There’s this guy I work with who shows up every morning before I do. He’s at meetings five minutes early. You can count on him. You know he’s going to do what he says he’s going to do.
There is a lot to be said for those qualities. In many work environments (and at a personal level) those qualities go lacking. You expect someone to show up to make a presentation and that person arrives 8 minutes late, looking frantic. You work on a project and your fellow employee doesn’t get his input to you that day it is expected.
This can be a minor frustration. Often, we blow if off, “Ah, that’s just Aaron, he’s always five minutes late.”
Or, “Denise can never seem to get her comments in on time. We’ll give her another day.”
Another day turns into a week. The project due last week becomes two weeks overdue because people don’t take care of their business when they are supposed to.
This infuriates me. Recently, a discussion ensued with a good friend about how to sell professionalism.
It may sound odd. We batted around some ideas on the subject, wondering how to market a concept. We don’t have a product or service. We just have a motto: “We Sell Professionalism.”
We landed on a bag of air as our brand image. Inside it could be anything you would like it to be, so we’d put “professionalism” inside.
Why not? In today’s world, people try to sell us hot air all the time. So why not package a concept, and let the buyer know that whatever it is we will do for you, we will be professional about it.
Step One: We show up on time. WHOA, are you serious? If not, we call the customer and explain the complicating circumstance. If we do it twice, we expect the customer to fire us.
Step Two: We do what we say we are going to do within the timeframe we say we are going to do it. If not, the service is free to the customer.
Step Three: We ask the customer after we are finished: “Is there anything more we can do for you? Have we fixed the problem?”
Step Four: We provide the additional step in value. We engage the customer, find out what s/he wants us to do next and work closely together to do just that. Simple formula.
Why doesn’t this happen more in the businesses? The refrigerator repair guy is late, doesn’t call or apologize when he shows up four hours after his designated time. You go into buy a car, and it’s about the hard sell, putting you through the grinder, and not about what “you” want. No professionalism.
Our business halts this disturbing trend. We’ll put the bag of air on our Web site, along with our motto: “We Sell Professionalism.”
Employees will show up early to meet with customers. They will smile, ask questions, listen, and elicit information so they perform magnificently in whatever the heck it is that we do.
Once this business explodes, ads on TV will run, stating, “We don’t know what we’ll sell, but we’ll do it right.”
We’ll give our best. We’ll make mistakes. We’ll own up to them, and fix it. If we can’t, we’ll recommend someone we know with expertise to handle it.
Hire us now because we’re booking up. Go to: www.WeSellProfessionalism.com.
Our employees are flying off the shelves. We can’t keep them stocked. We’re the newest, hottest fad.
We all dream, don’t we? If we could only get the word out, maybe we’d influence others to follow through, show up on time, and get the work done to the best of their abilities.
There is a lot to be said for those qualities. In many work environments (and at a personal level) those qualities go lacking. You expect someone to show up to make a presentation and that person arrives 8 minutes late, looking frantic. You work on a project and your fellow employee doesn’t get his input to you that day it is expected.
This can be a minor frustration. Often, we blow if off, “Ah, that’s just Aaron, he’s always five minutes late.”
Or, “Denise can never seem to get her comments in on time. We’ll give her another day.”
Another day turns into a week. The project due last week becomes two weeks overdue because people don’t take care of their business when they are supposed to.
This infuriates me. Recently, a discussion ensued with a good friend about how to sell professionalism.
It may sound odd. We batted around some ideas on the subject, wondering how to market a concept. We don’t have a product or service. We just have a motto: “We Sell Professionalism.”
We landed on a bag of air as our brand image. Inside it could be anything you would like it to be, so we’d put “professionalism” inside.
Why not? In today’s world, people try to sell us hot air all the time. So why not package a concept, and let the buyer know that whatever it is we will do for you, we will be professional about it.
Step One: We show up on time. WHOA, are you serious? If not, we call the customer and explain the complicating circumstance. If we do it twice, we expect the customer to fire us.
Step Two: We do what we say we are going to do within the timeframe we say we are going to do it. If not, the service is free to the customer.
Step Three: We ask the customer after we are finished: “Is there anything more we can do for you? Have we fixed the problem?”
Step Four: We provide the additional step in value. We engage the customer, find out what s/he wants us to do next and work closely together to do just that. Simple formula.
Why doesn’t this happen more in the businesses? The refrigerator repair guy is late, doesn’t call or apologize when he shows up four hours after his designated time. You go into buy a car, and it’s about the hard sell, putting you through the grinder, and not about what “you” want. No professionalism.
Our business halts this disturbing trend. We’ll put the bag of air on our Web site, along with our motto: “We Sell Professionalism.”
Employees will show up early to meet with customers. They will smile, ask questions, listen, and elicit information so they perform magnificently in whatever the heck it is that we do.
Once this business explodes, ads on TV will run, stating, “We don’t know what we’ll sell, but we’ll do it right.”
We’ll give our best. We’ll make mistakes. We’ll own up to them, and fix it. If we can’t, we’ll recommend someone we know with expertise to handle it.
Hire us now because we’re booking up. Go to: www.WeSellProfessionalism.com.
Our employees are flying off the shelves. We can’t keep them stocked. We’re the newest, hottest fad.
We all dream, don’t we? If we could only get the word out, maybe we’d influence others to follow through, show up on time, and get the work done to the best of their abilities.