Have you ever done business with members of OFN?

[splashhopper]

As a small business owner, I have found some of the comments on a thread or two very interesting the past few days.

 

I am wondering how many of us use the business services or products from fellow members on this board.

 

I have found alot of help through many different posts over the the 2+ years I have been here from various businesses and or their employees and the tradesmen to be very helpful. I have also sent PM's to a couple of them for situations where I needed some help on in my own business.

 

The OFC community is always a source of help in any area of our lives and I trust it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future.

 

Thank you for taking a moment to add your answers to the poll attached(anonymous answers).

 

Splashhopper

Edited July 8, 2010 by splashhopper

[mbac31]

I have never advertised here but have used some OFC'ers for various jobs. Great community. I'm a contractor as well and would rather see a job go to one of the board members than to trust outside strangers. I have never been steered wrong yet on this board which I cant say the same for others. Great bunch of guys.

[Twocoda]

Ive offered up work for several trades on this forum...none as of yet has materialized...which is good ...cuz that means they are busy....yourself included splish/splash

 

just a heads up...ill need an electrician and plumber shortly

[skinny]

hey splash i have done buisness with someone on here and all worked out great product was great and the seller was very understanding

[Big Cliff]

Over the years I have done business with many of the members of OFC, both buying and selling and I have never had a bad experience so far. Your poll only allows one choice of why but I could pick all of the reasons there with no one reason being prominent, different reasons in different cases.

 

I too was a small business owner many years ago and grew it to be the largest of it's type in Canada over 20 years. There were a number of factors which made us so successful, some of which included in no particular order:

 

Quality products:

I always made sure I sold good quality products from suppliers who stood behind them.

 

Fair prices:

I didn't try to get rich off any one sale and if I could find a way to reduce a customers cost without compromising quality I would make them aware of it.

 

Well trained staff:

I made sure that my staff knew their stuff, I would also pay for any business related courses they wanted to take. The deal was; you pay for and take the course, if you pass it, I will pay for it.

 

Well paid staff:

I always paid my staff well above the going rate for similar positions. This did a couple of things for me, it got me the best people available in their field. They knew that if they didn't do their job there was a line of people ready willing and able to take it. People weren't leaving for a better job somewhere else for the sake of a buck an hour more, turn over was minimal.

 

My staff worked with me, not for me, they were part of a team and everyone was accountable to the rest of the team to do their job and do their share.

 

Customer service: (Probably the single biggest factor)

 

There were no answering machines, voice mail, or buttons to push, when a customer called a person answered the phone and directed their call. If it was for someone that wasn't available they advised the caller of when that person was expected and asked if they could help. They always tried to make every caller feel like the most important person in the world no matter how busy they were or how bad their day was going.

 

We would always do our very best to make sure our customers were taken care of. As an example, if we told a customer we would call them back we always gave them a time frame. If we told them we would call them back within an hour we would do it even if it was to let them know we didn't have their answer yet but were working on it and expected to have the answer and when.

 

If a customer needed something delivered out side of the normal delivery, we would arange it for them. I once had a taxi drive from Montreal to Milton with a $35.00 part for a customer because he had a job that was down costing him $2500.00/hour in down time. It was a Thursday, late afternoon, everyone else the customer had contacted had just told him that they couldn't get the part to him until Monday. He had his part before midnight. Mind you the customer paid for the cab but he never forgot that I had gone out of my way to bail him out when he was stuck.

 

Running a business is just like baking a cake, leave out any one of the ingreadients and you might still have a cake, it just won't be as good as it could have been!

[danbouck]

Over the years I have done business with many of the members of OFC, both buying and selling and I have never had a bad experience so far. Your poll only allows one choice of why but I could pick all of the reasons there with no one reason being prominent, different reasons in different cases.

 

I too was a small business owner many years ago and grew it to be the largest of it's type in Canada over 20 years. There were a number of factors which made us so successful, some of which included in no particular order:

 

Quality products:

I always made sure I sold good quality products from suppliers who stood behind them.

 

Fair prices:

I didn't try to get rich off any one sale and if I could find a way to reduce a customers cost without compromising quality I would make them aware of it.

 

Well trained staff:

I made sure that my staff knew their stuff, I would also pay for any business related courses they wanted to take. The deal was; you pay for and take the course, if you pass it, I will pay for it.

