I think it’s hard to know who you can trust, especially in the small business world. After 30 years at DuPont I have great respect for the long term value of operating honestly. That principle is drilled into everyone who works there from the first day you start. I think too many small business people learn how to do business by watching “Mad Men” on TV.

About a month ago a real nice guy came into our shop with a formal looking uniform and told us it was time to have our fire extinguishers inspected. Sounded like a good idea to me so off he goes inspecting and leaves with one of them to be hydro tested. He brings it back the next day with a bill and all seems fine. Two weeks later another guy comes into the shop telling us it’s time to have our fire extinguishers inspected. We told him we already had it done. But he tells me there is no charge because it is covered by our lease agreement and no one else should be in here doing this because no one else is approved by our landlord. It turns out the guy that came in the first time is unlicensed, never hydro tested the extinguisher and “works” (I use that term broadly!) out of his home. Nice guy though. Fun to talk to. And dishonest.

So I trusted a really nice guy that turned out to be a crook. I’m pretty sure none of us have the time to fully investigate all of the companies or people we work with so how do you decide who to work with? It’s a difficult question and one that frustrates me as a supplier just like it frustrates me as a purchaser. If anyone out there has the answer I’d love to hear it.

Form the supplier side of things – I was speaking with a long time customer the other day and was reminded again just how difficult this is for all of us. It has been a while since I have spoken to him and it was really nice reconnecting. He has had his ceramic printing system for 4 years or so and I have come to really admire how he runs his business and who he is as a person. It took quite a long time from our first conversation until he made the decision to buy. He makes memorial portraits and he told me that he had no idea how much impact the purchase of a portrait production system would have on his business. I asked him what I could have said during the pre-sale conversations that would have convinced him of the benefits. He said there is no way he would have believed me had I told him.

That is one of the great mysteries for all of us as buyers and sellers. How do we find the truth and how do we communicate the truth in a way that is believable?

I would love to finish this with some ground breaking wisdom but I don’t have any. In the end, all we can try to do is learn as much as possible about the folks we do we business with. In this age of information overload it seems everything we do (and sometimes things we don’t do!) is available anytime and to everyone. I didn’t use that resource for the fire extinguisher guy. But the internet probably makes it even more important now to follow the old DuPont practice – always do the right thing. Maybe next time I’ll be smarter when somebody walks into our shop. Hope springs eternal … Or a someone once said – For every reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.