Do You Always Mean What You Say?
It is easy to get carried away by the marketing hype and talk more about ambition than capability. Your business may then be at risk of overpromising and under-delivering.
When you pitch your business to a client, how often do you ask yourself whether you really meant what you just said?
Maybe? ... Perhaps sometimes?
It is easy to get carried away, speaking about capabilities when you really describe your ambitions. You may not even notice it anymore. It has become part of the marketing routine.
If you see a little bit of yourself reflected in this scenario, you may be on a slippery slope. Let me explain.
Imagine you are the client from your last project. You remember giving your standard marketing pitch, talking about the attention you will give to every detail, and the extra mile you will go. In the end, how did the project turn out? Do you recall how often you impressed your client with your attention to detail and the extra mile you went? How likely is your client to recommend you to a friend?
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”
— C. S. Lewis
Should you sense a gap between how you want your business to be seen and what you typically deliver as a service, you may want to consider a course correction. A habit of overpromising and under-delivering may reflect poorly on your company. It may even damage your firm's integrity longterm, leading to painful customer losses.
As your website is an extension of you and your business, you should focus on traits and actions that you can fully back up through your services. If you write on your site that you go the extra mile for your clients, make an effort, and do it.
Living up to your brand promise demonstrates integrity and can be a source of many future referrals.
On this note, let me leave you with a quote from British novelist C. S. Lewis: "Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching."