A few years back, we’d been working on a project with one of our long-standing customers, let’s call him ‘Bob’. Bob had fairly recently arrived in a role at a new company, but we’d known each other in different capacities over the years and built up a strong working relationship.

On this project, the company was preparing a brand-new process and ready to run some initial trials. It was an important event, senior leadership (‘big wigs’) were flying in to watch the first run live. For our part, I thought we were good. Everything we’d delivered was in place, so it seemed we were set.

That all changed when I got a call. Testing was scheduled for the very next day, but a critical component hadn’t arrived. Bob’s team had thought another supplier was delivering the component, but that supplier had thought we were providing it. Whoever was in the wrong, the kit wasn’t there.

I took charge, assuming that we would have it stock.
But of course, as luck would have it, this was the one item we didn’t have in the warehouse.
Bob rang me early, and I told him to call me back later in the day when I’d have a solution. The thing was, a solution wasn’t easy, considering the component came from the USA and there was no chance of it arriving overnight.

When Bob called back, he could hear I was in the car. Bob laughed and said:
“You’re not on your way up here with the part, are you?”

“Sort of… I’m off to Holland!” I replied, just before I lost signal on the motorway.

My team checked flights to  while I headed to the airport. But, when I called the Dutch supplier to order the part, I realised there was a snag. The supplier was an hour from the airport. I wouldn’t be able to drive to the supplier, collect the part, and make the return flight in time.

So, I called in a BIG favour. I asked a Dutch friend of mine to drive out, collect the part on my behalf, and meet me at the airport in time for me to check it in and fly it back.

Waiting for my outward flight, I sent Bob a photo of the departure board. Seconds later, my phone rang.


“WTF are you doing?” asked Bob.

I told him the plan. He didn’t believe me. He hadn’t asked me to do it. He hadn’t even said he’d pay me. But there I was, boarding a flight to Holland anyway.

In the end, the flights went to plan, my Dutch friend came through, and everything went without a glitch. I arrived back in the UK, collected my car at the airport and drove 2½ hours to the site. I arrived early, but it was worth it to know that the part was ready and waiting for when the senior leadership walked in the next morning.

And Bob? He was over the moon.

Yes, it was a low-value item that in no way justified the cost, time, or effort that went into getting it. But when you looked at what it prevented from happening, it absolutely justified every bit of it.

The Lesson

In business, the cost of action isn’t always measured by the value of the part, product or service involved. Sometimes it’s measured by the value of the trust, the relationship, and the reputation you’re protecting.

And that’s why, when it matters, you book the flight.

Murph