Being a Reliable Person
I recently had a telephone call with a company that had done some work on my home and was due to return for a few minor corrections. I had called the company’s Customer Service representative to let him know a few alternative days and times that would be convenient. The Customer Service representative informed me that he would call me back later that day to confirm when they would be at our home.
By the close of business that evening I realized that I was probably not going to receive the promised call. It made me feel that the company was not as good as I had originally thought. The company went down in my estimation.
This may seem so normal to many people. Customer Service representatives often seem to make promises that are subsequently broken.
But, STOP.
Is it just Customer Service representatives? How many times have you promised to do something at work or at home and not actually done it? How many times have you just run out of time but neglected to give the other person a “heads-up” and explain the situation to them before it became a broken promise with negative implications?
Often, all it takes is a simple explanation to reset expectations: a phone call, an email, a text message or face-to-face conversation to explain the current situation and reset expectations.
There is often absolutely no need for people to be disappointed with our performance if we would only make the effort to keep them updated with the current situation.
It doesn’t take much to be a reliable person. It just takes effort.
