“The greater a man is in power above others, the more he ought to excel them in virtue. None ought to govern who is not better than the governed.”
- Publius Syrus, Latin writer of maxims, 1st century BC
In the business world (and life in general), you represent yourself by the promises you make and whether or not you are able to deliver on them. As a small business owner, it baffles me to watch how some people conduct themselves in an everyday fashion when they make promises that they simply cannot keep.
Here are three simple guidelines to stick with to make sure you don’t become one of those people:
(1) Do not promise something that you’re not sure you can deliver.
I wish this rule was tattooed onto the hand of every salesman alive. That way, when a potential client asks them an utterly outrageous demand, they could look at that tattoo before opening their mouths.
Look, everyone understands that sales reps need to make some exaggerations and bend a few rules every once in awhile. In this instance, I’m talking about the rep who promises 100 units in 10 days when normal production is 10 units in 100 days. When his/her company is unable to come through with the order, then what? I’ll tell you what; the client gets angry and spreads the word throughout the industry that the company can’t deliver on their promises. Good luck getting another order again, much less one from that client.
(2) If you say that you are going to do something, best be sure to do it, and do it on time.
Sounds pretty straight-forward, doesn’t it? Do what you say you’re going to. This should be the case whether or not you talking with a client, customer, employee, contractor, or your parents. Yet it amazes me to see just how many people will promise to do something (a report, an assignment, process a check) an then simply don’t follow through. Do they realize just what they’ve done to their personal reputation, let alone their company’s rep? People may not complain, but they certainly are filing that little incident away and will keep it in mind the next time they have to do business with that person or company.
(3) If you think you’re going to miss a deadline, be proactive and let someone know.
Again, common sense should prevail here, but quite frequently it doesn’t. If you promised a deliverable by a certain date, but something comes up (either at work or in your personal life), why not say so? Most people are understanding enough, and will appreciate you letting them know ahead of time that their might be a delay.
Measure that against the alternative, when your client asks, “hey, what happened to X that I was expecting last week?” And all you have for an answer is, “sorry, it just didn’t get done.” In that case, your next deliverable is to start looking for a new client.
A wise man once said, “It’s not who I am underneath, but what I *do* that defines me.”
Sure, he might wear a funny costume, but the same principle applies here. It’s not what you say you will do, but what you actually *do* that defines your reputation.
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