “Hail Mary” quote from two weeks ago. 

As the broker was heading toward the front door, she suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned around.  Then she said to me, “I just wanted you to know that we bid that large job out to twenty different printers.  You were one of only two print shops that even bothered to fax over a bid.  You were underbid and we gave the job to the other shop.  Thank you for your professionalism and follow through.  I will continue to keep bringing you in work.”

She left and I was thinking, “What a pathetic state of affairs.  Some of these printing businesses are really struggling.  I just can’t believe we were one of only two places to respond.  What’s wrong with these people?”

I am currently in the process of moving from the Midwest cross-country to a Western state.  I am now about a month away from closing on our new property.  I need to get homeowner’s insurance and I want one insurance carrier cover both my home and autos. 

On our last visit out West, I picked up a local phone book to assist me in lining things up via long distance.  I have all the pertinent information I will need to give to the insurance companies spread out on the kitchen table.  I opened up the yellow pages and turned to the Insurance heading.  I made my first call to the company that I currently have.  I figured they’d love to have us back.  I’m a good customer.  I have never made a claim with this company and make my payments on time.

The lady that answered the call is pleasant and professional.  However, she informed me that the agent I will need to talk with was not in the office.  I explained the situation with my upcoming move.  I told her that I have had insurance with their company for the past eight years.  She took my contact information down.  She promised that the agent would call me back no later than the following day.  I even had her repeat the numbers back to me to make sure she didn’t write anything down wrong.  I never received a phone call back.

I started the whole process over in three days.  I called another big insurance carrier.  Once again, I got a very professional person on the other end of the phone.  We set up a tentative phone appointment with the agent for two days later.  I never heard back from them.

A couple more days went by and I called another major insurance carrier.  This time, I got the actual agent on the phone.  He gave me prices on my cars and a quote on my new home.  I asked him if he would fax a formal proposal over to me.  He snapped back, “I can’t do it tonight, all the fax machines are in use.  Maybe I can get it to you in a couple of days.”  I never received a fax.

I explained my dilemma to my father the next day. He gave me an 800 number to call.  I called and got another friendly voice on the other end.  I was told an agent would be contacting me within two business days.  An agent did call me back, but she told me her company could not write homeowner’s policies in my new state. She offered to give me price quotes on my auto insurance.  I thanked her for her time and hung up.

I was getting very frustrated.  Finally I sent an e-mail to my real estate agent out West and asked for his assistance in getting us lined up with a reputable insurance carrier.  I also asked him, “Is someone with my last name a mass murderer or child molester in your state?” 

He called me back the following day and assured me that my last name carried no stigma of negativity.  He said if anyone would know, it would be him since he had lived there for the last forty years.  He said he would contact three local companies and have them call me next week.

Monday morning, I received a phone call from a large insurance company.  I was told they would e-mail my quotes over in the afternoon.  I pulled in my e-mail late in the afternoon and there were my quotes.  The prices were in line with what I thought they should be but I saw a couple of glitches in the quote and called them.  I told the agent that the replacement cost quoted on my new home was underestimated.  I was told me that they would need to re-quote it and that they get back to me the next day.  I never heard back from them.

I got a call the following day from another insurance company.  Once again, I was talking to a very professional and pleasant person on the other end of the phone.  We exchanged information and she promised me that she would fax over a quote the following morning.  She asked if I could fax over my declaration pages so she could apply all the proper discounts.

I faxed it over right to her after we hung up. The next day my quote was faxed to me as promised.  I called my real estate agent to get a sanity check on the prices.  He told me the prices were in line with what he and his father were currently paying. 

I called the agent back with a couple of questions that I had.  She answered everything.  I asked if she would call me back when she received the premium payment check.  She told me she would.  I signed the documents, faxed them over to her as well as mailing them to her with my check. 

She called me back several days later to let me know she had received the check and the paperwork.  I asked her if she could fax some temporary insurance cards over to me.  She said, “No problem.”  

I never did hear back from the third local company that my real estate agent had contacted for us.

What a nightmare!  Does everyone have so much business that they don’t need any more?  I was not rude on the phone.  My credit rating is excellent.  I have never filed a homeowner’s or auto claim in the past eight years.  I pay my bills on time. 

I just don’t get it!

The company I ended up going with is awesome!  They executed on all of my requests.  The agent answered all of my questions and did everything she promised.  Faxes were sent, phone calls were returned and the pricing was competitive.  I am looking forward to having a long lasting relationship with this company.

If you own and operate a customer service business, please, please execute on what you promise! 

Keep yourself organized, so things don’t fall through the cracks.  You may end up getting business dumped in your lap because your competitors don’t follow through! 

Is it really that hard?