My husband went to a local bike shop to inquire about a repair. He was told by an employee that the company could easily fix his bike, but that there would be a 2 month wait because of the volume of repairs they were dealing with. Guess how much of the summer would be gone by that point? He made the choice to wait because he really likes that bike shop, but many would go to a competitor and perhaps establish a long term business relationship with that 2nd option. That’s bad news for the business, yes? It’s logical that customer lost to a delayed repair would have done other repair business and perhaps purchased bikes in the future. It’s also possible that customer has friends with similar interests and is telling them to avoid that bike shop because it’s too busy to serve them. The potential revenue loss over time is significant.

As customers we experience delays in service and focus on how those delays frustrate or bother us. As job seekers, we should immediately think “opportunity” when we encounter a delay or snag when doing business with a company. No business owner in his right mind would pick turning away customers over finding a way to meet their needs. If I were into bikes and felt I could pick up repair skills readily, hearing about a shop with repair delays would have prompted me to get in touch with the owner, open position or not, and suggest capturing the business they were turning away by hiring me. If the business owner didn’t think turning customers away was a problem, I’d make a compelling case on why he may want to rethink things.