Loyalty Is Often a Matter of Good Business
Last week I was contacted by a very good corporate client. To be honest, I wasn’t completely surprised, but a little part of me was. It’s the part of me that is always reinforced by what doing good business continues to bring and there’s a big lesson to share here.
One thing you must always remember is you will not always be treated fair in life. Unfortunately and sadly life does not work that way. As such, you do have to be mindful of lessons learned which help you protect yourself. But, your business survival is such that you must always not just do your best, but do what you say you are going to do and hope that in doing so you truly deliver on what you have been asked to do. Everyone, but especially companies, soon come to find which of the vendors they use get the job done and which do not. This not only means in what is delivered, but how and when it’s delivered, with flexibility, with the least amount of trouble, and a fair price. You don’t have to be the least expensive, but you better not be the most expensive and a hassle to work with. That will never get you the loyalty you are striving for.
When companies know they can contact you for what they need and it is always smooth sailing, no fuss, no muss, you are going to get called and called again. You will be the go-to person with a good reputation. It feels great too because you know you’ve gained respect.
Many artists can be complacent and lack any desire to understand business. If you plan to do business with businesses, the business to business concept is understanding first that you both are doing business and will act like it. You can’t be willy-nilly and if you do, you will not only make it incredibly difficult for yourself, you will actually make it incredibly difficult for all other artists.
If you are faced with the opportunity to do creative business with a business, do so with complete follow-through, or simply say no thank you. If you do move forward though…
One thing you must always remember is you will not always be treated fair in life. Unfortunately and sadly life does not work that way. As such, you do have to be mindful of lessons learned which help you protect yourself. But, your business survival is such that you must always not just do your best, but do what you say you are going to do and hope that in doing so you truly deliver on what you have been asked to do. Everyone, but especially companies, soon come to find which of the vendors they use get the job done and which do not. This not only means in what is delivered, but how and when it’s delivered, with flexibility, with the least amount of trouble, and a fair price. You don’t have to be the least expensive, but you better not be the most expensive and a hassle to work with. That will never get you the loyalty you are striving for.
When companies know they can contact you for what they need and it is always smooth sailing, no fuss, no muss, you are going to get called and called again. You will be the go-to person with a good reputation. It feels great too because you know you’ve gained respect.
Many artists can be complacent and lack any desire to understand business. If you plan to do business with businesses, the business to business concept is understanding first that you both are doing business and will act like it. You can’t be willy-nilly and if you do, you will not only make it incredibly difficult for yourself, you will actually make it incredibly difficult for all other artists.
If you are faced with the opportunity to do creative business with a business, do so with complete follow-through, or simply say no thank you. If you do move forward though…
- Be on time
- Do what you say you will do when you say you will do it.
- Communicate throughout the process, all the way to delivery.
Live an artful life,
Tom
Read my Blog every Tuesday!