Under Promise Over Deliver

Under Promise Over Deliver

If you are in business you have probably heard this mantra and especially when it comes to sales. So what does it mean? When you are dealing with someone (presumably a business associate) you don’t want to promise too much, but you want to always give more than you promised.

Why is it a Mantra?

You may be wondering if you have not heard this saying before why it is a mantra and even more so why do people have a problem not doing this in the first place.  Perhaps you’re not the one who has said, “I’ll call you,” when you knew the date did not go well. Or the one who said, “I would love to help you with your –project, charity, problem – or whatever the case may be," only to realize you are so busy that you have no idea how you are going to fulfill your promise. But, if you are you know what it’s like to want to ease the silence, make someone happy or at the very least not disappointment them. This is why it is a mantra…we want to promise so much…

How to Avoid the Over Promise

Many times there is silence that causes us to make promises. The awkward goodbye, the other person looking at you as to say, “what?” There are the other times when we are asked a question and we want to say anything but, “No”.  No, seems so harsh and impolite. So how to avoid these two common scenarios? First be okay with silence. In negotiations they also say, he who speaks first loses. I don’t know if that is always true, but the premise is to be okay with silence. Sometimes a smile can break the silence in a positive way without needing to say something you may otherwise regret. The other option is the request, if you are just not comfortable saying, “No thank you, but I appreciate you asking,” then you need to ask for time to think it over. Make this your mantra. “I’m not sure let me -- think about it, look into my schedule, ask my spouse, kids, or pet." Whatever you can think of to buy more time!!

 Under Deliver Really Shouldn’t be a Problem but What if It IS?

Hopefully when we make a promise we can make good on it, but what if we can’t? What do you do? Let the other person know as soon as possible. In the unfortunate case that you told someone that you would call them, I say go ahead and call them, but don’t make any plans unless the call seems to go better than you expected. If you made a commitment to be on a committee and you realized as soon as you got home you can’t do it, call the person right away and say that you are so sorry but you just can’t. In other words get it over with right away if you can’t do it. Why? Because it will make you feel better. The unknown of how the person will react can stress you out, so the best thing to do is expect the worst and get it over with. Besides, once it is over it really is on them not you to react with graciousness that you have a situation that you just cannot make good on.

So here is to UNDER promising and OVER delivering!! If you can do this your life will be so much easier!!

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and now TimerOrganizer

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