The tides of industry rise and fall, and much like these waters our flooring fraternity gets buffeted here and there. While some of us are winning and reaping huge rewards, others are not doing so well and unfortunately foreclosing and retrenching staff. This is a tricky subject and generally avoided, but we believe an important one.
In the last few weeks, I have experienced this on various levels and this topic is the key focus in our latest vlog this week.
A friend in the United Kingdom updated their Facebook profile with the recent experience that after having fully paid in advance for their new house to be fully carpeted throughout, they receive notice a few days before the commencement date that the company had closed its doors.
Closer to home I received news from a highly irritate consumer who was fighting with a well known national flooring company that had closed down its regional branch. The branch was obviously in its death throes when they had accepted various deposits and now this client was left in the lurch with no completed services and no refund.
Finally, in another long drawn out story, there is this retailer who has been struggling for some time with mixed business priorities and a failing sales team, they continue to advertise for high-level sales staff fully knowing that the foreclosure sheriff could be knocking at the door any moment.
How do we manage these tricky waters while keeping our moral and business code in check? In our vlog, one point kept reoccurring in our debate, talk to someone. Get real and talk to your team, suppliers and business network and ask for their support. As hard as this may sound, a problem shared is a problem halved. Now is also the time when you want everyone’s commitment and support to get the business through this tough period limiting as much damage as possible, maybe even a possible recovery and a new lease on life.
Businesses fail and people lose money, this we know. What I wish to question and momentarily inspire thought on is a true craftsman’s code of conduct, especially in this new world where trust is a critical success factor for any business, person or aspirant, new or old.
This old adage comes to mind “It’s not how you start but how you finish”.
Regardless of the outcome, you want to be remembered as handling the situation with grace and respect to those it impacts.
Come on guys, we can do better than this.