Getting the job done on a snowmobile

Rod Lorenz

snomobile

Are you tired of the cold, ice, and snow? I know I am. It’s that time of year when spring is beckoning, but winter is still hanging on—and still threatening.

When I think of long, stormy winters, it calls to mind a winter years ago, in the early days of Ralph’s Hardwoods Floors. It was a particularly rough winter, and the storm the night before had dropped so much snow that we couldn’t get out on the roads.

I was out playing in the fluffy stuff when I noticed Dad loading finishing equipment on the snowmobile. I was surprised. It was a snow day off from school for me, and I hadn’t expected Dad to go to work, either. And I had never seen him use a snowmobile like a cargo van!

But I was just a kid then; I didn’t understand Dad’s commitment to the business he started—and to his customers. Dad had promised a customer a floor would be done by a certain day, and he was going to keep that promise, come hell or high water, or in this case, snow.

That’s just one example I saw as a child of Dad’s dedication to customer service. He understood that if you’re not pleasing customers, you’re not going to stay in business.

Seeing Dad speed off on his snowmobile to get a job done is the type of thing that makes an impression on a child—and it made one on me. As I grew up and eventually took over Ralph’s, that image still inspires me to go above and beyond in making customers’ experience with Ralph’s a pleasant, rewarding, as-promised experience.

And you know what, as I grew up, I figured out something else about that day. At the time, I assumed Dad didn’t want to go; he may even have reassuringly said he wished he could stay and hang out with us at home.

Part of him probably did want that—he certainly loved his family—but another part of him was eagerly looking forward to getting the job done as promised. He had made a commitment, and he wanted to honor that commitment. There was a determined look in his eye that day, and I came to understand why—Dad was going to do what he said he was going to do.

I also enjoy pleasing customers; it really is fun. And when we hire, that’s one of our key criteria—do they truly get personal satisfaction from putting a big smile on the face of a customer? If that’s not something that gets them excited enough that they’ll do everything possible to make it happen, they aren’t right for our team.

Customer service was a focus of Dad’s when he started Ralph’s in 1965, and 50 years later it remains so, inspired by the example he set.  A snowstorm—or any difficulty for that matter—isn’t going to keep us from living up to that example.

 

Ralph's 50th Anniversary Flooring Specials

 

Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/explorethebruce/


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