Holiday is over for another 10 months and the good news is that you survived.  Congratulations.  Thinking back to Holidays Past, I recall several that were, shall we say, learning instances.  The truck on Thanksgiving weekend that drove the 100 miles to the large install and the large wreath was back at the warehouse.  Result?  A second trip the following day, a perturbed client, a second truck rental, and two installers time driving and installing.  OOOPS!

The next year we fixed that problem but on another installation, my key designer showed up 2 hours late keeping four other techs waiting.  4 techs X 2 hours = 8 hours paid out not originally budgeted.  I could see the $$ flying out into the snow.

The moral of stories like these?  Plan ahead.  Have lists of materials to be loaded on trucks, check the lists more than once, and allow extra time in your price quotes.  Extra or delayed trips mean dollars lost.  And not just for Holiday.  The second trip for the plant left behind, the containers that didn’t arrive in time-all cost you.  DIRTFT is important in businesses like ours.  Extra time spent in advance is going to save you on the tail end.  DIRTFT should be a motto instilled throughout your company.  Now get out there…..