As a kid I grew up in a small east Texas town. I have fond memories of my buddies and I going to the local drug store after school and getting a coke or candy bar. And guess what, the sodas (and coffee) could be paid for on the Honor System. We dropped a few nickels in a cigar box and took a soda.
I also remember going fishing at a private lake that operated on the Honor System. At the entrance to the property there was a big metal box that we dropped a couple of bucks in for the right to fish in the private lake.
I can hear you saying to yourself that "the drugstore, the post office, and the lake didn't have much at risk". Well, let me tell you about a bigger risk.
$2 Million On The Honor System
As an adult I transacted business on the Honor System for years. As a salesman in the telecom industry, I remember convincing the owner of the company I worked for to stock over $2 Million in inventory for one of my clients. No contracts - it was all done on a hand shake.
And guess what? When the telecom industry began to go south and my client began to have financial issues, they honored our hand shake deal and purchased all of the material we had stocked for them (even though they scrapped most and took the rest as a write off).
On an important side note, this customer purchased over $50 Million worth of materials from me over the course of a couple of years. I guess the hand shake deal worked out pretty good for all involved.
How To Use The Honor System Today
Am I suggesting that you risk millions on a hand shake deal today? No, not necessarily. However, I am suggesting that you make good use of the core of the Honor System. And that core is TRUST. The examples I listed above worked because of deep levels of trust by all parties involved.
The business landscape has been ripped apart through the years due to broken trust. We have many leering examples from the Tycos and Enrons of the world. But there are also many subtle examples of trust being destroyed daily by small businesses. Every interaction with a customer either builds trust or destroys trust - but the trust level does not remain neutral.
Is your business set up to strengthen the levels of trust at every customer interaction? If not, you are in jeopardy of losing that customer to a competitor that is maximizing the customer's trust.
So how do you build trust at every customer interaction? Stay tuned, as that will be the subject of our feature article next week! If you can't wait until next week or need help in building trust now, call me toll free at 877-YOU-WIN2.
my turn. It was then that I could not believe my eyes. Right in front of me was a box full of 1 cent stamps with a sign that read "1 Cent Stamps on the Honor System. Please Put Your Money in the Box".
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Mike is the President and Founder of Born To Win, LLC. Mike's core belief is that "We are all Born To Win" - but sometimes we need a little help.
