Last year, I finally secured a boat storage slip with a roof for my fishing boat. I was so excited, I bought a lock and hauled my boat up there for the winter months. This facility was just 15 minutes from my house and a mile from the reservoir so I could grab my boat and hit the water in 20 minutes.
In the spring, I fish a lot more so I keep the boat at home. I brought the boat home, put my lock in my truck and really didn’t give it another thought. I had paid six months’ rent in advance and shared directly with the owner that I would pay the next six months when it came due. I also shared with him that I would store the boat at home when I was fishing more frequently. They did not offer a monthly automated bank draft or recurring credit card charge and I did not want to write a check every month.
So at the end of the summer, I take my boat back to storage and what do I find — my code does not work and another boat is in my slip. I call the owner and he says, “Well I saw the slip was empty, your six months were up and I had not received another payment so I rented it out. I thought you had abandoned it and not signed out.” I reminded him that I specifically asked him to call me or text me when my six months were up. Gibberish….
What did I learn? First, I needed that slip a lot more than he needed me as a customer. But the big lesson for me was no matter how clear I felt our agreement was, we are individually responsible for following up. Why didn’t I put the renewal date on my calendar? That’s a pretty simple fix. We can really elevate our results as we work on clarity and frequency of communications as well as take 100% ownership of the important things in front of us.
CeCe: What do you mean your boat is going to be in the driveway all winter? I thought you got a boat storage slip. What happened to that?
It’s a long story CeCe….
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