Project Junction

Fortune asked 25 accomplished people to relate the best and worst advice they ever got. They didn’t ask me, but if they had … here’s what I would have shared.

The best advice I ever got came in the 70’s when hair was long, shirts were silk, and Pablo Cruise ruled the airwaves. That’s my brother Truck in this picture sporting a “cool” white suit with a peach fluffy shirt to set the mood for this post. Notice the canal in this shot. Back then I worked dockside with my dad repairing boat engines.

The Problem

A customer, who we will call Mr. Rich, had a nagging problem with his engines overheating. He’d already called two other mechanics who dismantled and changed the impeller, risers, and heads … but the engines still ran hot. Can you imagine shelling out over $1,000 and still see the temperature dial turn red?

Eventually, Mr. Rich found my Dad in the yellow pages(fn) and we visited him on his boat.

The Simple Solution

After listening to the problem, Dad turned to me and told me to strip down, jump in the water and check the hull. I was a little annoyed. Stripping down to my tidy whitey’s didn’t bother me as much as working in wet underwear the rest of the morning. There was no saying “No” to my Dad so I took a deep breath and jumped feet first into the water (in case it was shallow). When I touched the murky bottom, I pushed up with my hand above my head to feel for the hull and then followed it to the water intake scupper. Sure enough there was a plastic bag stuck in the hole. A simple yank to extract the bag and the problem was resolved.

The perception of work

After I came up out of the water, I told Mr. Rich that I “fixed” the problem by clearing the water intake. “That will be $30.” He looked perturbed. I figured he was upset with the other mechanics that failed to solve his problem. After an uncomfortable pause, Mr. Rich reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet and paid my fee.

“Make it look like you expended some effort.” –Salty

Dad forgot to thank me for making quick work of the job. Instead, he stopped at a light a few miles down the road and gave me a healthy tap to my left arm. He then dispensed the best advice I ever got: “Don’t you ever charge someone $30 for 30 seconds worth of work! Next time, dive down at least three times and pound on the bottom of the hull to make it look like you expended some effort.”

The lesson: even though $30 was the right price for the job, if you want repeat business, you must give the customer the perception of value.

Now it’s your turn to share. What’s the best (or worse) advice you ever got?

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fn Yellow pages were an ancient manuscript once used to find telephone numbers