Enterprise Issues
With Siaka Momoh
They do, and quite well too. Experiences have informed me of this. And I was very pleased recently when Harvey Mackay, author of Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive corroborated this point of view. Harvey Mackay is called ‘Mr-Make-Things-Happen’ by Fortune magazine. In one of his quickies in Swim With the Sharks…, which he tagged ‘Take a Millionaire to Lunch’, he talks about how entrepreneurs can use short notes to make that personal gesture to their employees and customers – a lesson in staff and customer relations. And how this simple device has become almost a trade-mark of some of the savviest businesspeople he knows.
He recalls buying a car in the US is a major purchase decision for any one, that he buys one every couple of years, but has never once heard from any car sales person – or any salesperson of any substantial item – ‘once I have made the purchase from him’. Mackay says he has never heard ‘a thank you note’ or ‘we have just got a new shipment in’ from any salesperson. Yet many successful people he knows are constantly sending out short notes. He lists Lou Holtz, the Notre Dame football coach; Pat Fallon, US hottest advertising agency; Wheelock Whitney, who built one of the nation’s most successful brokerage firms.
Short notes such as ‘I want you to know how much I enjoyed our meeting/your gift/your hospitality’, ‘Congratulations on your new financing/house/wife/kids performance at tennis’ etc, are relished by these successful businesspeople.
This talk about things that matter but which many do not know matter reminds me of a business deal with a colleague and friend few years back. Once our discussion centred on how one should relate with one’s client, who by all standards, is more financially endowed than one. My argument then was that if such a person was a friend and a client or one that was a friend and linked one to a business, contract or whatever, it was not necessary one should present such a person a gift. He told me I was wrong, that however small a gift was, he would appreciate it. He said all I needed to do was find out what thrilled him. ‘It may be tobacco, a fine shirt’ he suggested.That was a good lesson for me, one that registered very well and remains part of me till now.
One good one which I think I have a flair for is putting on a smile. Peter Atariata of Ekresame (Ekrerhavwen, I hope I got the spelling right?), of the Agbarho clan at the outskirts of Warri, or if you like, Ughelli in Delta State, noticed this and voiced it . Yours sincerely was factory manager of F. Omo Okotete Farms’ of F Omo Okotete Farms’ rubber processing unit and Atariata was one of our rubber sheets suppliers and we enjoyed the Nigerian robust credit supply system. You would find Atariata chasing me for payment. Each time he came, ranting and bemoaning the losses he was sustaining as a result of our lateness in settling his invoices, he would be disarmed by soothing words spiced with smiles. At a point he became so helpless that he had to admit that the smiles were disarming.
Just a little smile will do the magic.
Where I live in Lagos, I have a choice of three vulcanizers for my flat tyres. Two of the vulcanizers are write-offs while one is an excellent artisan. The two I have problem dealing with wear long faces all the time. Recently, I was almost believing that the Ramadan fasting was responsible for the never smiling face of one of them, an apprentice aged about 15 years. The time was 2.30 p.m. At least, by this hour, hunger strikes for greenhorns in Ramadan fasting. But the day I found him wearing a long face at about 10 a.m., I knew something else must be responsible for his repulsive posture. Of course, the vulcanizer who wears smiles on his face earns more of my patronage than these other two.
Back gain to Harvey MacKay. For him, if you run a business, there are 1001 ways to screw up every day, and almost all of them can be avoided with a little more attention to detail or common courtesy. He argues, a customer calls and gets put on hold for too long or gets shuffled around to three or four different people. This, he says, is wrong because it can result into your losing that customer. And when you lose such customer you will most likely lose some others who get informed about the incidence – friends and associates of the customer in question. One Lagos Business School lecturer had a related experience in a neighbourhood shop where she did her shopping and said bye-bye to the shop.
One other thing that matters is paying attention to details. MacKay argues, if you are in charge, your job is to minimize mistakes and you must pay attention to details. He says the strategy is leadership. Nobody, he says, is going to believe it is important, unless you, the boss make it seem important. For him, the tactic you use is by example. The boss must be a stickler for details, he says. Some details you think don’t matter, matter a great deal.