How to Make Actions the Voice of Your Brand Promise

I talk about having a promise message a lot. It is for me one of the most important elements when it comes to getting and keeping someone’s attention but more importantly their wallet.

In many ways, prospects will never care about your awesome plan to do XYZ if you don’t first and foremost let them know that you understand what they really want and value, secondly make a promise to give them what they want and value.

Your promise message needs to address a common problem your ideal clients face and inform every marketing decision. It must be considered when you decide what services you will offer, how you will serve your customers, what your service delivery looks like, what your follow-up entails, and how you generate leads.

Today, the common thread in almost every element of delivering a promise message is actions. Actions are how you prove the business does what it says it will do. Actions are how you give your brand promise a voice and, because of that, you must take a strategic and process approach to how your actions are developed.

I know I’ve said this before and I know I’ll say it again: Waking up every morning and deciding how you are going to deliver on your brand promise does not scale.

Below is an exploratory look at my approach to developing and implementing an action plan with your overall brand promise in mind.

The Small Business Differentiation Problem

As far as the average prospect is concerned one small business firm is very much like another.

All accountants, electricians, computer technicians, lawyers, business consultants, and whatever your firm does are alike. Wait you say, but we do quality work, we guarantee customer satisfaction, we have years of experience, we give free estimates/consultations, we have fair pricing. Those, my small business friends, are not unique differences they are business expectations.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. If you want to find something that positions you differently and matters to your ideal client don’t focus on what you do, focus on how you do it.

Look at the way you deliver your service, the experience your client has, the way the billing is completed, the way you clean up after the job, the service after the sale, the thank you card you send, all the ways your firm comes into contact with a prospect and customer.

Tie Business Functions Around The Brand Promise

This is essentially done by integrating the actions of different business functions to help deliver core brand promises and more quickly build know, like, and trust.

In this sense it’s not a strategy, it’s the tactical delivery of a brand promise. I think that distinction is critical because without the right brand promise no amount of talk about integrating multiple business functions makes much sense.

In fact, in many instances, integration is simply interpreted as doing more kinds of stuff. The problem with more stuff is that stuff without a central brand promise can actually cause one stuff to combat and conflict with some other stuff.

I absolutely believe the real integration opportunity, and way for most small business owners to avoid their competition is the intentional blending of actions around core brand promises.

Let’s say you are a home service contractor that learns what your clients really want and value is your firm’s quick response, expert knowledge, and ability to explain what happens next.

While it may be tempting to focus on your pretty truck wrapping, the finest tools, and quality work, the real strategy opportunity may be in aligning marketing, sales, service, billing, support, and every department's actions to deliver those core brand promises.

A brand promise strategy around your quick response, expert knowledge, and ability to explain what happens next, with an integrated business function approach, might include:

Marketing

• A website with clear call to actions that explain what happens next
• A guarantee message focused on quick responses or no surprises
• A blog focused on sharing expert knowledge and insights

Sales

• A sales process that clearly identifies what next steps will always be
• A prospect intake form that creates the opportunity to share expert knowledge
• An internal 12–24/hr email or phone call reply guideline

Service

• Before any service is performed a clarity chat with the customer must happen
• Any problems or issues will be reported quickly on spot or as encountered

Billing

• All charges must be communicated and clearly defined on the invoice/proposal/ticket
• The customer must be aware of when payment is due
• Any questions or comments will be addressed the same day

Support

• Asking questions to understand customers needs
• Having the knowledge or resources to handle customers inquiries or
  request
• All holds will be explained. Example: “What I am going to do for you is place you on a brief hold to research your account”

While none of the items mentioned above directly talk about selling home services, every single one of them works in tandem to do just that.

An approach like the imagined one above would cement this home service firm as the obvious choice in their market.