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You Can Only Afford One Reputation

I am going to be very honest here.  Someone said this to me once.  I really wish I remember who it was.  It's just been too long.  If it was you that taught me this, please let me know and I will properly credit the quotation.

Reputations don’t come easy.  Reputations don’t come cheap.  And reputations can be quickly destroyed despite our best efforts.  So how do we address the issue of reputation.  It boils down to character.  If you will say or do anything, regardless of the consequences, you will likely have a character or reputation issue personally or in your business.  If you do your best to tell the truth, regardless of how that affects taking an order, or how much money it could cost you, you are on your way to developing a high value reputation.

We all make mistakes.  We all have shortcomings.  None of us are perfect.

But it is what we do with our shortcomings that define our reputation.  Were you honest?  Did you say you were sorry?  Did you admit fault on a subject that falls squarely on you?  Did you learn from that mistake so it doesn’t happen again?

In our business, we run into a lot of personalities and characters.  Throughout the years at Del Sol, we have done our best to align ourselves with people and companies that maintain high value reputations.  There are a lot of companies out there that only seek personal payoff without consideration of morality.  At Del Sol, we do try our best to be and behave in a moral way both personally and professionally.  Are we perfect?  Absolutely not, but we do strive to do the best we can.

We apply to this thinking to products and vendors.  We don’t sell for or recommend junk.  We don’t  take advantage of customers.  We do our best to not lie, cheat, or steal.  Is the favor always returned?  No.  That is not the point.  Reputation comes from being the best you can be despite what you are presented.  It is knowing every day that you did your best to be honorable, to help your customers, and now, to help an industry that needs help.

As we go through the day, if you see Del Sol acting in any way unbecoming, unethical, or deceitful, please let me know.  Call me on it as we have planted our flag to do the best we can to retain a good reputation.  We hope you see us as a reliable vendor.  We hope you see Del Sol as a company that you can trust.  We hope you see Del Sol as a company that seeks your best interests.

Of course we have product to sell.  Of course we have vendors that we need to keep happy (through orders).  But if that order does not align with our reputation, we would rather it go to someone else.  It has cost us money (a bunch).  It has cost us vendor relationships.  Frankly, it has cost us customer relationships.  But at the end of the day, we can sleep at night, look at ourselves in the mirror, and know we did our best to honor our customers, our vendors, and maintain a reputation worth having.

Lee White

President

Del Sol Industrial Services, Inc.

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