“Reliable” by Todd
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What’s reliability worth, and what is it really? I’m not sharing the results of extensive studies, I’m talking from personal experience. Your mileage may vary.
Here’s the personal story. I met a lead on a social network and have spent a lot of time on the phone with him trying to help him out with his site. It’s already late. No time for fooling around. In the course of talking with him he’s told me he’s talked to other people, and they’ve offered to do the work for 1/10th what I said we’d do it for.
So why is he still talking with me?
I asked questions. Amazingly, many people did not. Even those that gave him a price quote. Not only is that crazy – to commit to work without knowing what the work is, it makes it seem like you don’t care or you don’t really have the intention of following through.
I’ve done this all before. Many times. There’s no doubt that we could do it. We’ve been developing sites on the platform they asked about for 7 years. Even if others will do it for less, will it be done? Will it be done properly? How much would you pay for a website that didn’t work at all?
We have a team. It’s not an infinitely large army of faceless drones. We all have our particular areas of expertise. But if one of us is out of commission, the rest can pick up the slack. No delays from family emergencies or illness.
I told him how he could do the work without us. That might not be an aspect of reliability, but I have no interest in ripping people off. If he’s willing to do what’s necessary, he could handle it. It’s not something he wants to do, but he knows I’m not just after his money.
Be dependable. Get jobs done. Build up your expertise. Don’t take jobs without finding out what needs to be done. Follow these steps and people will believe you can do what you say you can do in the time allotted, for the cost quoted. That’s reliability.
Agreed! It all boils down to delivering promises that you’ve made. That’s how trust is built. And that’s the essence of reliability.