Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Today, my wife and I ran the dogs in a nearby park. it`s been raining here in Michigan for, uh, well, since november. And it`s been crazy warm like the rest of the eastern part of the country, so a nice layer of mud has taken over where grass once grew.

The dogs ran their hearts out. Had a blast.

In anticipation of their transformation from citified Golden Retriever and Yellow Lab to "Chocolate Swamp Hounds," we had the jeep at the ready and immediately loaded them in for a drive to the dog wash place - a franchise store for bathing your dog.

We pulled up to the front of the dog wash at the strip mall where it`s located and noticed a scribled sign on the door:


There we were. The two Chocolate Swamp Hounds were steaming up the windows of the Jeep. A smell something like that of fish washed up on a beach was starting to seep into our fleece jackets.

We waited for a few minutes not saying much. And then I made the first comment...

"Twenty minutes from when?" I said it very quietly, just above my breath.

"Exactly!" said my wife. Loudly.

I made a proposal. "Let`s go get a Starbucks and come back. By then they`ll be open again probably." And off we went.

When we returned about 15 minutes later things didn`t look much different. The sign was still there. The same few cars were in the parking lot.

"Maybe we should call the phone number on the window," my wife said, in problem solving mode.

"Good idea" I responded. It`s part of why I married her.

I dialed. A woman answered "Hello."

"Hi! We`re waiting out in front of your store. We were just wondering when the 20 minutes started...." I said it sarcastically, trying to make it clear that her sign didn`t have all the information a customer might expect, like, when did the 20 minutes start and more importantly, when did it end?!

"Oh, sorry. I thought my sister would be back by now. I`m, uh, actually, I`m at the nail salon next door. Getting my nail nails done. Should be finished in about 10 minutes."

She didn`t sound like she really cared if we stuck around. Maybe she had caught a glimpse of us through the front glass of Lee`s Nails. Maybe she could see that we were starting to gag from the odor of our dogs and she KNEW we would wait.

So, we waited. After a few more minutes, we stepped out of the Jeep to get some oxygen. It was spitting rain. Then my wife made an abrupt announcement.

"I`m going in," she said.

"The door`s locked, I already tried it," I reminded her.

"No, I`m going into Lee`s Nails." And with that, she turned, Starbucks in hand, and moved assertively into the nail salon. A minute later, she came out the door, jingling keys in her hand, smiling.

"Get the doggies. I got the keys to the place," she said. And then she added, "this person should clearly not be running a store - she`s letting us in there unattended so she can finish her nails."

Well, the store owner eventually came back into the dog wash store to watch over our shoulder as we scrubbed down the doggies - and all was good. She was actually helpful from that point on.

But, I wanted to share with you this experience. And just in case it`s not obvious, if you ever have to leave the store for something important... like a manicure ...  just remember to post the actual time you`re returning and also, no matter how zealous, don`t let a customer have the keys to your store unattended.

Rich


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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

Wow there is actually a place to get your dog washed!

Jeez, if I had a dollar for every small business that`s run like this, I wouldn`t need to have my own startup! What gets me curious is why these kinds of things happen? It`s obviously self-destructive behavior, but think about it this way:

We know there are serial killers, and they`re really annoying. But they too orgially were little children---toddlers, who weren`t bound and determined to destroy everyone around them.

So too, we can see vicious divorces taking place. And yet at some point, the two people looked at each other as the answer to life`s questions.

Here on SuN, people are massively excited about their startup, opening a business, getting through the anxiety and fear, and working all hours to get the business up and running. So how do people arrive at a point where they just don`t care about their customers, running the business, or whatever was going through the dog-washing person`s mind?

Then think about the opportunity here. We`ve had at least 2 community members who have a business especially designed to handle pets and dogs. They could read this post as a tremendous boost of optimism! If existing companies are that shoddy, there`s LOTS of room for a new company that works more effectively. :-)

Who has a "Back in 20 Minutes" story to share?

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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

Don`t have a "20 minutes" story, but there is a business in this building whose hours are so non-consistent, I am not sure how they stay open. There`s still a sign on the door stating that they`ll be closed until Dec 30th.

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Well here is something similar, but with a giant of a company. I needed to get my oil changed one night so it was late and I wanted to see if it was possible to get it done this late. I called around an no one could do it.  I ended up looking on Walmart`s website, and the hours said until 8pm. So I said great! I called to confirm and the lady who answered customer service said yes 8pm was the time we closed.

I grabbed my 7 year old and out the door. When we arrived we were turned down. I arrived at 7:15. I was told politely we take our last car at 7, so we can clean up. I was so mad, but laughing at the same time. I went inside to talk to a manager, and was told the same thing. He didn`t even help me. I then asked why in the world tell someone you close at 8, and then not servive them when they show up at 7:15??? I just laughed at him, and almost told him I felt sorry for him to have the job he did.

I just left and went home.

Shouldn`t they clean up after 8?

boy, i don`t know about you, but i bend over backwards to service my customers and all i get is "i`ll get back to you. . ."  nobody cares about anybody anymore, except themselves.

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But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrew 11:6

I have a `Back in 10 Minutes` story!

It happened right before the holiday as I was going to purchase a bunkbed for my son so he could invite friends for sleep-overs. 

I went to the store at about 11-ish in the morning and saw the note "Back in 10 Minutes" and right away I say to myself, "from when?"  So I went back to my car, (which also happens to be a Jeep) waited and waited.  15 minutes had gone by and the door was still locked!  Then I realized that about 6 months ago when I came here to buy a futon, the lady mentioned how much she loved the fact that she worked nearly by Starbucks coffee. So I got off the car and walked to Starbucks. Sure enough, there she was, sipping her coffee, talking to whoever on the cell phone. 

I walked up to her, being as polite as possible, and said, "Excuse me. You work at the futon store, dont` you?" She said, "Yeah, hi." I said," the note said you would be back in 10 minutes. I am not sure when that 10 minutes started at but I have waited for 15 minutes in my car already." 

She jumped up, still holding her cell phone and said in such a hurry, "I`ll call you back." and walked me back to the store. 

Well, she gave me a big discount on the bunkbed plus no charge on delivery so I decided to forgive her.  But as I left the store that day, the note "Back in 10 Minutes" was still on the door!

 

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Life isn`t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

That`s funny...I actually had an experience with a vacuum store where I basically ignored the sign on the door that said back in 15 minutes. I saw it as I pulled up and decided to wait until I saw the person walk through the door (luckily I had some phone calls to make anyway)...when nothing happened for about 20 minutes I walked up to the door to see if maybe it had just been inadvertantly left on the door...unfortunately the door was still locked...BUT I could see the girl behind the counter on her cell phone....sooooo...being the kind considerate person that I like to believe I am....I knocked on the door...and continued to knock until I annoyed her enough to come open the door and assist me!  She seemed a bit annoyed at my persistance so I informed her of her time error...and said she might want to think about a new watch. (I had had a rough day at that point and she bought hit my last nerve...but I tried to stay as polite as possible while she basically drilled holes through my head with her eyes.)

Some people can be SOOOOO rude! I have to admit though...I have often come across companies (big and small) that I wonder how they keep customers at all with the way they disregard them. A large cable company and a large cell phone company are INFAMOUS for their disregard for customer satisfaction. Odd behavior I tell ya! It always makes me think of one of my favorite business books of ALL time, "Raving Fans".

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Leah Tucker

What`s ironic is how often you`ll be let in again, whenever the person comes back from whatever. That`s when you`ll see signs like, "We`re here to please!" "Customer service is our motto!"  :-)

One of those things where if you have to gab about it, you probably don`t do it much.