Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Don't make promises you don't meet!

An angry rant I’m afraid ….

To run a business is actually very easy. Here is my simple theory:


'If you tell the truth and deliver your promises you won't go far wrong. If you don't do those things your business will fail.'

The reason running a business gets bad press is because some people who run businesses are just hopeless at making sure they do what they say they will do.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I waited all day to receive an important parcel delivery for which a premium was paid to get a guarantee of delivery within 24 hours by one of my clients.

Guess what? – The parcel didn't arrive – no explanation - nothing.

That is not complicated - it is simple.


It is just a total lack of integrity and checking on the part of the business responsible for that promise.

I won’t accept any other explanation – it is that simple for crying out loud!

What is so complicated about checking whether you actually met your promise?

Such laziness and lack of professionalism annoys me intensely and there is just no excuse in my book.

Because this business failed to deliver their promise I am considerably out of pocket, I am considerably inconvenienced and another client of mine will receive a less than perfect service as a result – and none of this is the fault of me or my client.

This is simply and only to do with someone not having the decency, the good manners, the professionalism and the conscientiousness to check on their promises.

Don’t make promises if you don’t have methods of checking you deliver them.


I feel a little bit better having got that off my chest.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a very annoying thing indeed when businesses fail to deliver their promises.

Maybe you should show that post to your vendor and remind him/her that one dissatisfied client defames the business to 11 people on average (according to word-of-mouth researches). Perhaps the vendor (then) will realize his/her customers' value and not fail again.

Trevor Gay said...

Thanks Kostas – I always write to the Chief Executive in an organisation that I have cause to complain about because I think this is mainly about leadership. I pray that it might just make them think about what their company’s actions do for their reputation.

I think a ‘small business’ ethos is the best mindset a Chief Executive can have. When companies get too big I feel many Chief Executives lose touch with ther customer.

Anonymous said...

I think small businesses are more close to their customers (comparing with big companies) because they are in greater need of them. They cannot afford to lose any. Moreover small businesses many times rely heavily in relationship marketing in order to compete with the large brands.

It's a wise think to always write in such occasions because we are all people and make mistakes. Many times managers and CEOs don't know what their customers think about them and their businesses and consequently they are left behind thinking what happened with their customers...

Trevor Gay said...

Wise thoughts Kostas - thanks again :-)