Presentation Ain’t as Important as Follow Through

You’ve all seen those great marriage proposals on YouTube, Facebook, and Pinterest.  You know the ones – especially you guys.  They are the proposals that are so crazy creative and romantic, they make us (lesser men) feel like putzes.   I’m not even sure if that’s really a word, but it just fits the feel.  I once saw a guy sing to a girl on a cruise in front of the entire dinner audience and finish with a marriage proposal.  All the women were completely gushing and all the guys just wanted out. Complete putzes.  And the guy who proposed – not only did he have courage and a good voice, he was good looking, smart and confident. Hard to compete with that.

I’ve seen it in sales as well – the imaginative and memorable proposal that wows the potential buyer.  The creative approach where they send one shoe to a prospect with a note that they’d love to get the “other foot” in the door.  Imaginative, creative, different – all of those!

I don’t know how those proposals work out in the long run. It would be interesting to find out.  I do know that my marriage proposal was pretty lame compared to most of the ones I hear about.  And as for my sales approach – I typically pick up the phone and call. Boring.  Don’t get me wrong – the passion and commitment are there; I just don’t pull together all the props to wow the experience.  What I do, though, is follow through. 

My goal in my marriage is to be consistent in what I promised to Amy – that first day, at the altar. That’s not to say creativity doesn’t have its place. It surely does. But while I struggle with that right brain thinking at times, I make sure that I stay consistent in the small stuff in our marriage – opening the door for her, being truly “present” and engaged when I’m with her, and ultimately treating her the way she wants to be treated – the way that makes her feel best about herself and our marriage. 

This works in sales as well. Feel free to wow the customer – yes. But never miss the small stuff – keeping in touch, adding value, following through on your word, being courteous and respectful. 

If you’re creative and you’ve given that remarkable proposal – great for you! Truly, I mean it. I just don’t want to know about it! Meanwhile, make sure you stay consistent on the other stuff – that small stuff that adds up huge over time.  That’s the stuff that leads to deep honor, respect, loyalty.  Love is a verb – an action – and it accumulates day by day.