Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Your mom probably told you that when you were a kid, and like most of Mom’s advice (see Rule #5, “Ask Yourself, ‘What Would Mom Do?’”), it’s a good maxim to follow in business as well as in life. No matter what your company offers, no customer should have to work at figuring out what to expect from you. So make your promises explicit, make them crystal clear, and make them known to both your customers and your fellow employees. Put them in writing, and post them prominently where everyone can see them, both on your premises and on your website.
Our local Publix supermarket has a three-by-four-foot sign posted to the back wall, where customers can’t miss it as they check out. It says:
We will never knowingly disappoint you.
If for any reason your purchase does not
give you complete satisfaction,
the full purchase price will be cheerfully refunded
immediately upon request.
There is no way to misunderstand this guarantee. It is unequivocal, and every employee knows how to fulfill it, immediately and cheerfully. A crystal clear guarantee like that one announces that you stand behind your products and services and that you have confidence in your ability to consistently meet your customers’ needs. And the current manager of that Publix store, Steve Hungerford, reinforces the message by spending much of his time in the store aisles helping customers and setting a great example for the rest of his team.
Now here’s an example of a promise that needs some work. It’s from Pearle Vision.
We want you to be happy with your new glasses.
That’s why we’ll repair or exchange them for up to
30 days at no charge to you. This guarantee does
not cover accidental damage, scratches, or breakage.
Valid at participating locations.
Note that last sentence. It means that any of the Pearle franchises can choose not to honor that guarantee. If it were up to me, the phrase Valid at participating locations would be struck from the English language. I don’t understand why a franchise operation would not insist that every single store have the same guarantee. The next-to-last sentence doesn’t exactly make you feel warm and fuzzy, either. Maybe it’s necessary to prevent people from requesting a full refund when they step on their own glasses or run over them in the driveway. But wouldn’t it be better to state what you do guarantee instead of what you don’t? A well-stated guarantee not only reassures your customers, it is also a form of branding because it states publicly what your company stands for—and what it will not stand for.
An excellent service guarantee should not only be plainly visible and easy to understand, it should also do the following:
Include explicit details. “Your new tires will be installed in 60 minutes” is a lot stronger than “We will install your tires as quickly as possible.” Even stronger is “If your tires are not installed in 60 minutes, we’ll do it for free.” That kind of clarity tells the customer exactly what to expect and eliminates arguments based on misunderstanding.
Tell customers exactly how to reach you to make good on the guarantee. On a website? What’s the URL? By e-mail? What’s the address? Telephone? What number do they call? Written letter? To what postal address? In person? Where?
Minimize exceptions. A guarantee should be unconditional, like the one at Publix. Guarantees with a long list of exceptions are hardly worth the paper they’re printed on.
Be meaningful to your customers. If your average customer is generally in a hurry, a guarantee for fast service will matter to them. If your average customer cares most about luxury or about convenience, you should tailor your guarantee accordingly.
Clearly state the reward if the guarantee is not met. If customers are not happy, do they get a cash refund? A credit? A free product or service the next time they do business with you?
Make the reward easy to redeem. Don’t put your customers through a bureaucratic maze or force them to fill out endless forms or speak to a dozen strangers on the phone.
The bottom line is that customers want to know that you care, and a good guarantee sends that message. But the best guarantee in the world will backfire on you if you treat it only as a marketing gimmick and follow through on its promises grudgingly. In an excellent Harvard Business Review article titled “The Power of Unconditional Service Guarantees,” Christopher W. L. Hart wrote: “If your aim is to minimize the guarantee’s impact on your organization but to maximize its marketing punch, you won’t succeed.” That was written in 1988, and it’s just as true today.
A German proverb says that “promises are like the full moon; if they are not kept at once, they diminish day by day.” So please, remember Mom’s advice: Don’t make a promise you can’t keep or don’t intend to keep.