Do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it.

That's the tagline on the email signature belonging to a new client of mine.  He contacted me from out of state to sell two investment homes here that he is losing his shorts on.  It's big and bold and impossible to miss there at the bottom of his emails.

As we have been emailing back and forth for a couple of days, there is that tagline in every "conversation."

Do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it.

I have to admit, it has kept me on my toes!  When I was scrambling and being pulled in so many different directions, with fires to put out and people that needed me NOW - in the back of my mind was that I said I would have those listing contracts to him this afternoon.  And that I had better do what I said I will do, when I said I would do it!

When his emails arrive, right there in the subject line before I even open the email is his admonition to me - Do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it. 

I think every email I have sent him I have found myself responding to his tagline and assuring him that I will do what I say I will do, when I say I will do it.

Isn't that just good business practice?  Ethical and professional behavior that should go without saying?  I can't help but wonder what experiences he has had that lead to him adopting that tag line.  It's interesting to note that he isn't promoting his own dependability by stating I will do what I say I will do, when I say I will do it.  He seems to be pleading with the people he is interacting with to be honest in their dealings with him.  A simple request, really.  Certainly not too much to ask.

Do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it.