When you finally leave your job, you bring with you an armful of things. No, not your stapler (though the red one from Office Space is very nice), but certainly your skills, ideas, work ethic, maybe some clients and contacts (aka your network - see the 5 Commandments for more info). Additionally, you also bring your reputation and your credibility.

When you’re on your own the one thing I can attest to is that people get to know you very fast, REGARDLESS of if you’re on the internet exclusively or if you knock on doors around town.

Have you ever heard about anybody that had a strong reputation regarding their business practices before? “My doctor is an absolute genius”, “That attorney is extremely greedy”, “If you’re going to buy a car, this guy will give you a great deal.” Your reputation can absolutely make or break you.

Not too long ago, and I’ll own up to this, I made a mistake with one of my largest customers. This particular customer wanted to know about a new product that my company carried. It was more expensive, but had great benefits for customers of their size. I told them I would look into it and get back with them. When I did the inquiry into the system, my administrator mistakenly thought I asked her to order the product for this company. What happened next was a confused customer that suddenly had a TON of products that they didn’t know what to do with and wanted to know why they had it. After all, it overlapped with another product they are currently using.

I got a very frantic and concerned call from the Vice President of this company asking why did they suddenly have hundreds of this product? I was floored. I didn’t know what to say. I told them to give me a few minutes and I would check into it.

What did I do? When I discovered the error, I did what anybody in my position would do - I called her back, swallowed hard and I told them it was my fault.

WHAT? “But it wasn’t your fault you might be thinking.”

Yes, you’re right, but when you stand up, you’d better be ready to stand up for your team and yourself. I’d rather take the brunt of the battle from my customer, letting them know that I’m not going to hide and that when it comes to a tough decision, they can trust me. Plus, it is the right thing to do. I had a conversation with the administrator and she was sorry and embarrassed, but it was better coming from me versus the customer.

So what happened?

Well, after I explained to my customer what happened, they calmed down and I apologized for the problem and that I would take care of the oversite immediately. Once I explained, the VP thought for a moment and said “You know what, we’d probably end up using them anyway, forget about it, we’ll just keep them.” I was floored again, but this time in a good way.

So here’s my advice for the week, stay strong, and like momma used to say, be honest and don’t tell any fibs.

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