Time well spent….?
Time well spent?…. or not. “You make the call”.
A day in the life of All-Pro Quality Garage Doors Inc.
Usually starts out the same…finishes the same…with a little bit of …”the same” thrown into the middle of the day. We usually field about 200 calls a day between the three of us here in the shop, and the calls usually break down like this 25-30 of these calls are sales calls (window cleaning, janitorial services, “we’ll get you on the first page of google” calls, etc) then you have another 40-50 calls from the do-it-yourself folks out there looking for garage door and opener parts, which is always nice because we are one of the very few companies here in San Diego that actually stocks 99% of all parts, so I actually enjoy speaking with these people about parts and how to go about fixing their machines or doors. That is what we love to do! Then we get the 20-30 calls about the garage doors themselves that no one here likes to take and it starts like this…”Yeah I was wondering whats the price of your cheapest door and could you do it today?”… no one here likes these calls and for several reasons.
People that ask that question do not care one bit about anything but cheap…cheap…cheap, and All-Pro doesn’t do cheap nor do we like to ever use the word “Cheap” we have to warranty what we sell and cheap is never cheap down the road. Keep this in mind, cheap=expensive, but they don’t want to hear this so they quickly hang up and move on, these people are what we consider “future” All-Pro customers because I can guarantee you that they will be needing a garage door repair within the next two years, only this repair won’t be cheap. Its hard enough to keep cheap stuff running much less to fix it, you have to keep in mind that these types of products are made and designed to fail. People think since (to the average eye) all doors look the same that they are the same and that they last the same and that they are all of the same quality but they are not, I’m not saying you have to buy the most expensive to get the best…far from it, you just need an experienced estimator that is not attached in any way to one particular brand of garage door, in other words you need an open minded person to guide you to something reasonably priced that fits your budget and your house, anyway I’m rambling again but calls like this remind me of a movie I once saw called “Ground hog day” and we will continue to get these calls every day. Its just the way it is.
There’s always that smattering of calls through out the day from customers that we’ve dealt with before as well as the numerous property management companies and contractors that we deal with on a regular basis, now these are folks that know us…and we know them, they know what to expect from us. These are businesses that would rather have a company that is dependable and able to repair most anything and yet count on us to give them an honest opinion on what to do when something is broken, rather than just to sell them new doors and openers every time. I enjoy talking with these folks as there’s no need to try and convince them of who we are….they already know.
My favorite call through out the day though is the homeowner that is just starting out the process of looking for a new door or opener or both, and they have done their diligent homework and now are starting to get to the tough questions…the details if you may, such as the various types of drive systems, the type of hardware that each door come with. They want options, they want choices and they are not in a rush, so they won’t be bullied into what someone else wants them to have, now these are the customers that I enjoy speaking with, these are the folks that are willing to listen to the 25yrs of knowledge I have acquired in this business and have an open mind to what I have to say regarding doors and openers and repairs, its an opportunity for me to kick my feet up on the desk and dig into my mostly untapped thoughts on whats going to work for you. This I like!
Last but not least there are the folks that we help out over the phone, this makes up a vast majority of our daily calls, so sale, no money, just good ol’ fashioned advice, it may be hard to believe but if you are willing to try a few things when your garage door opener or garage door is having problems, then I am certainly willing to walk you through it. There are adjustments on most openers and since there are adjustments… this means they can occasionally come out of adjustment. Sometimes its unbelievably simple, the turn of a force control dial for instance is a common one, yet few people are unaware of the fact that “Atmospheric” or weather conditions can play a major role in how your door and operator work.
Have you ever noticed when the weather turns cold or rainy that that’s typically when things start acting up? Though it all worked fine through out the entire summer. Most times its an “adjustment” that you can do yourself, now it doesn’t mean a tweek here and there is going to solve a more complicated situation but know this…when you call around looking for advice in this business… most (and I do mean most!) companies wont give you the time of day unless it means money in their pocket, they are just not willing to go the extra mile and risk losing that easy 150 bucks and give you advice on something you could possibly do to remedy your problem. We do!! and its what makes us All-Pro Quality Garage Doors Inc.
So to bring this thought or should I say… this article to a conclusion, if you have made it this far down the page you now have a better understanding of what we do, five days a week through out the year for over two decades……..