During the recent presidential election, a candidate came along named Barack Obama.  His rhetoric was a fresh approach.  He talked about “change”.  And “yes, we can”.  He would fill the arenas with followers and get them chanting his slogans in almost a cult-like way.  He was going to change the country, so he said, for the better.  He was going to have transparency.  All Congressional negotiations would be on C-Span and not behind closed doors.  There would be a new era of bi-partisanship.  He appeared to be a liberal who would govern from the center.  Here we are a year later and Americans are realizing they forgot to ask what he meant by “change”.  If you look at his campaign promises from a purely objective point of view, you’ll see he has kept very few of his campaign pledges thus far.  Because the Democrats have the power in Washington they want to take this opportunity to pass sweeping legislation with health care reform and with the cap and trade bill even though that will hurt every business in this country.  At the same time, the Democrats say they want to create jobs but they seem to be anti-business and forget that business people are the engine of the economy.  Business creates jobs; not government.

So on Tuesday, when the elections rolled around, and the promises weren’t kept, many of the voters started to think about how it seems the government is on a spending spree, out of control and not listening to what the people of this country truly want.  The situation in Washington and around the country has gotten the attention of the voters and on Tuesday the people spoke through their votes, locally and at the state level, to send a message to Washington.  Anyone who was a Democrat was at risk of not being elected. (And maybe even some Republicans too, but back to the Democrats.)  If they keep their left agenda in a country which is center right on most issues, they will find themselves elected out of office.  Didn’t they learn any lessons from the Bush administration which polarized a large segment of the population with how they governed?

So let’s take what we’ve discussed above and just change a few words around and you’ll see how this relates to business.  Any business person can create slick marketing campaigns and promise the world to their potential clients.  They can hire employees making promises that are never kept.  They can sell inferior products or provide inadequate services to the people they do business with.  But just like the politicians, these types of business people think no one will notice.  But customers do notice.  They will, ultimately, take their business somewhere else where they get the value they expect for the money they spend.  More importantly, where they feel respected and appreciated as customers.  Make sure your business delivers what it promises.