Are You Surprised or Just Unprepared?

For years, I was tied to the same pest control service because I was also using the same company for their landscaping service. Unfortunately, the former specialty was not as effective as the latter. Once we started having mice in the house, I knew it was time to make a change. We switched to another pest control service and, after the first few treatments, I was beginning to wonder if they were actually bringing the mice with them in their van. We went from having three mice in the house over 13 years to having five mice in the house in one year. It was time to pivot again.

Finally, I sought out another pest control service and spoke with the owner. Sam Peters of Peters Pest Control did a walk around my house and showed me how to mouse-proof it. He instantly demonstrated his expertise and built credibility by showing me what to look for in all the areas I didn’t realize made it easy for mice to enter our home. With a little fine-tuning and some help from our trusted handyman service, we plugged all the holes and the house has now been mouse free for the past three years.

Many times in business, we get surprised because something is not working as effectively as we expected. We can either choose to accept it the way it is or take steps to get better results. If your vendors are not providing you with the level of service you expect and you keep accepting it, you have no right to be surprised. As John Maxwell once said, you’re allowed to be surprised once. After that, you’re just unprepared.

When it comes to delivering service your customers, that same lesson is true. If a customer complains about a problem they have with your service that you didn’t know of, you’re allowed to be surprised once. After that, you need to take immediate steps to fix that customers problem and then follow up to make sure that the root of the problem is addressed so that it does not affect any future customers. I’m challenging you to be proactive in designing out the flaws in your system so that you never have to feel the embarrassment of being unprepared in front of a customer.

“The most essential quality for leadership is not perfection but credibility. People must be able to trust you.” – Rick Warren

Let me hear from you.

This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled How to Build Iron Clad Credibility. I encourage you to click here to register for my live in person How to Build Iron Clad Credibility seminar on Thursday, May 18, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.