The Key To Business Success…It’s Not What You Think

4.15.15We have been looking at what actions and ways of being make a business a success.  There are many trim tabs a business owner can do which are administrative and mechanical such as using a calendar for marketing events, hiring a virtual assistant, and having a system for accurate bookkeeping.  These items are important and help to develop a solid foundation for your business, but it takes something more than just the administrative and mechanical components; there is something greater that you, the business owner, must bring to the party.  What I am talking about is your ability to keep your word.  This is one of the greatest assets your business can have.

Surely you have noticed that when a powerful person says that something will happen, it usually happens—and it’s not a function of luck, or how they dress, or how loud they say it.

Let’s dive into that for a moment. I say keeping your word makes you powerful. But why? Because the way people listen to what you say depends upon the reputation that you have for keeping your word. Simply put, people are much more likely to cooperate, collaborate, work with, and do things for—in a real sense, go out on a limb for—people who keep their word. Over time, your keeping your word makes what you say actually mean something in the world—it gives your words power.

The opposite of keeping your word costs you business and sales.  Here is an example of what I am talking about.  The sky lights in my house are old and cracked.  We need to replace them before our rainy season begins.  There are a variety of window and glass replacement businesses in our town.  There seems to be a universal agreement about who NOT to use.  And, that agreement is predicated not on their businesses’ skills or on their knowing how to do the work.  Nope, the agreement is about who keeps their word.  One thing that stood out for me as I researched who to hire is that what people said is don’t hire them because they don’t show up when they say they will.  What they did say is oh, the company is very good in window replacement BUT .  .  .

Word keeping is the gold standard for most people when they are deciding who to hire, what services to use, and most people will pay a premium for word keeping.  It boils down to this—people who keep their word have more business.  No one is in business to provide lousy service, however, many people acquire a reputation for providing lousy service because of the missing factor in their business—they don’t keep their word.

You may want to look at your business and see what areas you are strong in and measure the strength of those areas against word keeping.  I bet you will find it is those areas that your word keeping is the strongest.  Tell me where I am wrong.

 

Image courtesy of FreePhotos.com

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