Don't make a promise you can't keep

There is always a danger in making promises to customers. You do need to make certain promises and the core ones are essentially your pledge to your customer, your mission statement. But making promises outside of your core service can be dangerous.

McDonalds sell fast food. Their promises to you are that it will be quick, easy, and in-expensive. They have perfected this and are rarely unable to deliver on these promises. It is in fact these exact promises that make me frequent McDonalds when driving between meetings in a rush with a hunger. Keeping their promises makes me a satisfied customer.

So what happens when they up the promises? Yesterday, driving into my local McDonalds, I noticed a massive sign saying "Free internet access inside". I was intrigued. Unlike normal I parked and ordered from the counter, standard promises delivered, found a table and opened my laptop while eating a burger. Then nothing. I couldn't connect to the internet. I did everything I normally do on other networks, even phoned my friends, but not a single person could help me make it work. McDonalds didn't have on-site tech support and all they could say was that they think it's broken.

"But you promised me free internet!"

They had encouraged me to break my routine for the promise of free internet and then not delivered. McDonalds had broken a promise and a customer had left feeling cheated.

If you are going to make a promise, do so knowing you will keep it. That promise needs to make it's way onto your mission statement and be taken seriously by all. If not, don't make the promise!