Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
I received an email from a potential client who was looking to purchase a monogrammed writing portfolio for her niece’s upcoming college graduation. Promptly, I replied, letting her know the cost was $75, including ground shipping, and how she could proceed to place an order on our website.
During this time of the year, most notably due to Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, with high school and college graduations straddled between those holidays, we receive a steady stream of these requests, so her email was nothing out of the ordinary. Requests like hers usually turn into automated ecommerce orders, so rarely do I hear feedback from the client again until we send a thank you email after the monogrammed merchandise is delivered.
This time was different.
“Jessica”, as I will refer to her for her anonymity, quickly replied to my response. She pologized for “wasting” my time and admitted $75 was a lot more than she could afford. She candidly elaborated that she had been quite ill and did not think she would make it to her niece’s graduation. However, two days before the ceremony, her doctor cleared her to attend and she was immensely excited to be participating in the festivities.
No need to apologize, I explained, and asked her for her delivery address. “Long Island,”, she immediately replied. The problem was that it was already late in the day on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Since UPS does not deliver ground service on the weekend, it would have to be shipped via overnight…
