How a sleeping bag helped me garner the trust of a Fortune 100 company, and in turn gain their business for the next 2.5 years.
In 2015 we received an email for a housing request from a relocation company for a very senior new hire at one of the largest companies in the world. The request was for the Malibu market, and that immediately caught my attention as an opportunity to stand out. I know the Southern California market better than anyone in my industry and understood that 8 different housing vendors clamoring over a single request for a market as small as Malibu wouldn’t be the right experience for the employee and his family.
So, we immediately called our client contact at the relo company and explained to her that as President, I would personally offer the housing options to her for the new hire and be his personal liaison throughout the process. By doing so, I knew the risk I was taking as this transferee was such a high-profile individual, the success of his housing would not just impact my relationship with the hiring company but also the relocation company. All of this was not to mention the fact that his housing budget wasn’t really priced for the Malibu market. Though the company always offered a generous housing package around their HQ, prices in Malibu are very different. So, it became clear, as I would not ask the company to increase his housing budget, nor sacrifice his housing experience, we would shoulder the additional cost at our own expense. And we sure did!
Our own out-of-pocket expenses were just shy of $15,000, but it was well worth it. I negotiated a great deal with the new homeowners for a property right on the water. Our design team put the perfect finish on every inch of the home. We actually took the home three days prior to their move-in, which was an additional cost. However, this was essential. We took the first day to furnish it properly, we brought in the housewares team and setup cable/phone/internet on day 2 and brought the housekeeping team on day 3 to do a final clean and complete our walk-thru. I also went out and bought quality speakers and an amp for the tv room. I’ll never forget how proud I felt that afternoon after doing the final walk-through with my operations manager. The entire team worked so hard on every detail. Maybe the client will never know or appreciate how much went into this, but it didn’t matter, I was proud of the team and myself. However, there was still one outstanding issue. The hot water in the kitchen and in some of the bathrooms was still not getting hot.
I sent my team home and told them I would stay behind until the issue was fixed. We already contacted the gas company and they ensured us the gas was on, so that meant the issue was with the water heater. This home was large enough to have two water heaters, one was working fine but not the other. The homeowners, who were out of state and who we recently learned never actually visited the property, couldn’t really help. So, I contacted a repair man in our network to come out that evening. Fortunately, we do have a good network, and he showed up around 8 PM. After 30 minutes he concluded there’s nothing wrong with the water heater, for some reason gas isn’t coming. At this point I am a nervous mess. I had taken the lead on housing one of the most important men in corporate America, and he was about to check in at 3 PM the next day without hot water. No amount of ocean view or sea breeze will outweigh not having hot water. I called the gas company at 10 PM and somehow convinced them to send a technician the next morning. They gave me a window of 6 to 11 am. So, at this point I’m realizing I cannot risk going home and getting back in time for a technician who might end up arriving 30 minutes early to a 6 AM appointment.
So, I knew I was spending the night. However, it is a faux pas (and just gross) to ever sleep in a guest’s bed before they check in, especially if you cannot properly switch out the bedding, re-fragrance the room, etc. Now I did know that one of the spare rooms wouldn’t be used for a while, but I wasn’t going to cross that line. That’s not the message I want to send to my team. So, I went to Target bought a sleeping bag and pillow, along with a toothbrush and toothpaste, and slept in the living room on the floor with the sliding glass door slightly ajar to allow the ocean breeze to cleanse any air of a room slept in. It wasn’t the warmest of nights or my best sleep. But I’m glad I did it.
I woke up at 4 AM and after getting ready for the day, cleaning up, and waiting patiently for the gas technician, the day’s sequence followed exactly as you would expect. Client showed up two hours early and the tech showed up two hours after the original window. I greeted the guest and his wife and after giving them a tour, I explained the outstanding situation. Fortunately, the technician showed up immediately after. The tech lead both the executive and I to the gas line in the front yard. I’m so nervous at this point. My heart is pounding so hard it feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest. I have never met this guest or have any idea what his temperament is like or what he might be thinking or feeling at this moment, all I know is everything is not perfect and I feel like a failure. Now the three of us are essentially squatting with our heads nearly dunked over to see what’s about to be uncovered. The three of us hunched over was like a scene from a movie: the tech, the exec, and the kid.
As soon as the technician unlocks and opens the concrete lid to the gas line, he immediately discovers there are two gas lines there and says this particular home has two addresses tied to the home for purposes of each gas line, and which point you can audibly hear both the guest and I say, “Ohhhh” in unison. And then I froze. I didn’t know how my client would respond to this moment. I was fearing the worst. And by this time the technician loosely understood the dynamic between myself and the guest, and so neither of us are moving, until all the sudden I can see that the guest leans back and starts laughing as he stands from his squatted position. I exhale a sigh of relief, and the technician opens the line. I thank the tech and follow the guest inside where I can hear him chuckling as he explains the situation to his wife. He understood how ridiculous and unlikely the situation was and was glad that it was taken care of before it became a thing. He then casually walked away to grab his dog, and I could see out the corner of my eye as I began talking to his wife that he had taken off his shirt and begun going downstairs with his dog to enjoy the beach. He could not have been cooler or a nicer guy. To this day I have never recounted this story with him, nor do I know if he ever told anyone at the company about this. However, what I am nearly certain of is that he felt carefree about this situation and any other that might come up because he knew he had a guy who was going to make sure everything will be taken care of. The rest of their stay went flawlessly, and we gained his company’s temporary housing business for the next 2 1/2 years as a direct result of how great his experience was with us.
In hindsight I’m glad everything happened the way it did. I was proud to know that I am the type of leader who is willing to do the hard work and do the not so sexy things to ensure I keep my word and deliver to our clients. The experience also taught me a very important lesson. No one can be perfect, nor any given situation, and your clients don’t expect everything to always be perfect, however they do expect you to be the type of partner who is someone they can count on, someone who is already working on a solution when confronted with a problem, before it becomes a thing.
So, no matter what may arise, my clients, my guests, and my team all know I’m here, ready with my sleeping bag.