 

Well paid staff:

I always paid my staff well above the going rate for similar positions. This did a couple of things for me, it got me the best people available in their field. They knew that if they didn't do their job there was a line of people ready willing and able to take it. People weren't leaving for a better job somewhere else for the sake of a buck an hour more, turn over was minimal.

 

My staff worked with me, not for me, they were part of a team and everyone was accountable to the rest of the team to do their job and do their share.

 

Customer service: (Probably the single biggest factor)

 

There were no answering machines, voice mail, or buttons to push, when a customer called a person answered the phone and directed their call. If it was for someone that wasn't available they advised the caller of when that person was expected and asked if they could help. They always tried to make every caller feel like the most important person in the world no matter how busy they were or how bad their day was going.

 

We would always do our very best to make sure our customers were taken care of. As an example, if we told a customer we would call them back we always gave them a time frame. If we told them we would call them back within an hour we would do it even if it was to let them know we didn't have their answer yet but were working on it and expected to have the answer and when.

 

If a customer needed something delivered out side of the normal delivery, we would arange it for them. I once had a taxi drive from Montreal to Milton with a $35.00 part for a customer because he had a job that was down costing him $2500.00/hour in down time. It was a Thursday, late afternoon, everyone else the customer had contacted had just told him that they couldn't get the part to him until Monday. He had his part before midnight. Mind you the customer paid for the cab but he never forgot that I had gone out of my way to bail him out when he was stuck.

 

Running a business is just like baking a cake, leave out any one of the ingreadients and you might still have a cake, it just won't be as good as it could have been!

 

[DanD]

Big Cliff.

Your post should be every small business’s oath; words for us to live by.

 

I’ve had some dealings with a couple of board members; as in providing the service (tires for one example) and it felt like I was helping a friend.

We met up here at my shop on a Saturday morning (normally not open Saturdays) and talked fishing the whole time during the install.

Both times I didn’t do it for profit; sold the tires at cost and only charged for the materials to install & balance; I’d do it again for someone that I respect from the board.

 

Dan.

[Beans]

There is an OFNer that lives on Sturgeon Lake that is a damn good small engine repair mechanic besides being an all round handyman that has saved my ass a few times over the past few years...

 

Just another of the many reasons I call Big Cliff my "FRIEND"

[JohnF]

There is an OFNer that lives on Sturgeon Lake that is a damn good small engine repair mechanic besides being an all round handyman that has saved my ass a few times over the past few years...

 

Just another of the many reasons I call Big Cliff my "FRIEND"

 

I think what he does with yer ass should be just between the two of you.

 

JF

[ketchenany]

There is an OFNer that lives on Sturgeon Lake that is a damn good small engine repair mechanic besides being an all round handyman that has saved my ass a few times over the past few years...

 

Just another of the many reasons I call Big Cliff my "FRIEND"

 

Beans, you mean the guy who emailed me the prognosis for a snowblower I came across and when it was said and done I sold it for a good $. Cliff is the MAN.

[Chugger]

I bought my boat from the classified section of this board, and she still runs like a dream. Thanks again Ron!!

[ColdH20guy]

I too bought my Crestliner boat on here from 'cisco' a little while ago and still love it! thanks Chris

[JohnF]

There's obviously a high trust factor present in our group. That's great. Hopefully no one abuses it for their own profit.

 

JF

[Jer]

Ernie (ecmilley) put a set of tires on my truck a while back. We had never met (still haven't, actually) and my girlfriend thought I was nuts leaving my truck in some unknown "internet guy's" driveway with the keys and then calling him with my Visa number the next day.

 

Somehow I wasn't worried, I don't know how to explain. "He's a regular on OFC", is all I really considered.

 

Couldn't be happier with the tires, the price or the service.

 

Thanks Ernie.

[Spiel]

I have done a fair bit of business through this board.

 

Mostly out going in the form of custom rods and rod repairs along with a few miscellaneous items I've sold through the classifieds. Each and every person that has come into my home would be welcome back any time for any reason. In fact some of these people have become very good friends. People I would likely (certainly) have never met if it were not for OFC!

[JohnF]

I wonder if what we're experiencing is a kind of tribal ethics thing. We may bicker like siblings about little things but we don't want to betray the group trust. It's something we can take pride and confidence in all at the same time. I like it.

 

JF