The Credibility Principle

by Robert L. Shook

How many times have you broken your promises and been disappointed by unfulfilled promises of others? Read the following passage and get a better understanding of what the Credibility Principle is and why it should be cherished and followed.

We will now discuss the "Credibility Principle": Do whatever you say you are going to do. Thought simple and rational, this principle is not followed by the vast majority of people. The person who does what he says he will do is a rare individual who stands tall in the crowd.

Certainly we've all been in situations where we were "promised" performance and received only disappointment. At one time or another all of us have shared the frustration that followed the unfulfilled promise: "My check is in the mail." How many times have you been disappointed when a tailor failed to have your suit or dress altered by the promised date? Perhaps a computer salesman " guaranteed" you delivery of the 7 000 Model by the 25th of the month, but you didn't receive it until two weeks later. Remember when the contractor assured you that your swimming pool would be completed no later than June 10, but you weren't able to take your first swim until September 2? How about the time you were promised your new car by the first of the month but didn't receive it until almost four weeks past the scheduled date? All of us have suffered these kinds of frustrations and agonized over such broken promises. The failure to perform as promised is a losing image, and you must avoid it like the plague.

Dwight Knight, a very bright attorney with a leading law firm in town, is a perfect example of someone who violates the Credibility Principle. In spite of his outstanding ability as a corporate lawyer, his constant failure to meet promised deadlines causes him to lose much if not all of the goodwill he creates by his ability to "put a good product." "Why, sure," Dwight tells his client, "I'll have the final contracts drawn up by Wednesday. I see absolutely no reason whatsoever for any delay. What time do you want them? Will the morning around tenish be all right?"

In view of Dwight's past performance record, it's always advisable to call him prior to sending a secretary over to pick up the contract.Chances are that when you do, his receptionist will say, "Oh, Mr. Knight is tied up in conference until noon. May he return your call after he's back from lunch?" Toward the end of the day, when you still haven't heard from him, you will give him a call before you leave the office, but he's still going to be unavailable. On Thursday, the day after the scheduled appointment, he gives you the run-around for the entire day! By Friday you're fit to be tied, and when he finally does allow you to be put through on the phone, he meekly mumbles, "You know, those contracts are really much more complicated than first meets the eye. Why, I had no idea they were going to be so difficult. There's so much more involved than I had imagined." As he hems and haws, there is no possible explanation he can give you that will be acceptable—he failed to meet the deadline. Since you know he's not incompetent, you can only conclude that he just doesn't give a damn whether he inconveniences you or not! Although you may be locked into working with him on this particular contract, your mind swiftly begins to think about replacing his law firm with another one.

Attorneys aren't the only professionals who cause this kind of unnecessary frustration for their clients. Doctors are just as guilty. My "ex" personal physician, Boris, almost made me mad enough to give him a black eye for the abuse he inflicted upon me. I was required to get a physical examination for a large life insurance policy I had applied for, so I had my secretary set up an appointment with Dr. Morris for the first thing in the morning. "Tell him to be at the office at eight-thirty," the nurse told my secretary, "and we'll have Mr. Shook in and out in no time flat!" I arrived at the doctor's office ten minutes before it opened, and, much to my dismay, twenty other patients were also waiting in the reception room when the nurse arrived at twenty to nine to open the door to let everyone in. Dr. Morris came in through his private back-door entrance at ten
after nine, and at ten-thirty I was finally asked to fill out a form. At eleven, I was led into a small room and told to take off my shirt. Like a fool, I stood in this stark examining room for fifteen minutes before the good doctor finally burst through the door and said, "And how is my good friend, Bob shook, this morning?"

I won't go into detail about what I answered, but I will say that there was absolutely no reason in the world for his lack of consideration. He had inconvenienced me and twenty other people by telling us all to be at his office at the same early hour. This is just plain disrespect for others' time, and no one has a right to treat anyone so rudely. I understand there are many doctors who display this kind of contempt for their patients, and they continue to conduct their practices in this way, even though several people tell them that doing so is inexcusable.

Perhaps the most infamous individuals who make promises that they don't fulfill are politicians. It's sad commentary on our political system and a distasteful fact of life that the average American has lost confidence in our local and national leadership. This loss of confidence can be a much greater problem than first meets the eye because widespread mistrust in our government can cause the downfall of our free enterprise system. Campaign promises are too often made in an attempt to win votes, not with the intention of actual performance. This is probably the most notorious situation in which the public expects promises to be broken.

I believe in respecting the next man, and when I tell him that he can count on something, I do it without fail according to schedule. I don't care if I have to stay up for two nights; I'll meet my deadline, barring an unforeseeable accident or illness. To date, I have been blessed with excellent health and have only had to miss one day's work in the last fifteen years because of sickness. Even now, because I have a deadline to meet with my publisher, I am writing this chapter in my office on a Sunday morning at six-fifteen because I will definitely be on schedule.

