Today I had to get the thermostat replaced in my house as somehow the connections werent working properly and the heater wouldn't turn on. There was a lesson learned while watching the repair man, one for everyone. While watching the repairman I was reminded that forgetting about the small things can make all the difference in the world for the successful completion of a job.
The small things; how many times have we remembered the big things, but somehow forgot the small things? The repairman today called and asked what size thermostat it was. He wanted to get a replacement that was close to the size of the old one so no paint, or lack of paint, would show.
He shows up and takes the old thermostat off, and puts the new one on, then he notices it needs batteries. What, batteries, heck I barely remember to change the smoke alarm one once a year, now I would have to remember the heater too? Anyway, he didn't know it needed batteries, so he had to go get some to test the whole thing.
After he got back from getting the batteries, he tried and tried to get the heater to turn on, and it wouldn't. So he states the new thermostat doesn't work and he'll have to take it back, which he does. When he gets back again he hooks the new one up, and yep after awhile he said it didn't work.
I can understand one, but not two new thermostats not working, something must be wrong....and sure enough it was! A tiny piece of cardboard was covering a part of the mechanism, and somewhere in the several pages of directions it said to remove this! Just a small piece of cardboard, a small detail hidden in the directions was stopping the thermostat from working.
Think about it...how many times have we forgotten something that could derail a sale, or that makes a contract incomplete? Something that we didn't even think of that later causes us problems.
Remember it's not always the big things that need the most attention.....it's the small things!
By: Kathy McGraw Real Estate in the Whitewater area of Riverside County, CA
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