Do You Show Up?

Needing electrical work, few thousand dollars worth, I recently called an electrician who was referred to me.  His speciality was doing just the type of work I needed done.  He promptly returned my call, came over to the house to look at what needs to be done, and left promising he'll call back with an estimate. I said great, and let him know that as soon as I have that, he can get started (a dead give-away he got the job). 

Unfortunately, he never showed up again, nor called.  I called him several time to see what happened. Each time he said he was not well and that he would call me in couple of days. Those couple of days never came.  I then called another electrician, also referred.  We scheduled a time for him to come check out what needs to be done.  He too never showed.  (Hmmm, I was beginning to think if it was me or quality of referrals).  In any event, we called him asking why he didn't show up.  His reply was that we were too far away from his place.  Well, geez, one would think he could have told said that when we first spoke rather then setting an appointment and then not showing up, and not even having the courtesy to let us know he won't be coming.

This reminded me of a situation many years back where Reggie sent me an estimate request for a very small project. I promptly responded and we got the job.  Over the years Reggie gave me lots of work and size of projects also became bigger and bigger.  What started out as a very small project turned into a very profitable relationship over the years.  One day I asked Reggie what lead him to choose me, over others, on that first request.  His response: "Vinay, you were the only one responded and then followed up, as well as then stayed in touch with me". 

Amazing, how true that so often it's simply a matter of showing up which leads to work.  So when someone reaches out to you, do you show up?

P.S. In case you're wondering about that electrical work I needed done.  We finally called a professional company. They promptly showed up and followed up with the estimate as promised.  We happily gave 'em the work, and they got the job done when they said they would, did it right the first time, and they were pleasant to do business with.  Perhaps that's why they are a big company today, because they simply show up and do what they say they are going to do.  Pretty simple.