Making big promises.... how important is it?

I've read that it's important to make big promises if you want to be a success, then work like mad to fulfil them.

I read that this is how Nike started. Phil Knight, who founded and heads Nike, wanted to build a big business selling running shoes. But when he first went to Japan to talk to potential manufacturers, he was still a junior employee of an accounting firm.

He realized that he wouldn't impress anyone if they knew that, so Phil Knight told them something else.... He made sure he gave the impression of already being a big successful American businessman which could give these manufacturers wide distribution.

So -- even though he hadn't made it there yet -- he made a big promise.

Is this important, do you think, if you want to become successful and independent?

I think there are some important issues involved with this topic, like how important is it to make big promises (then work like mad to deliver on them)? And what about honesty?

Or is it better to make smaller promises, to be sure you can over-deliver?

- Dien

Hi Dien,

Happy New Year to you and your family.

I think keeping your promise is one of the most important things in life.

I live my the saying, "My Word Is My Bond".

If I tell some one that I'll do something for them or even down to keeping an appointment....
I will "crawl over broken glass under flood lights" to use the expression to be there or do it.

If I can't or I'm running late, I will always call and let the person know.... But I will never "stand a person up" or let them down.

This is what Life is all about in terms of human relations.... Being reliable!... Countability.

The best thoughts some one can have of you, is that "they can depend on you and they know you will deliver when it counts".

A true man is one who can stand up, back straight, look you in the eye and say you have my word".

I always say to my wife, "See this marriage certificate of ours we both signed years ago... Well it's not worth the paper it's written on... Unless their is FAITH and TRUST between us".

I also believe in doing business with a "nod and a hanshake", business based on trust between the two parties.

This is how it should be.... Not just contracts with paragraphs of fine print that only a Philidelphia lawyer can understand and interpret.

I have signed large contracts with commercial and domestic clients over the years for $20,000 or more for capital equipment, and very often, the contract or order never even stated what they were getting in terms of equipment, model numbers or parts, etc.
They signed on the dotted line because they TRUSTED me... That I would deliver on what I had promised... And deliver I always did.

Business transactions should be a "gentleman's agreement" with both parties keeping their side of the deal and what they promised. The physical paper contract being just a business formality.

Unfortunately, the world we live in dictates that we have contracts, credit checks, and that we are always on guard because people can't keep their side of the bargain or promise. The world is full of trickery as they say.

Big promises or small ones, whether in business dealings or a promise to a young child, is all the same.

Always keep your promises, let those who know you know that you are a person of your WORD.

Stand and be counted!...I say

Warmest Regards & Success

Ricky Higgs




Ricky now gives you PROOF not just promises

Hi Ricky,

I agree with you completely. Honesty and integrity are paramount when you are pursuing your independence and freedom!

However, among many big successes, a false image is (at first) presented, in order to land that "big account" or "big client"....

Here's another example of what I mean....

One of the first personal computers was the Altair 8800, which Ed Roberts created in 1975.

However, there was no computer language for it. To program it you had to write in "machine code. That is, you had to write your program in 1's and 0's !

Ed Roberts realized he needed a computer language for his computer to make it truly useful.

One day, he got a letter from Bill Gates and Paul Allen, claiming they had written the BASIC language for the Altair 8800. This was just what Ed Roberts needed.

However, in fact, Gates and Allen hadn't even started to write anything. They made this claim partly so as to "beat" any other competitors who might even be thinking of competing with them on this.

Then they figured they had 30 days to deliver on their promise.

(This may have been one of the earliest instances of "vaporware". That is, to claim you have created something, which you haven't actually done yet, in order to discourage the competition.)

In the end, Gates and Allen did create BASIC within a few frantic weeks. So they DID deliver on their promise. They then sold their BASIC along with the Altair 8800 computer....

But -- when it comes right down to it -- their initial claim was a false one. They hadn't actually created it at the time like they had claimed....

Yet it was with this first, early success, that Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft....

This was a "big promise" which wasn't fully honest.... Yet they nevertheless did deliver....

I was thinking about situations like this....

"Big promises" seem very important for landing that first big client. And it is vital that you deliver on what you claim you will.

But it often seems a false image is presented, in order get a client to believe in that "big promise" in the first place....

I'm not saying anything here one way or another about these.... I've noticed this, and was wondering about it....

Anyone have any comments? I'd appreciate knowing what you think....

- Dien

....regarding "vaporware" -- is really the same as a "dry test" in direct marketing....

Though the intention is different!

"Vaporware" is where a company claims that it has developed a product, or has almost finished developing a product, in order to stop consumers from buying a competing product, or to stop competitors from entering the market....

An example of vaporware is how Microsoft made many announcements that Windows was "coming soon" -- 2 years before Windows actually appeared -- to stop people from buying the competing Apple Macintosh.

A "dry test" is where a marketer will advertise a product they haven't yet created, in order to see if there is a demand. If the demand is high enough, they'll create the product....

An example of a dry test is what Joe Karbo did when he wrote "The Lazy Man's Way to Riches".... He wrote the ad first, ran the ad, and saw if it got orders. When the orders flooded in, he frantically wrote the book!

They are effectively the same thing -- an announcement of an available product, which does not actually exist yet.

Though their purposes are different....

- Dien