Commit, don’t -ish!

Our mothers have all taught us to avoid many four-letter words; for fear of the repercussions of getting our mouth’s washed out with soap.
But recently I may have found the most disturbing word of all and it was only three letters.

-ish

Granted, probably not worthy of being called a word, but it certainly says a lot to a customer base and to employee base. One of my reasons for even being in front of the store to consider to use them was a matter of time sensitivity. So when I saw this as the potential closing time, it was a very strong the signal to me that my time as a customer was not as valuable as their time as the service provider.

What are the -ish’s that you are signaling to your customers and employees? Are they driving your customers away before you even get a chance to see if they’re willing to be your customer?

Consider a couple of key things as you explore all the -ish’s that you are signaling to your employees and your customers that you need to clean up to be the organization you want to be in meeting your goals.

– Commit! Be who and what you are and communicate it clearly; in a few necessary situations, and with complete respect and dignity, you may need to also communicate who and what you are not, also.

– Ensure anything you put in writing is something you can exceed a customers expectation on and not something that leaves them guessing

– Reflect on what you are communicating to your customers and make sure it is something that inspires and excites you, so you always want to deliver it

It’s a very simple thing, but if you are willing to put in writing that even you aren’t sure how long each day you are willing to be open to serve a customer what other things might that call into question for an employee base and customers? Quality of your work? Willingness to stand behind your product? The need to show up on time for work?

We all have our -ish’s, let’s clean them up and not let them impact our customers.