Ever heard the saying “better the devil you know”?

It’s from an old Irish proverb. The full saying is actually “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” And it basically means it’s better to stick to what you know, even if it’s not very good, because the unknown could be so much worse. Now, I don’t buy into that. If something isn’t going great, I’d rather change it. Better the chance of something better than repeating the same problems over and over again. But that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate familiarity. 

I’ve just got back from another vacation in The Canaries.We’ve been going there for 20 plus years now, same area, similar villas but basically the same holiday. Why? Because it’s easy. We know what we’re getting, there’s no stress and no drama. Sure, I do go on other holidays too. And I travel all around the world with my work. I love adventure, and I’ve had many. But there’s something nice about knowing exactly what you’re going to get. Not just for holidays, but in business too. 

When you work with a supplier, familiarity gives you certainty. For example, when people work with Millennium, they already know that they’re going to get the documentation within 24 hours of a vessel sailing, that there’s no hidden charges, that what we’ve quoted is exactly what we’re going to bill them. They already know that if they pick up the phone, somebody’s going to answer it and if they send us an email, they’re gonna get replied to pretty quickly. They know us. They know how we work. And because we’ve shown up consistently, reliably and positively time and time again over the past 30 years, we’ve created familiarity. And I think this familiarity is a big part of why we very rarely lose customers once they’ve worked with us. 

But how do you build familiarity? It’s all about showing up and being consistent. How often do you contact your customers or prospects? How often do you fail to do what you promised you’d do or turn in a project after the deadline? Do the people you want to work with know exactly what to expect from you time and time again? Can they trust you? Rely on you? If you’re not a) visible, b) consistent and c) reliable, then you’re missing out on becoming that familiar safe choice that most people will go for. 

How about you? Is there anything you do or a service you use over and over just because it’s familiar? I’d love to hear about it.