Many of us read The Wall Street Journal for the latest business news, trends and ideas to grow our businesses.
It is an excellent newspaper but its delivery contractors aren’t. They miss our mailbox at least once a month – and so far twice this month. That reflects not just on their delivery service but their newspaper, too.
When we took over management of a free distribution neighborhood newspaper, we rode the drivers’ routes to check on delivery. We found old Joe, a darling of the ladies at the printing plant, wasn’t delivering his route. It took 30 minutes of looking in dumpsters to find the newspapers he was supposed to deliver.
Old Joe was a charming con man taking our money and dumping our newspapers.
He was not only hurting our advertisers who counted on reaching shoppers in homes on his route but he was destroying our reputation.  His admirers were shocked when we fired old Joe.
We let the ladies know why and they passed the word to the other drivers. We had no delivery problems after that.
If you hire contractors, let them know that they represent themselves and you.
Good work helps their reputation and yours. Shoddy work can’t be tolerated.
We share such field-tested ideas and strategies in our book “Uncover Your Inner Sales Genius.” For a complimentary copy please go to JerryBellune.com
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