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Lesson from the Plumber and the Dentist

Written by: James Chan

Article Overview: More often than not, the anxieties of our clients and customers are what drive them to want and pay us.

Lesson from the Plumber and the Dentist

For most people who offer services or products, other people~{!/~}s anxieties are the source of our business. People are willing to pay us because we can solve their problems. But not all problems are equally urgent. One of the most common anxieties of entrepreneurs is whether people really need what we offer.

Not long after I started out, my kitchen sink sprung a serious leak and I called a plumber. I was grateful when he arrived. I didn~{!/~}t ask him what he was going to do. He finished his job and presented me with a bill that I didn~{!/~}t question. I paid him on the spot.

I was, momentarily, delighted that my house was no longer filling with water. Then I began to be depressed because, while the plumber must wade into crises regularly, his business seems free of the worries and insecurities that haunt me daily.

I reflected that even when potential clients call me, we generally have lengthy conversations in which they express skepticism about what I can really do for them. Then, typically, I submit a proposal that details exactly what I intend to do and includes the amount I plan to charge, a figure that usually involves some agonizing calculation. Then, sometimes, the client might have questions about the proposal and add or subtract responsibilities. Getting the go-ahead to start work can sometimes take months. And a client who pays the moment that the services are performed is a rare and wonderful thing. If, like my plumber, I stood and waited for my check, my client would probably have me committed to an insane asylum.

Most self-employed people have reason to be jealous of their plumbers. That~{!/~}s because the needs to which we minister are not so urgent as a flooded kitchen or a backed-up toilet. Yet we are problem solvers too, and we soon learn that the messier the situation you are called on to deal with, the easier it is to make the sale, and the faster you can collect your payment.

I sometimes feel sympathy for my clients because doing business in Asia can be difficult, and they run into problems they never expected. I can~{!/~}t afford to feel too bad, however, because if there were no problems at all, and everything always went smoothly, they~{!/~}d never have any need for my services. Like the plumber, I depend for my livelihood on the certainty that things will go wrong. At the same time, I probably couldn~{!/~}t survive if things became so difficult, and so many things went wrong, that my potential clients became discouraged and simply gave up.

Nobody will use you, and pay the fees you have to charge, unless they believe their problems are urgent~{!*~}and you can solve them.

Not long ago, my dentist convinced me to have him perform a long-delayed and very expensive procedure. Because I had felt no pain, I didn~{!/~}t have any sense of urgency about it. Still, because I remembered excruciating agony from past dental problems, I eventually gave in.

I was behaving like my clients. Most of them have had unpleasant experiences they don~{!/~}t want to repeat. So slowly, reluctantly, deliberately, they decide to use me because they remember the pain.

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Article Tags: anxieties, backed up toilet, crises, doing business in asia, insane asylum, insecurities, job, lengthy conversations, plumber, plumbers, problem solvers, proposal, skepticism, sympathy, wonderful thing, worries



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