Mike Jarrett was facing a crossroads in the life of his company. A client who made up more than 50 percent of the business for Jarrett Logistics Systems Inc. owed the transportation management company more than $300,000 but was about to file for bankruptcy.
“Do I decide to close the company down because of what we’re going to lose out of this,” Jarrett says. “Or do I dig the heels in, pull the belt a little tighter and figure out a way to get through it?”
Jarrett was able to work through the problem and keep the company going. But in the process, he learned a valuable lesson.
“No matter what size customer you have, when they begin to slow down your payments, you need to aggressively resolve that issue with that customer,” Jarrett says.
Jarrett’s company hit $24 million in 2008 revenue.
Smart Business spoke with Jarrett, the president and founder of the 22-employee company, about how to build better relationships to avoid future problems with customers.
Q. What’s the key to avoiding customer conflict?
When cash flow tightens up, companies have a tendency to slow down payments to vendors in a way to help improve their cash flow.
Once we see we are falling behind with some customers, we do make calls and are somewhat aggressive, if that’s the right term to use, in making sure that we have some kind of payment plan.
We approach it in a more positive way. We have folks here who are very good at contacting customers and letting them know they have fallen behind.
The approach we take is, ‘What can we do to work together?’ It needs to be a win-win. If it’s a win-win solution, I endorse it and sign off on it. If it’s not a win-win, we go back and ask for some type of process that is a win-win.
What it boils down to is, does the customer perceive what services we’re providing as a value-add? Is it creating a win-win environment for us and the customer?
Don’t alienate customers. Have that discussion with key decision-makers on the customer side and hopefully resolve any differences so you can continue moving on with the partnership.