Keeping commitments was very important to us when my father and I started our business, and to this day that is still a high priority. In the beginning we realized how important it was for us to establish credibility with the various insurance companies our agency represented. Consequently, we vowed to always obey the Credibility Principle to the letter. We realized that the very nature of most salesmen is to oversell and never do quite what they say they will. Hence, we felt that giving these companies slightly lower figures than we actually anticipated in sales volume for the upcoming year was preferable to quoting higher figures. At the year's end they were then pleasantly surprised by the "extra" business they received. Even though they would have received the same amount of sales volume regardless of the projections, we felt it was better to give them more than they expected rather than to disappoint them by giving them less. Many times throughout the years we have been told, "You people are the only sales organization in the entire industry who actually meet the production figure you give. In most cases, we simply cut the predictions in half and come up with a reasonable estimate of what an agency will actually do."

Everybody has dealt with people who constantly stretch the facts when they project what they're going to do. What is amazing is that such people do not have the foresight to see how foolish they are going to appear when they fail to produce what they have promised. In our company, for example, we ask each salesman to give us a twelve-month projection of the volume he expects to produce during the upcoming year. If we were to total the amounts of these projections and then actually hit those annual figures, we would be in a position to retire! In many cases a salesman's projections are so unrealistic that he gets too far behind by April and must therefore disregard his sales goals and establish more realistic ones for the rest of the year.

    If there is a "best" time to give accurate projections, I would suggest that it is when you visit your banker for a loan. Never, absolutely never, give your banker inflated projections unless you are positive you will meet them. In fact, I have found that it's always better to give him slightly lower projections so when the end of the year fiscal year arrives, you can present him with better figures than he was expecting. If you're going to surprise a banker, do it with good news, not bad!

    Since a good relationship with their bank(s) is highly essential for most businesses, credibility must be established early in the game. The majority of businesses ignore the Credibility Principle, and in their zest to make a good impression on a loan officer, they oversell. While they may think they're making a good impression, they're actually making a foolish mistake, because six months, a year, even three years go by so quickly, and the banker won't forget what was projected. He's written it all down and presented the financial forecasts to his bank examiner. If the business fails to meet projections, he's going to want a full explanation to why the forecast was off, and it's going to be difficult to talk to him. Doesn't it make good sense to project less than what you're relatively certain you can do, and then surprise him with the good news of having done even better? After all, you're planning to do business with your banker for a long period of time, so don't place doubt in his mind that will cause him to think, "Well, if he's asking for this figure, we'll just cut it in half."

We like to believe that others are going to follow through when we deal with them, but many simply will not. I know several highly talented men and women who do not follow through, and as a result they frustrate everyone who deals with them, causing many to decide never to do business with them again. Lynn Flynn, a real estate agent, is a good example of an excellent salesperson, who, though she has all the talent necessary to do a fine job, lacks the commitment to follow through on what she initially tackles. Clark Barr, a friend of mine who was transferred to our city from out of town a few years ago, told me about the exhausting experience he had when he and his wife Gay were house-hunting. "Bob, I never saw anything like it in my life," he said. "I had to get a house because we sold our home in Michigan, and we only had sixty days before we had to vacate it so the buyers could move in. I explained all this to Lynn and she told me that she had dozens of homes like the one we were looking for, and no broker in town had as many exclusive listings. Well, Gay and I couldn't get over it," he continued. "No matter how many times we called her, she stalled us and gave excuses about why this house or that house wouldn't be suitable. One day, my wife saw the dream home and it had a For Sale sign in front. When Gay called Lynn to ask for a showing, she told us that she had just sold it to some other family that day before. We were so mad that we decided to contact Holmes Realty and do you know what? We ended up buying a ninety-thousand-dollar-home from them within five days. I'll bet Gay has sent Holmes at least eight other customers who've also been transferred here by our company. I know for a fact that I've told at least a dozen more to stay away from Lynn Flynn! She's a nice gal, but it's just plain murder to deal with somebody like that."

Unfortunately, all of us have dealt with people like Lynn Flynn at one time or another, and when we do, we learn to appreciate the professional who does what he says he will. Life is simply too short to go through the same exasperating situation twice with the person who let you down because he didn't deliver the goods as originally promised. Many people whose talent borders on genius achieve only mediocre results in their career because they lack the necessary follow-through to actually perform well. Less gifted people continually outperform these so-called geniuses because they come through when they're supposed to. No matter how outstanding the end result may be, you do not receive full value for services rendered if you suffer unbearable frustrations because the other person didn't do what he said he would do according to schedule.

    Conclusion

If it is your intention to build a long and rewarding career, you must plan to do business with others over a long period of time. Your output, plus your ability to apply the Credibility Principle, will determine your success in the long run. This is the winning image you must develop if your career is to enjoy longevity.

(2 296 words)

(From Winning Images, Macmillan, 1977 )