Doing Whatever It Takes to Get a Problem Solved

Problem

I was working in a startup where we were using a service provider. The service provider was quite a big company yet known to have poor customer service. I had been going through an email exchange with their team informing them of a serious issue that was happening with their service but they refused to acknowledge the problem. After a few days of going back and forth, the problem on our side became critical and I needed to take a different approach, quickly.

Actions taken

I decided to take matters into my own hands and got a little creative in order to get the service provider to solve the critical issue. I looked up the location of the company's headquarters and arranged to make a visit there. It was only 20 minutes away from our office so I found a connection in my network who was related to a member of their team and asked him for a ride there. Once on-site, I went to their lobby, parked myself, and began shooting them urgent emails. I stressed the need to meet someone and informed them that I would not leave the building until someone met with me about the problem. It worked. After a half hour of sitting in the lobby somebody from the products team lead me into a conference room where we were able to meet one-on-one. We discussed the issue and were able to make progress on the problem. They got to understand our pain and it helped build a relationship that would not have been possible from emails or by simply submitting a form on a website.

Lessons learned

• Don't take no for an answer. Be creative with your problem solving skills, especially if you are in a leadership role. There are not a lot of boundaries out there about how far you are willing to push yourself.
• Relationships matter immensely from a management perspective. So going to the office, meeting people, showing my face, and putting that human touch on the issue created a relationship and connection that I was able to maintain and continue to use with future communications.