Your Word is Your Bond

 

Introduction 

Today we live in a world, and in a society, where corruption is rife. It seems that everyone is trying to wrangle their share of the pie irrespective of the cost to their fellow man or to society at large.

With corruption comes the question of trust. Can the next person be trusted with what was being said and promised? Is the next person of good character and worthy to be trusted? In previous generations when the world was less connected and communication was not technologically supported, a persons’ handshake was sacred. The handshake sealed the deal and every participants’ word was his or her bond. Stated in simple terms, a bond is an agreement with legal force.

But it is true that we no longer live in a world where our words are our bonds. The world has shrunk to a global village and everybody is connected in the digital world. Handshakes have been replaced by large volume contracts with a multitude of signatures. These contracts are in a sense the life-blood of the legal fraternity. 

Impact on Business

Business owners need to see the need for trustworthiness. Where ones’ word is ones’ bond.  Business owners need to realize that they have customers and employees who analyses their trustworthiness.

Verbal promises of salary increases, flexitime, additional leave create expectations in the employee and when these verbal promises are not kept, employees get frustrated and do not “go the extra mile”.

 It is the matter of trust by customers that this article is aimed at. Without customers no business can or will exist. Without a growing number of customers, the business will stagnate and eventually cease to exist. The present day customer is digitally connected to the world and has expectations on the delivery of service. The majority of customers are educated and skilled enough in using technology to demand a higher level of service.

Thus, if a customer is promised that service will be delivered within the next 30 minutes, that is exactly what the customer expects. If that deadline is not being met, the customer gets agitated and the integrity and trustworthiness of the business is being doubted.

 The word of the business is no longer its’ bond.

 In defense of the business owner, it can be said that in some cases the business owner has to depend on employees to enable the word to be the bond. And the larger and more complex the business has grown, the more difficult it becomes for the business owner to enforce the principle of “my word is my bond”.

In this corruption rife society of ours, not all employees are dependable – to the frustration of the business owner. This means that with a more complex organization the business owner needs help to overcome negative service attitudes of employees. Help is also required to provide the customer with the most accurate data and information as soon as possible. Great service is annihilated by an incorrect invoice. Time is money and cash(flow) is king.

Solution

Help is available to the business owner to enable the concept of “my word is my bond”. The solution is situated in a digital and connected software solution. A solution that has the potential to adjust the behaviour and enhances communication with the customer.

The solution is cloud-based which translates to have only an internet connection and thus eliminating expensive computer hardware and equally expensive support staff. The software is updated regularly without cost to the business owner.

The solution is paperless and business procedures are mainly automated. This eliminates the need for additional human resources.

GPS maps provide the most economic route to the customer site. And an operator in the office can monitor progress in this regard.

 Legal client information are stored along with service history. This makes predictive service delivery possible. The CRM functionality may be connected to an email facility with which communication is enhanced.

Summary

With the aid of technology, the business owner is able to restore the concept of “my word is my honour”. If service is promised for a specified time, it is possible to dispatch accordingly. Information is on hand and any queries from a customer can dealt with efficiently by a well-trained operator. The field service staff obtain their work orders on their cell phones and the close the work order strictly according to the laid-down business procedures.

Costs are cut and trustworthiness is restored. With restored or enhanced trustworthiness the business is set on a path of increasing its’ customers base because the word will spread.


Pieter Coetzer




pieter@liongatesolution.co.za


https://liongatesolution.co.za

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