HAVE THEIR BACK

Steven Cesare, Ph.D.

An aggressive business owner from Illinois called me the other day to talk about a situation she was having with one of her clients. Doing almost $4,000,000 in annual revenue, with 32 well-established full-time employees, the business owner is extremely committed to job quality, customer service, and annual contract retention. She, her field management staff, and operations team take pride in offering a high-touch approach to all customer interactions consistently demonstrating authenticity, humility, and care.

Like most landscape maintenance contractors, the Illinois company employs contracts containing standard pre-existing content: keep all animals inside the house/garage when service is being providing, ensure entry gates are left ajar allowing employees access to the back yard, and that the Contractor shall be excused for delays in performance caused by the homeowner, acts of governmental authority, acts of God, inclement weather, etc. Another common element typically found in such contracts is that the homeowner is responsible for removing all dog waste (i.e., feces) prior to the Contractor doing any mowing service.

Regarding the situation at hand, premised on the Company’s commitment to customer service, the field crew removed the dog waste from the aforementioned client’s job site during their first several visits, with an adjoining admonishment from the Account Manager that future service would only occur if the appropriate customer pre-work was completed. The client did not comply.

In keeping with the Company’s customer service norms, the Account Manager calmly explained to the client that the required yard pre-work was necessary to prevent the dog waste from getting on the lawn mower blade, undercarriage, and tires, any aspect of which could lead the dog waste being spread onto the client’s yard, Company trailer, and possibly to the next client’s job site (e.g., sidewalk, driveway, turf).

Naturally, the snowflake client took umbrage. As is often the case in today’s self-indulgent mindset, the client sent several social media postings, emails, and text messages to other members of the homeowners’ association highlighting the Contractor’s unreasonable expectations and poor service, advising others to be aware of such unreasonable demands, and of course, positioning the client as the eternal victim.

It didn’t stop there. The client then shared several other examples of the Contractor’s inferior service including allegations that the work crew: routinely parked in front of the client’s condominium instead of in the identified parking area, was found sitting in front of the client’s home during their “hour-long work break, even though their work was not yet done,” and frequently did not blow excess yard waste off the sidewalks, despite that service being clearly identified in the contract.

And the hits just keep on coming. The client then began in-person verbal harassment of the work crew: name calling, threats, criticism, anger, and so on. Just another day on the Mow Crew, right?

To their credit, when confronted with this onslaught of unnecessary criticism from the client, the experienced work crew finally told the owner that they did not want to service that HOA anymore due to the harassment, criticism, and hostile conditions.

When the Illinois business owner shared this scenario with me, I was immediately reminded of the two primary fundamentals that must be upheld in any managerial context:

Subordinates must never let their Manager get blind-sided, by anything damaging to the Manager or the Company
Managers must instinctively have their subordinates’ back, even at the Manager’s expense

Validating that truism, the business owner indeed supported her field crew. She performed a thorough investigation examining documentation, conducting interviews, and letting the evidence drive her decision to cancel the $14,000 seasonal contract immediately.

Let me be clear: As a capitalist, sometimes, the customer is simply not worth the time, effort, or revenue.

Like the work crew, we are all glad the business owner did not take any more “crap” from the client.

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