Verne Harnish in his best selling book: Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, states the “Single most important measureable in building value” is “Mastering the Brand Promise”.
Too many small to medium businesses are worrying about solving Today’s issues, Meeting today’s customer needs, Paying the bills, meeting payroll, dealing with issues instead of WORKING ON their business vs. IN their business.
Mastering the brand promise of your business will significantly decrease these day to day “Technician” issues that you are allowing to take up your time. So please spend 10% of your work during the week WORKING ON your business so you receive more TIME, more MONEY, more PEACE OF MIND while running your business.
One significant area to focus on is your BRAND. You see What really matters to your customers? What is it that brings your customers to you and keeps those customers loyally returning, purchase after purchase, year after year? According to Harnish it is “your brand promise – the key factor that sets YOU apart from all competitors.” Your brand is the STARTING point from which ALL other executive / Business Owner type decisions are derived. LET THIS SINK IN! All decisions you make about your business needs to be determined from your Brand promise to your Customers!
ARE YOU DOING THIS?
Let’s look at an example of a brand promise. Remember when Federal Express burst on the scene in the early eighties? Quick what is the first thought that comes to your mind? Is it….When you absolutely have to have it overnight? You see When there was only the post office Fred Smith’s new company made a brand promise to customers that your package will be delivered by 10AM the next day no ifs, ands or buts about it. This was not a marketing gimmick or slogan. It was the key factor that drove all other decisions at Fed Ex.
So how do you go about creating your Brand promise or identifying what it is? According to Verne Harnish you need to do the following:
- Consider your BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)
- Define your Sandbox
- Determine Customer needs
- From above answers Determine What is your measureable brand promise?
- Now Control your Bottleneck or checkpoint
- Everything changes – Including your Brand promise
Going back to Federal express their brand promise of when it absolutely has to get there overnight has been updated to, Peace of Mind. You can now track your package throughout the trip because you already know it is going to get there when promised.
So your measurable brand promise is crucial. It defines your company in the minds of the public, your potential clients and your employees. It gives your organization something huge and galvanizing to strive toward. Thereby when you Consider your BHAG, Define your Sandbox, Determine your Customer needs, and Control your bottlenecks you will have a measureable brand promise that will set you apart from your competition as well as define the framework for ALL your Business Decisions (that is until your competition catches up to you and forces you to up the ante with a new updated brand promise).
By Mark R. Steinke, Elite Business Coach and Business Owner
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