Company Blog

The Common Courtesy

by Adam Zack — June 29, 2016

Common courtesy is telling the truth.

Believe it or not, we frequently (DW might think too frequently) make proposals for business that are not accepted. It’s part of the deal. Rejection is part of the process. Like getting estimates on fixing your car or shopping for a new plasma TV. No matter how nice the salesperson is, you only need your car fixed once. Sometimes the sales person will be the decider, but more often it comes down to money and how you feel your needs will be met for those dollars. I always try and look at any proposal or transaction from the customers’ view. If I think they are wasting their money, I’ll tell them. The grocery business has a lot of karma in it, and you just never know when the opportunity to do business will come around again – for vendors and customers.

A couple weeks ago we made a proposal to a 30+ store retailer in the Midwest for a very customized website and follow up program. We spent a lot of time on it, had lots of conference calls and email correspondence. We were not chosen. I can’t even begin to tell you how refreshing it was to be told directly “Unless something drastic changes, we are going with another proposal.” Yes, it felt good to hear that rejection. Why? Because 75% of the time when a proposal is made and no acceptance is given, we never hear from them again. It’s like the proposal was laced with hemlock and just reviewing it killed them, or at least paralyzed their fingers so they couldn’t type a “No thank you”, or at least a “Stop calling me.” It’s like the prom is coming up, and you asked that girl who is maybe a little out of your league and she tells you that she’ll let you know. Except the prom isn’t until a year or so from now, and you still don’t know if you should order that corsage and rent the powder blue tux. Maybe if I send her one more follow up email or leave one more message with the secretary…

The common courtesy is telling the truth, returning phone calls, answering emails, following through on what you said you were going to do, when you said you would. Some are much better than others at it, but it’s the realization that the answer – especially when it’s no, that gets avoided and the common courtesy goes down the toilet. Now I think I’ll keep that tux reserved for just another couple weeks. Powder blue was always my color.