Creating and maintaining the right personal image for you and your company

This is the second entry of the day. A way to rant a bit about what just happened. It has to do with image management (of course). Months ago I met a prospect who told me she was interested in buying a consulting service for a family member. I emailed the prospect about pricing and options, from which she chose one. No payment made yet, because it would be a few months before the service was needed. Usually the rate of conversion is good for this type of prospect - most people keep their word (or maybe I was just lucky). I followed up with this prospect recently, and have been told that she now has a client who provides similar services as I do, and that she is obliged to give her business to her client. I just thanked her for letting me know. Being loyal to a client is good, but not when there was a verbal and email commitment, or very near commitment, to someone else. I guess this prospect wants to keep her cliient, hence she is "obliged" to be loyal. On the other hand, she may not have thought about the following: 1. she doesn't have to let her client know about her previously made commitment 2. now that the commitment is broken, I will not be referring anyone to her - that's a loss of...I don't know how many prospects 3. her image, at least to me, is now tarnished. Never underestimate the power of keeping your word. Unless it's something serious (like illness, death), not keeping your word can have detrimental effects - in long term. PS: i've posted a picture of Dunn's Falls in the entry about Jamaica (March 1st, 2006 entry).