Business lessons from a friendly tailor
Had such a pleasant business interaction yesterday.
I ran to the mall over the weekend to pick up clothing from the tailor for my grandmother-in-law (yes, as well as being an impeccable email writer, I’m also a good grandson-in-law) and had what was just an extremely pleasant experience.
It was Saturday morning and the tailor opened at 10am, but being the eager beever that I am, I got to the mall where it is situated a bit early.
After strolling around for a few minutes to kill time and grabbing a $7 latte (my goodness is everything expensive these days), I headed to go wait for it to open.
The man shows up right at 10am to open up and let me in, and begins with some nice chit chat about how punctual I am and asking how he can help.
I pass along the instructions and he fetches the items for pick up. The only problem being that he only accepts cash/cheque and assuming you’re like me, you 1) don’t carry much cash around these days and 2) definitely don’t carry a chequebook (does anyone under the age of 65 even have a cheque book?!).
Anyhow, I mention I don’t have much Canadian cash but he says “don’t worry, don’t worry, we’ll figure it out,” making it quite clear that his priority is to take care of his customers, not sweat the little details, and I did mention I could run to the ATM downstairs if needed.
Now it just so happens that I still had some American cash on me from our family trip to Florida in December (for the story on that fun flight, make sure to read my post here), and I pulled it out and started counting.
I had a $100 bill (#baller) and an extra $17 in smaller bills. Or in other words, back in Canada I’m a millionare (I joke, because the Canadian dollar sucks these days).
So I ask him, “would you take $17 USD?”
“What’s the math on that for me please?” he responded.
I whip out my handy dandy cellphone and turns out $17 USD is about $23.50 CAD and the total bill was $25.
To which he responded: “A dollar fifty short, but you can’t buy anything for $1.50 these days anyway am I right?” and happily accepted it.
Now as all of this was going on I 1) was having a very pleasant time as he was simply being a friendly, happy guy who I enjoyed doing business with and 2) noticed he had a lot of interesting pictures and cloth sitting around for suits, jackets, etc.
And being the courtroom litigator that I am, I had to ask if he’s able to make suits for strapping lads like myself? Of course he could, he replied.
And thus the lesson here: I went in with the intention of picking up my grandmother-in-laws clothing, and left a potential customer, because I expect to need 1-2 more suits in the next year or so, and given how pleasant and friendly he was, there’s a strong chance I go to him when I’m ready.
In short: be a nice, friendly person and always put your customers first, and more people will want to do business with you.
Maybe that sounds obvious, but I contrast it with so many other experiences I’ve had where the person is mopey, sad, dull, negative, whatever it might be. Just having a big smile and positive attitude can go so far, in so many ways.
Anyway, hopefully the reminder helps a few of you fine folks.
And don’t forget, if you need reminders and accountability to start crushing a new personal or business habit, my next 30-day challenge starts Tuesday. Learn more and sign up here. Do it quick, because the deadline is tomorrow!
Have a great day,
Josh Schachnow
Toronto family lawyer, CEO at Visto.ai
Who I can help:
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Anyone with family law matters in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada (separation, divorce, etc.) can hit “reply” to see if I can help;
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