Why promises must be managed

Improving dependability is one of the fastest and most direct routes to building trust and boosting productivity—two objectives that are in the sights of most senior executives.

Building trust
The most definitive work on service quality in the US showed that “simply put, customers want service companies to do what they are supposed to do. They expect fundamentals, not fanciness; performance, not empty promises.”

One of the biggest problems facing marketers today is delivering what is promised. The gap between the marketing promise and what gets delivered has been stretched to the limit- so much so that the new cynical consumer has been created.

On the other hand, take a look at marketing’s success stories of the century, like Coca Cola, Nike, Mars, Fedex or Singapore Airlines. What they have in common is the trust built from their ability to move their brand with the time and deliver on the promise they make to customers. As Marketing magazine says, “those who make marketing history will be judged by the promises they make, and how well they keep them.”

Boosting productivity
The wastage that comes from poor reliability is a big cost—it is also largely invisible because it is hard to observe.

Outstanding reliable brands, partners, teams and individuals cost less and do more.

For example, our studies show that an outstandingly reliable employee may be more than ten times more productive than the average. Yet most employers do not have a clue who these people are, they possess no strategy for hiring more of them and fail to reward them proportionate to what they achieve.
.