Surprises Can Hurt
Ok…let me start by telling you that this is going to be a different kind of story. It will be funny but it deals with a sensitive matter. If you’re easily offended or embarrassed…don’t read it. If, on the other hand you’re not, read it and laugh it up. It is 100% true.
My father and his older brother were not born in a hospital. It was the early 30’s and they were delivered at home. This was not unusual at the time and it was down right common in Clarkesville Georgia which is where they are from.
In any case, a fairly routine procedure was not performed on either of them. I don’t want to be specific. Let’s just say that boys have it and girls don't.
Both survived and enjoyed long lives. My uncle lived in Augusta Georgia, retired from the ministry and lived to be 83. My father lives south of Atlanta and retired from one of the large airlines. Life has been good to each of them.
When my uncle was eight years old he was hospitalized. He was going to have his tonsils out. As far as anyone can remember this was the first time any of our family spent time in a hospital.
The doctor made the observation that a particular procedure had not been performed. Once again, boys get it, girls don’t. The physician asked my grandparents if they wanted to take advantage of him being asleep to...take care of matters.
The answer was yes. My uncle wasn’t told, however. He didn’t know it was being discussed and it’s highly probable that he had never even heard of the procedure. He was there for a tonsillectomy.
Fast forward a few hours. Eight year old Uncle Bob is waking up from his surgery. His throat is sore…but so is something else. He is confused and frightened. He called for the nurse and got the whole story.
I don’t know what kind of conversation resulted. I can’t imagine how my grandparents handled his anger and confusion. Today there would be a news story about a kid suing his parents. It’s a different world and I’m not sure it’s better.
Now why in the world would I share this story? What could it possibly have to do with business? How does it fit into what we do every day?
The answer is two fold. It gives me a chance to tell a very funny story. It also gives me a chance to sound off on surprises. That is the more important benefit.
We are not in the surprise business. In fact, it’s safe to say that surprises that get to clients almost always cost us money and business. I’m fairly certain that customers hire all of us with the hope of avoiding surprises.
This simple fact should cause businesses to bear down on every detail, every moment of every day. We should remember that we promised to return a phone call. We should deliver the product as expected; on time for the price we promised.
It goes further. Our cartons need to be in good order. Our delivery tickets need to be accurate. Our drivers need to be professional and mannerly. Our invoices need to be clear and we don’t need to be making collection calls on charges that aren’t due. We need to show that we know what we’re doing and that we aren’t confused as to why we were hired and what our assignment is.
Surprises are real bad things in hospitals. They’re bad in business too. Our job is to manage them and keep them to a minimum. If we do, clients probably won’t surprise us by hiring someone else.
What if we made it our business to never surprise our clients?
It all ended well for my uncle. He recovered and as I said lived a long and productive life. He ministered to many, performed hundreds of weddings, funerals and Sunday services. He performed my marriage in 1976 which remains one of my most precious memories.
The experience had a positive impact on my dad as well. He has only been hospitalized once and he was 64. When you ask him how he managed to avoid it he responds by saying, “I saw what they did to Bobby so I have never complained about feeling bad.”
Works for me. My dad and uncle are real characters.