When a customer or potential customer is pressing you for a faster delivery date on a particular order, try using this story:
Imagine that one morning you start your car and at the first intersection you find you are in serious need of brakes. You have an option of calling one of two mechanics that you have used in the past. The first mechanic always says, “Bring the car right down, I’ll have it for you in the afternoon.” Sometimes he has it finished, and sometimes he doesn’t, depending on his workload. The other mechanic sometimes says, “Bring the car right down.” Sometimes he says, “I’m sorry, I can’t even look at it today, I’m too busy. If you bring it down I can fix the brakes tomorrow for sure.” He gives you a definitive answer as to when he can even look at your car, but he is always 100% reliable when he makes the promise. The question is which mechanic do you call first? Almost everybody I have spoken to would choose to call the one who is reliable first, even if he charges more money. If he says he can’t look at your car today, then you can still take it to the other guy and take your chances. Or you wait until the reliable mechanic can actually fix your car.The moral of the story is that being reliable gives you more business to look at and choose from. Being unreliable means you get the business that the reliable guy doesn’t want.