If you've been reading for a while, you know that most of my posts are based on recent events in my life. Sometimes I wish that I didn't have so much material. As you read this, understand that I'm defining friend as someone that I trust and has more knowledge than I do in the area, so I'm relying on their expertise to steer me in the right direction.
On Sunday, December 13th, I decided that I needed a construction project done. I sent this email to a friend. "This isn't exactly in your sweet spot, but would you be interested in.....". He replied, " I would certainly be interested in talking about it." I also called one other friend and a company that had a big local reputation in the type of project that I needed. The company with the big local reputation referred me to their local installer. Monday morning, I called both of my friends (not the installer). The first, (the one that replied by email) reminded me that it wasn't his sweet spot, but would try to get out to look in the next few days. The second told me that he couldn't help me, but suggested a third friend that we both knew. I called him and he said that he'd done it and gave me a feel for what was involved. He typically did bigger jobs, but would help me out if my first friend didn't come through.
Tuesday morning, friend #1 called me. Said that he didn't really know what size unit I needed, couldn't really guess how long the prep would take, didn't know how long it would take to get the product, and hoped he could get to it sometime after Christmas. He admitted that he didn't really know what to charge, but guessed that it would be around $4,000. When I suggested that it sounded a little high, he reminded me that it wasn't in his sweet spot, and that he'd padded the price to cover himself. I thanked him and told him that I'd get back to him.
I immediately called the local installer that had been recommended. He looked at the job that day and called the next day to tell me all the steps in the process, and tell me that the cost would be $1,750. He told me that if that sounded OK, he'd call the supplier to check on availability and call me back to schedule the job. He called on the 17th and said that the product was in stock and that he could do the job on Monday the 21st. He did. I paid him. We're both happy except...
Would you ever call my first friend for anything ever again? He lost all credibility by trying to do something that so many other people could do so much better. We all start as vendors, suppliers or contractors. We can grow to be consultants, confidants, or advisors, but in my mind, the highest that you can be is the "first call resource". If you can get there, you'll always have first shot at what you're good at and you'll send business to many people and make both buyers and sellers very happy with you.
Remember, that a RESOURCE is really a RE-ferral-SOURCE! Sometimes the best way to help your customer is to refer them to a friend.