- Responsiveness – Do what you said you would and why it matters.
There’s nothing more frustrating and disappointing than a broken promise. Ever have your teenager promise to mow the lawn and you come home to find it undone, and he’s gone off with friends?
That’s a small frustration requiring some patience. But in business a broken promise can have a much more significant impact. Your supplier misses the deadline and you’re on the hook. Your whole plan can be disrupted and set back because someone’s failed to deliver, resulting in lost time and money.
Two of the four tenets we follow in business are prompt, on-schedule delivery, and our backing to be there if something isn’t working to make it right.
Missteps that happen shouldn’t become your problem. For example, a key part was left off the delivery truck at our Indiana plant. To make it right and deliver on time, one of our leaders drove through the night and early morning to make sure the part was there for our assembly team in Detroit that same day. It was our truck, our fuel, our lost time for that person to be doing something else – but no cost to the client. That wouldn’t be right. When we say we deliver on-time and back up our promises, we mean it.
