Reliability :  In business, and in life really,  I think there are very few people you can rely on  time and again.  Friends and/or businesses that deliver consistently year after year sadly are rare.  

On the friends thing it's gotta be a give and take : they rely on you,  in turn you rely on them.  Can't be one sided where someone leans on you all the time to watch their kids yet never returns the favor.  Or always coming to you with their problems expecting you to listen,  yet when you have problems,  they're too busy or whatever.  That won't work.  Good friendships exist when there's a good balance of give and take. 

On the business side reliability is more cut and dry. If you're not reliable you'll lose customers (at least most of the time).  Still, it's amazing to me that in this day and age of cut-throat competition and the "Scarcity of Customers" as Fred Wiersema puts it, that more businesses aren't bending over backwards to be reliable.  Here's the scenario I experienced late this week:  I just started working with a sign and banner company through a referral of a friend.  They produced my first banners timely and at a reasonable price.  However on the second set of banners,  it was a different story.   On a tight timeline, we uploaded artwork Wednesday night for banners to be completed Friday.  This timeline was the same as the first banners.  However,  unlike last time,  the sign company never confirmed receipt of the file for the banner.  So when Friday comes around,  the sign company says,  "We're really slammed can these wait 'till Tuesday?"   I reply, "Well no.... as a matter of fact they CAN'T I need them this weekend!"   When I asked,  "Did you receive the file Thursday morning?"  the owner replied,  "Yes,  we did,  but there were no instructions,  so we didn't know what it was for.  Rather than reaching out to the artist that sent it (who they work with all the time),  they just let the file sit there and assumed that the artist would eventually reach out to them (which never happened).   The artist for sure should have emailed instructions about the file...... no question.  However,  I assimilate this scenario to a bakery receiving a $5,000 order for a wedding cake via fax with only a phone number on the order yet not even picking up the phone to confirm the order or to even find out who in the hell placed it!  People are busy,  they do things half assed,  but if you're in the business of getting more business,  than it's your mission in life to follow-up on every single piece of potential business you can.    Perhaps this particular printer doesn't need any more business.  However,  my guess is that he could always use more business,  and even though my little $240 dollar order didn't warrant prioritization,  it will cost him in the future as I will not print through him again.  If the guy can't get a small order right,  what happens on the big orders?  

Reliability :  A key to friendship and business success.

Over Promise - Under deliver: You've been told 1,000 times not to do this.  Do the opposite is what business "gurus" tell you to do.  But you know......  I think it's hard NOT to do it.  Here's why :  In general,  I think if you're a people pleaser type, and most business people are, you hate to disappoint anyone.  So if a customer comes to you with an unreasonable timeline or task the business person does everything in his or her power to make it happen.  However,  when you can't deliver, the results are much worse than just having said "I can't do this".  When you say you can do something or deliver on time your customer takes your word for it and usually abandons a "b" plan.  So when you don't deliver (as yet another printer from the one above did for me this weekend)  your customer is now out of options making it even more difficult for them to achieve their goals or timelines.  But all things blow over right?  You'd give this printer another shot right? Everyone makes mistakes right? Yes,  but unfortunately for both of these printers,  their failure to deliver two banners made a good friend of mine who also has printing business (not banners) figure out how to actually print banners with the equipment he has.  So obviously from now on,  I'll be using my friend's company to print banners since he is :  

1) Reliable and

2)  Under promises and OVER delivers.  

Banners were done Saturday Night for Sunday, thank you Nilton !!!!

Advertising:  Your message has got to be clear.  This is what I learned this weekend.  If your message isn't clear, you won't sell your product or service no matter how "cool" or what the "price" is. To protect my customer, I'm not going to mention the product or brand we attempted to sell, but it's a household brand that you've seen and heard a million times.  However,  the product we were selling isn't one that you'd normally associate with this brand.  Sorta like Ford Motor Company selling bikes.....  even though you're using the name "Ford"  people won't / don't "get it".   We thought that having the brand name and some cool photos and a smokin' price would be enough to catch the attention of customers and sell product.  Well unfortunately it wasn't.  We didn't sell 1 unit!   Problem was our message.  Instead of relying on the brand name and price,  we needed to emphasize how our product solved a problem and why our customers needed one. Additionally,  we need to de-emphasize the brand.  Kinda like if you were selling Ford bikes,  don't advertise the name Ford,  instead emphasize what cool new innovative bikes you sell.... the fact that they are backed by Ford is a bonus! 

Lessons Learned :  Be reliable, Under Promise, Over Deliver and Craft your message so that it's crystal clear !