What service can you deliver on time, exactly as promised, every single time?

That’s the question I was asked years ago when I attended a Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth Revisited) seminar.

I struggled to figure out the answer in the context of my business. I’d suggest you do the same.

You see, it’s the gap between what you promise and what you deliver that creates unhappiness in your clients.

Are you promising to take care of clients with your “excellent, professional service at an affordable price?” Are they responding with upset to the timeliness of your returned phone calls? Are they unhappy with your bills? Are they feeling like you’re working for the other side rather than for them? Can anyone actually deliver “excellent, professional service” at an “affordable price?”

Overpromising and Underdelivering

Our promises to our clients suffer from two maladies:

First, they suffer from the mania of marketing thinking. We start writing copy for our website, and the marketing folks jump in to help. The next thing you know, we’re promising the sun, the moon, and the stars. Somehow, we find ourselves committing to creating a perfect life for a person who has trouble remembering to get out of bed in the morning.

Sure, we can solve certain problems. We can fix the immediate issue and sometimes deliver the result the client is seeking. However, we can’t solve all the underlying issues that created the problem. Our clients show an amazing propensity for making mistakes, finding trouble, and managing the issues presented poorly. Overpromising is easy in a state of marketing mania. It’s hard to live up to the commitments we make when we start telling the world all the wonderful things about ourselves.

Second, we speak in broad generalities. We let our listeners hear what they want to hear. “Excellent, professional service at an affordable price” means nothing at all. It’s vague to the point of meaninglessness. However, prospective clients in crisis will give it meaning. They read things into that promise. The make assumptions about what “excellent” means and they have definite ideas about “affordable.” You’ve likely made promises in that statement that you’re not able to keep.

What’s the Solution?

The solution is thoughtful consideration of your promises. There are things you’re doing right now that aren’t likely to change. If you promise those things rather than some pie-in-the-sky things or incredibly vague things, then your promise will match up with reality. If you promise what you know you can deliver—the things you’re already delivering—then your service will be in sync with your promise.

You’ve got to go back to this fundamental question: What service can you deliver on time, exactly as promised, every single time? Answering that question is difficult, but it’s the solution you’re looking for to avoid setting clients up for disappointment.

When you get specific with your promises and trim away the manic marketing language, will you sound less appealing to some prospective clients? You will. The clients you’ll lose are the clients who would have been disappointed. They’re the clients most likely to file a grievance or seek a refund. They’re the clients most likely not to pay the bill.

Don’t be afraid to make a promise. It’s what your clients want and need from you. However, be sure that when you make a promise, you can deliver.