As a manager or owner, you want your team to follow you. As a technician, you want your customers to trust you and follow your recommendations. As a person, you want to know that at the end of the day, you did the best you could in a manner that you’re proud of. 
   Doing all of that comes down to acting with integrity.

 

   “Integrity is the essence of everything successful.”—Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller

 

Success in your business and life starts with integrity, and when you think of integrity, the first thing that probably comes to mind is honesty. Being honest is certainly part of integrity, but it’s not the whole picture.

   In talking with business owners over the years, I’ve seen some people face challenges of integrity in their company. Don’t get me wrong, these are honest people. Everyone acted with honesty, but they were missing one of the other components of integrity.

 

   “Integrity is what we do, what we say we say, and what we say we do.”—Don Galer

 

Integrity involves doing what you say you’ll do. Everyone understands that concept, but it’s not always the easiest thing to do.

   When you don’t follow through in any way on a promise to your employees, you lower your integrity. If you tell your team that you’ll train with them each week, don’t let a week go by without that training. If you commit to doing a daily management report to keep tabs on where your business is, don’t let a day get away from you without that vital look at your numbers. If you tell a client that you’ll be at their home within a certain time window or call them with advanced notice that you’re running late, do it. Be dependable and do “what we say we do.”

 

   “One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”—Chinua Achebe

 

This is probably the toughest challenge that you and your company will face and it may not even seem like a big deal. When you refuse to be compromised, you’re acting with consistency. Consistency is important in running a successful business and it’s a challenge that many business owners struggle with.

   One comment I hear occasionally is that people, “feel sorry” for their clients. It’s an excuse that many a manager has recounted to me after questioning a technician about why their invoice average is so low. When you reduce your prices, offer only cheaper or so called “affordable” options, and neglect to inform the homeowner of all the things that are going wrong in their home because you don’t believe they can afford to fix them, it should be viewed as a lack of integrity in your system. You’re not acting with consistency.

   If you do a whole-house inspection for most people but not for some people because you think they want to get you out of their home, you lose some of the integrity of your system. Every time you do not charge someone a dispatch or travel fee that you normally would, you lose integrity.

   Act with consistency on every call. The time that you think a homeowner just wants you to leave and you don’t offer them all the options for their home is the time that you pass up an opportunity to give a homeowner a service they may have really wanted. Don’t compromise your system.

   Think about McDonald’s. McDonald’s has employees place all of your food in a bag when you transact your business through the drive-up window. They would never allow an employee to look at a customer and say, “They probably don’t need a bag.” But if you neglect to follow the consistency of your system, that’s what you’re doing to your clients. Ensure your company’s integrity and act with consistency on every call.

   The other side of consistency is how you act within your own company. If you let poor results slide from one technician but reprimand another technician, you’re being inconsistent. Act with consistency with your team, and they’ll know what’s expected of them.

 

   “Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.”— Jim Stovall

 

Finally, integrity isn’t something that you do for other people. It should be something that you do for yourself. At the end of the day, you should feel good about what you did and how you acted throughout the day. By doing what’s right and acting with consistency, you’ll be living with integrity regardless of who is watching.

   Without integrity, your sales will slump, your team will become disenchanted with your company, and your customers will be reluctant to call you. In the end, your integrity is the most important thing you have. Protect it by doing the right thing every time.