One afternoon when I was 12 years old, I was cleaning the floors of my father's furniture store when an elderly woman came in. I asked my father if I could take care of her. He replied, "It's up to you!"

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, yes, "said the old woman. I bought a sofa in your shop, and now one of its legs is missing. I want to know, when can you fix it for me? '

"Madam, when did you buy it?"

"It's been about 10 years."

I told my father that the customer wanted us to fix the old sofa she bought 10 years ago for free.

My father told me to tell her that we would go to her house in the afternoon to fix the sofa.

We gave the old woman a new leg on the sofa and left. On the way home, I said nothing. My father asked, "What's wrong, why are you upset?"

"You know in your heart that I want to go to college, but if you always go all the way to repair sofas for free, how much money can we make in the end?"

"You can't think that way, you have to respect your customers. Besides, it doesn't hurt you to learn to do some repairs. Besides, you missed the most important detail today. Did you notice the label after we turned the sofa over? Actually, this sofa is not sold by our store, but bought from Sears Furniture Store."

"You mean, we repair the sofa for her without charging a penny, and she is not our customer at all?"

My father looked me in the eye and said solemnly, "No, she is our customer now."

Two days later, the old woman came again. This time she bought several thousand dollars worth of new furniture from our store.

Today, I have been in the sales industry for more than 30 years. Over the years, I have workedsales agent for various companies, and my sales performance is often the best among the agents in these companies. The reason why I can perform so well is that I always treat every customer with respect, which is due to the valuable experience of repairing the sofa with my father that afternoon many years ago.