I think a good rule of thumb for people or businesses is to underpromise and overdeliver.  Back when I owned a Saturn, for example, they did a great job at this.  I consistently found myself impressed with the service they delivered, usually ahead of schedule.  Anyway, I found myself thinking about this as I evaluate website developers.  I met with 4 or 5 potential vendors early last week and was encouraged by those meetings.  Most of them were excited by what we are doing from a social media and interactive perspective so I figured we’d get some great proposals.  Plus almost all of them indicated that they’d provide their proposals within five business days.  Not only did none of them make the deadline, one agency rep contacted me Wednesday to say he needed one more day and now it’s Friday and I haven’t heard ANYTHING.  Another agency submitted a proposal that they clearly repurposed from another proposal as it referenced a school.  That, on top of spelling errors, led me to believe they didn’t review it before they submitted it (late, as well).

I’ve lost confidence in all of them at this point and feel like going back to the drawing board.  If you don’t think you can make a deadline, then don’t say you’ll provide a deliverable by that date.  You know what would really impress me?  If you gave yourself more breathing room and then delivered AHEAD of schedule.  Now more than ever it’s important to meet, if not exceed, expectations, especially because it’s so easy for dissatisfied customers (or potential customers) to spread the word about how they were let down by you.

So much is written right now about the “raving fan”, I wonder what the term is for the opposite?  Maybe I should coin a term and see if it catches on.