I’ve got a tip for you that is both simple yet powerful. While simple, it is arguably the most frequently overlooked concept in business today. In fact, when you hear it, your natural reaction will be to discard it as being so obvious that it will have no impact on your business.

Care to take a guess? If this were a clue-game, I would describe this as a fundamental principle that should apply in every business – something that should be a “non-negotiable” that each and every business owner has mounted on the wall, written on their business cards, and included on the first page of their employee handbook. Ready for it? Here it is:

Do What You Say You Will Do!

So what is it about this very simple concept that causes most businesses to fall short more times than they over-deliver? It seems that if a person is willing to make a promise to do something, they must believe they will in fact do it – but often times, that is far from the truth. Let me give you a few examples that might hit close to home:

“I’ll give you a call back first thing in the morning.” But morning comes and no call. Why? Because you were using the line to get the person off the phone or out of your office and had no real intention of making the call.

“We’ll get right on that and get it done right away.” But instead you continued to work on other projects and didn’t even start the new project for 2 days. Why? Because you made a commitment to your other customer and do not intend to disappoint them in order to make this customer happy.

“I’ll order the parts tonight so we will have them first thing in the morning.” But you know the supplier has already gone for the day, yet you want to leave the impression that the customer standing in front of you is a VIP – and you are going to move mountains to help them.

I’ll bet you can recall an example that happened to you recently – or perhaps even one that you are guilty of! How do I know? Because when I decided to write this Action Tip over the weekend, I paid close attention to the commitments people were making to their customers and I heard each of these examples within a span of just 2 days!

So my tip for you is simple: Set yourself apart from your competition by Doing What You Say You Will Do. In fact, you will truly set yourself apart if you make a point to Over-Deliver on your promises. Surprise your customers by doing More than you said you would, by being Faster than you suggested or by Adding to your commitment in their favor.

Do this and your customers will reward you with their loyalty and the referrals of their friends and colleagues.

Ride Hard,

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