Your Word Is Your Brand and People Are Paying Attention (06.26.26)

It sounds almost too simple.
Do what you say you're going to do.
But think about the people in your life who actually do it every time, without being chased down and you'll quickly realize how rare it really is. In real estate, most agents believe trust is built on big moments: the perfect listing presentation, the smooth closing, the five-star review. 

But the truth is, trust is built in the small ones.

The follow-up you said you'd make.

The update you sent even when you didn't have an answer yet. The Saturday morning you actually showed up for. In this episode, we get personal about what broken promises actually do to people over time in business, in parenting, and in life and why the silence is almost always worse than the news itself.

There's a quote that runs through this entire conversation that's worth writing down, and by the end of it, you'll be thinking about at least one promise you need to keep before the weekend is over.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to your 6 a.m. call where Lee and I actually record this live. I am home in Roundville, Virginia, and we got it was a funny comment yesterday before I get into the message that uh somebody thought that we pre-recorded this, but no, we get up early, we prepare for our call so we can be our best show. So thank you for joining today on Friday in every call that you're on. So as we wrap up another week, I want to leave you with a message that I think about often. Do what you say you're going to do. It sounds simple, right? Almost too simple. But I truly believe it's one of the biggest reasons people build trust or they slowly lose it. There's a quote that I heard from a real estate coach I had a while ago, and it said, How you do anything is how you do everything. How you do anything is how you do everything. Think about that for a minute. If you're consistently and constantly running late, if you keep rescheduling meetings, if you tell someone you'll call them back and they have to follow up with you, if you promise to send something by Friday and it doesn't arrive till Monday, people start to notice. Not because you mess up once. We all make mistakes. Life happens, we are human, but people remember patterns, and patterns become your reputation. And in real estate, we're in real estate. We are in a real estate relationship business. We're not selling a product that someone buys every week. Most of our future business comes from repeat clients and referrals. People don't refer us because we have the prettiest marketing, the biggest social media following, or the fanciest listening presentation. They refer us because they trust us. And trust isn't built on the big moments. It's built on the little ones. When you say, I'll call you tomorrow, and you actually call tomorrow. When you say, I'll have an answer by Friday, and you even if you don't have the answer yet, you still reach out and you say, I wanted to give you an update. I've made the calls, I'm still waiting to hear back, but I didn't want you wondering what where things stood. So as soon as I know, I'll let you know. That simple message says something powerful. It tells your client, I didn't forget about you, you matter to me, you can still count on me, and I'm here for you. That is how trust is built. But if you consistently don't follow through, if you're always late, if you're always canceling, if you're always rescheduling, and if people have to chase you down, eventually they stop trusting your words. So when trust starts to disappear, relationships begin to weaken. That doesn't just happen in business, it happens in life. Has this happened to you? And this is where the message becomes personal for me. Personally, I try to make every intention and effort to keep promises to my son. Now, I'm not perfect, obviously. Life happens, plans change, but things come up that are out of my control. But if I tell him we're going to do something, I want him to believe me. Because growing up, I experienced a lot of broken promises. A lot of, we'll do that someday, I'll take you there. We can do that. How about next weekend? And many times, a lot of times, they never did come. And after a while, something changes. You actually stop getting excited, you stop believing their words, and then you start protecting yourself from being disappointed. And then little by little, trust begins to disappear. I never want that my son to feel that way about me. I want him to know that when mom says she's going to do something, she's going to do everything she possibly can to make it happen. Not because I want to be perfect, but because I want him to know he can trust me. And I think that's true for every relationship. It's with our spouses, it's with our friends, it's with our children, our teammates, our colleagues, and of course with our clients. Trust is everything. Without trust, there really isn't much of any relationship left. Here's something else that I've learned. People are incredibly understandable if life gets in the way. That's what makes us great. What they struggle with isn't change. It's the silence. It's wondering. It's feeling forgotten. So if something changes, communicate. Pick up the phone, send the text, send the email, but don't disappear. Because communication keeps trust alive. So here's my challenge for you today and through the weekend. Think about one promise that you've made this week. Maybe it's a follow-up call. Maybe it's ending a market analysis. Maybe it's writing a thank you note. Maybe it's just a friend or a family member that you haven't reached out for. And maybe it's spending Saturday morning with your kids because you promised that you would. Or maybe you made a promise to yourself. Whatever it is, keep it. Because every promise you keep is a deposit into your reputation. Every promise you break is a withdrawal. And over time, people don't remember every conversation you've had, but they will remember how reliable you were. They'll remember whether your words match your actions. So I'll leave you with this. Your word is your brand. Protect it. Because how you do everything, I'm sorry, because how you do anything is how you do everything. I hope they have an awesome weekend, everyone. Go be someone people can count on. And we will be back here on Monday. Leave or have the mic. Take care.