Promises... Promises...

What is the one thing that both Dominos and Avis share in common that’s made them a success? It’s not just delivering Value. Last week I was focused on crafting your USP. And finally, we have come to “promise”. This is probably one of my favourite parts of the page because if we get this right, it could also be an important part of your USP.

“Promise” is crucial. It is actually what drives our customers to purchase from us and what makes us different from our competitors. Surprisingly, whilst many of the big companies understand this and use it to great advantage, it is not as common as it should be.

Do you remember, some years ago, two of the big car hire companies were going head to head for market share? Hertz, because of its size and global reach, made the bold claim, “We are number one”. But Avis countered that by using the slogan, “We are number two, we try harder.” Clever positioning and a great promise of good customer service.

A good promise is a very powerful thing, especially if your competitors don’t have one, but it needs to be expressly spelt out, not just implied.

In reality, we create expectations with our customers that we will deliver in a particular way or in a particular time frame.

For example, Dominos Pizza had a commercial campaign in the 1980s and early 1990s which promised, “30 minutes or it’s free”. This was a powerful promise that helped them to gain market share. This was discontinued in 1993 because of too many accidents caused by hurried delivery drivers. Shame. It was a great promise.

What is it that you do anyway that you could formalise into a company promise? Your website up and running in 48 hours, or your money back? When speed is important to a customer with a new business, this could be a powerful offering. In reality that might be your normal turn around time, but by turning it into a promise, it becomes a differentiator and a reason to buy from you.

A well communicated company promise is as good as a contract, so you have to deliver, or take the consequences you have included in the promise. Will you deliver each and every time? Probably not. Life gets in the way, but if you cheerfully accept the consequences, you have strengthened your customer relationship, not detracted from it.

We are all human and all make mistakes. Doing so with grace makes “the promise”, in a perverse way, far more powerful.

Sometimes we make promises without realising it.

We create expectations, even though we might have not meant to. Keeping faith with customers and meeting or exceeding their expectations can be made a promise.

It used to be the case that most business was done on a handshake. There was a clear understanding by both parties as to the nature of what was agreed and all that was required between two people of good faith was a handshake. It was a simple promise that, once made, was kept. It makes you nostalgic to even think about it

In my own businesses, we offer a clear promise on all our products – for instance in our scale up programme we guarantee 10X ROI on your investment with us measured provided you do the work and execute. That’s the promise.

If I cannot deliver huge value to people and I go the extra mile to delight my customers, then people shouldn’t pay me. That’s the confidence I have in my product and my service. And I have given money back – once to a celebrity as she really wasn’t going to execute– and I will continue to do so if that’s necessary. So think about what promise you’re making to your customers.

Now it is easy to get carried away with this and over promise. When you do that, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to a fall. The secret is always to under promise and over deliver. But when you do make a clear and unambiguous promise, then you need to stick by it, and be in a position to take the consequences if you don’t.

Tomorrow, I will share a story about promises and Consequences. In the meantime why not work on your new Company promise? You can download this FREE chapter below in the comments See below