Promises made, promises kept

Seth Godin posted a blog last week about promises. In summary he was talking about the importance of keeping the promises you make and I couldn’t agree more.

Brand is both a promise in and of itself, and the sum total of all the other big and small promises a business makes as well.

Here are a few promises I made last week:

• I’ll call you later this morning to discuss this.
• I’ll have that proposal to you on Friday.
• I’ll meet you for lunch in Degraves Street at 1pm.
• I’ll review your comments on the strategic planning document and get you my thoughts early next week.
• I’ll see you at the seminar on Thursday morning and bring the report with me then.

How many of my promises did I keep? I certainly didn’t keep 100% but it was around 90-95%. Disappointing for me, as I try to walk my talk and so keeping my promises is a big deal.

How many of your promises do you keep?

In my experience, the little promises kept or not kept are a good indicator of intentions. It’s a paradox that often the little promises are the hardest to keep. After all, time is a scarce resource and sometimes we just don’t get to everything we have committed to or things quite simply just slip through the cracks.

And that is just the problem; because for every little promise not kept, belief in what is said is eroded, until eventually the weight of little broken promises impact the credibility of not just the big promises, but the brand and the business.

One of the useful exercises that any business can do is to map promises. Take a month and keep a log of every promise made, from “I’ll get you a cup of coffee” to “this is our price for that project” and “yes we can meet that deadline.”

Then go back over the list. Which ones were kept? Which ones were not kept and why?

It is amazing what story the results will show. The strength of your brand can be found in the alignment of those two lists. In my experience any brand that is keeping most of its promises has a strong sustainable foundation for success.

Sounds obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how cavalier people are with their promises (and their brand).

See you next week.

Michel Hogan is a Brand Advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States, she helps organisations recognise who they are and align that with what they do and say, to build more authentic and sustainable brands. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment.