The Heart Of Business

by Craig S. Galati

I’ve learned over the course of my career that there are two kinds of promises: soft promises and hard promises.  Soft promises are those we don’t really have to fulfill. For example, you’ve probably found yourself, upon leaving a function, telling someone that you’d call them for lunch or to go golfing, knowing that you’d probably forget to call, or not even intending to call. The other party knows it too, but there is no real consequence for not keeping the promise. We all make these kinds of promises, and because both parties know that the promise won’t be kept, this behavior is culturally acceptable.

A hard promise is one that, when not fulfilled, has a negative consequence. If you tell someone you’ll deliver a project by a certain time or attend an important meeting, there are ramifications if you don’t follow through. Not only is your reputation affected, but your relationships can be damaged. 

So why don’t people keep the hard promises? One reason is that some people let their daily task lists get in the way of the promises previously made. We live in a fast-paced world where there is always something urgent to do.  Another reason people don’t keep the hard promises is that over time people desensitize themselves to the importance of fulfilling hard promises by habitually not fulfilling the soft ones. Once you establish an attitude that devalues the soft promises, your perspective on hard promises can erode as well. It is a vicious cycle and one that can erode your career.

Here are some things to consider to help you keep your promises:

Practice discipline. People who have fallen into the trap of not fulfilling promises aren’t bad people.  They have just become undisciplined in their thoughts and actions. They have become more accustomed to telling people what they think people want to hear and less accustomed to considering the implications of the promises that they make. This creates a slippery slope that will take discipline to climb. Take the time necessary to understand your commitment so that you make better decisions and in turn, better promises.

Words matter. I’m sure that not a single one of us would tell a client, “I’m going to deliver your project two days later than I tell you.” Yet many of us do deliver late, violating the promise. Think of your actions in terms of the promise given; make a promise you are sure you can keep.

Stay focused on important things. Each day we are hit with many things to do.  Our task list grows out of proportion with the actual urgency of these tasks. Stay focused on the items that are truly important to you and your clients.  I suggest rather than just keeping a to do list, that you develop a promise list and hold it to a high level of importance.  Be careful of how many promises you make.  Take a critical look at your list and be honest–can you really commit to this new promise?

People don’t trust those who don’t fulfill their promises.  Have you ever been in a meeting where a chronic underperformer promises to do something?  You can almost hear people’s eyes rolling back. Everyone is thinking, “Yeah, right, sure.”  Don’t become the one who loses trust by not keeping your promises. It takes a lot more work to regain someone’s trust than it does to lose that trust in the first place.

I’d like to hear from you:

• Do you take the time to fully understand the situation before you make the promise?

• Have you ever not been able to fulfill a promise?  How did you feel?

• Do you know someone who worked his way out of the trap of not keeping his promises?  What techniques did he use?

Until next time…

Craig

By Craig S. Galati

As many of you know, I wrote a book in 2005 entitled “Admit it! - 21 things you already know but apparently have forgotten regarding client service.”  While client service is still very important to me, I haven’t thought about the book very much lately.  But recently, Mark Buckshon of Construction Marketing Ideas posted a review of the book on his blog.¹ It was picked up by another source, JLC Online, where several people posted thoughts regarding customer service.²

Watching this discussion peaked my enthusiasm once again about the topic and got me contemplating which was the most important message from “Admit it!”  After some reflection and re-reading the book, I believe that all of the chapters point to one central theme, which I will call Client Service Mindset or the “22nd Thing” (if Steven Covey can have an 8th Habit, then I get a 22nd Thing.)

A Client Service Mindset occurs when client service becomes ingrained within a person.  It becomes a part of who you are and how you work.  As Sonny Lykos says in a post on JCL Online, client service is “living per the Golden Rule.”

Too many professionals take client service for granted, but I believe it is the hallmark of a great company and that it is the single most important thing you can do to increase your marketing effort.  I spoke recently at a monthly meeting for the Society for Marketing Professional Services where I asked the marketing staff present how many of them monitored the performance of the work to ensure that the marketing promise was delivered.  The answers were unsurprisingly dismal.

Marketers are in a unique position. They make the promise but few actually perform the work.  Yet they could follow the project and ensure that the promise is delivered. Promises are important–but delivering those promises are critical to the success and future success of our companies.  Making the promise may close today’s deal, but delivering the promise will close future deals.

Here are a few things to ponder as you develop a Client Service Mindset:

Clients talk about their experiences. If a client has a good experience, he’ll tell a few friends if asked, but if a client has a bad experience, he will go out of his way to tell everyone he meets.  Bad experiences make people do crazy things–ever see someone wearing a lemon costume at an auto dealer?  A bad client experience is hard for a business to overcome and in today’s age of rapid information transfer could be devastating to the business.

The client is always right. Absolutely not, but no matter how much you argue with him, you will not change his mind.  Clients have expectations when they interact with a business.  Our job is to understand these expectations and meet or exceed them.  To know the client’s expectations, we must ask.  If we find out that we cannot meet a client’s expectations, it is incumbent upon us to tell him and either negotiate the expectations or not take the business.

It takes great service to build a great experience. A great client experience is built upon two factors:  the service must be convenient and it must meet the client’s expectations.  Meeting these two factors gives you an opportunity to deliver an experience; something unexpected that truly delights your client and builds loyalty between him and your company.

The little things matter. I’ve found that most of the time, when I ask what a client’s expectations are, they are pretty small things that are easy to deliver.  This point is made very eloquently by Michael Levine in his book, “Broken Windows, Broken Business.”  What may seem small to us often is very important to your client.

I’d like to hear from you:

• Do you have an exceptional client service story?

• Can you remember a time when you knew you delivered the promise but missed the expectation?

• How do you develop a Client Service Mindset in your company?

Until next time…

Craig

¹http://constructionmarketingideas.blogspot.com/2008/01/admit-it.html
²http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=356773