STOP Overpromising and Under-Delivering

Years ago, I hired a web company to help me make some significant changes to my website. I soon realized that the only thing they could do on time was invoice me.

They failed to do what they said they would, they overbilled me for services they didn’t complete, they were late at delivering milestones repeatedly, and when I requested a meeting to discuss my concerns with them, they asked me to document them instead.

Needless to say, I fired them.

After losing money in the process, I proceeded to tell everyone I knew NEVER to do business with them.

The biggest issue this company had was overpromising and under-delivering.

That is a HUGE problem because it’s directly correlated to retaining your clients and having them send you referrals, which means not only is it a service problem, it’s also a marketing problem.

This company repeatedly made promises and set deliverable dates that they could not make. In addition to not making those dates, they failed to do these three things which ultimately is what led to them losing my business.

1.   They never proactively communicated in advance when they wouldn’t be able to deliver something as promised, on time.

Instead of being the customer – I turned into the micromanager. I was always chasing them down to try and get things done which left me frustrated and unhappy.

2.   They never considered the consequences it could have on my business.

Often when you hire someone to do work on your website, there is a significant impact. This work can impact the launch date for a new program, thus delaying sales and revenues. It can impact the schedule of emails you were planning to send, bumping all kinds of other things out as a result. It can also affect someone else’s work, a team member or a client who is depending on you to finish something reliant on the website being finished. The consequences are much greater than simply not completing the tasks at hand.

3.   They failed to accept responsibility and apologize for doing poor work.  

When someone doesn’t deliver what’s expected on time and then fails to apologize for how they’ve inconvenienced you, it says one thing: “We don’t care about you.” While they may be embarrassed and tired of repeatedly apologizing, it is a necessary evil you must face when you overpromise and under deliver.

In today’s world, this is made worse by the visibility these small business owners have personally on social media.

You don’t have the work you paid for, but yet you see them posting photos from an event they attended or commenting on other people’s posts which only serves to make you more frustrated with what they have done, or truly, what they have NOT done.

If you want to be successful and build a solid reputation in business – regardless of the type of business you’re in, you must manage timelines and projects with care.

Your reputation is the most valuable asset you can have when it comes to marketing, which means you must proactively communicate with your customers and prioritize delivery of work over social media engagement.

You also need to be able to demonstrate concern for where you have failed to deliver and act as though it matters to you.

No one likes it when they have to wait longer than what was promised.

Your competitive advantage as a business owner will always be to under-promise and over-deliver, not the other way around.

Leave me a comment and let me know, how do you manage timelines in your business?