Deliver on your promise

"It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality."
~American Businessman Harold S. Geneen

Throughout this entire series, I've been speaking about "business promises." While it's important to have a "promise" to build your business on, the vital thing is to deliver on that promise.  This alone is what the customer will remember.

As a close to this series, I felt it best to conclude with a short list of statements/questions that you should keep top-of-mind:
• NO AMOUNT OF MARKETING CAN OVERCOME CONTINUAL POOR COMPANY PERFORMANCE.   
• If you promise something as an organization, you better deliver. Beware of using statements like "the best", "the cheapest", "the most innovative" and "cutting-edge" when describing your business. If you say it, people will expect it.
• How do you know you're delivering on your promises? What mechanisms do you have in place to monitor your customer satisfaction?
• How do your customers define value? How are you making your product/service more valuable for your customers?
• Don't be afraid to have a conversation with your customers. Ask them how you can make your business better.  Find out what is important to them.
• Is your customer base steady? Are you satisfied with your target customers or do you need to expand? How will you do it?
• What makes you different from other design professionals? How are you communicating these differences with your customers?
• Before you mass producing marketing materials, have a representative from your target audience provide honest feedback. Do not simply rely on your own judgment or the views of someone in your company.

Hopefully these blog entries allowed you to critically look at your business and how you communicate with your customers. The main thing to remember is to make these critical examinations a habit.  I challenge you to continually exam the way you do business - celebrate your successes and improve the things that are not working.

Good luck with your important work.